Abby picture update

Abby sat in a highchair at Mo's and chewed on the table while she happily watched everyone eat.



Her favorite food is peas, but she also now eats oatmeal and prunes.

Bumbo

Abby loves her new Bumbo seat


And so does Ellwood.......

New Mommy cut and Abby pictures

I decided to get a short Mommy haircut. I realized that I have worn my hair in a ponytail all but one day since she was born. Hopefully this haircut will help me actually have a hair style.

Abby is starting to like baths (or at least not hate them). Here is a photo of her doing some after bath cuddling with her Papa.

And, lastly, here is just a photo of her talking to Greg.

One Month Old

Yesterday was Abigail's 1 month birthday. We are getting better at know what she wants/needs and responding. She is noticing her surroundings (including us) more and has been working hard at her head lifts. At one month old her favorite activities are eating, cuddling, and listening to my mom talk to her (Abby finds her fascinating).

Eyes Open

Abigail is awake more than she was the first couple of weeks. I developed some habits during her sleepy two weeks than I am having trouble breaking now. For example, I fed her every time she was awake or cried because we were trying to put weight on her and she didn't cry except when hungry. Now, I am realizing that she may cry for other reasons, but I can't stop the easy fix of feeding her to calm her down. I read somewhere that you can't over nurse a newborn baby so I hope that is true. Consequently, her feedings have become more snacky and frequent (almost every hour except for yesterday afternoon when I got some scrapbooking done). I just don't know how to break that because I don't know that she isn't hungry when she cries. My plan is to try to spend more time getting to know her cues so I have a better idea what she needs rather than always assuming it it food.

Dream Come True

I am so in love with Abigail. Every time I figure out something new about her I am reminded that she isn't part of me in my stomach anymore, but that she is her own person. I can hardly believe I had a part in all this. I pinch myself often because having her here is truly a dream come true.

Life With Newborn Abigail

Abby is such an easy going baby. We really lucked out. She is willing to go with the flow and would rather sleep than do just about anything else (she got that from me). Unfortunately, that means that she often doesn't let us know she is hungry and so we spend much time waking her up when it is time to eat. She is spending more and more time awake though (as evidenced by these photos) and we love to interact with her when she does decide to open her eyes and take in the world around her. Abigail initially lost more weight than the doctor thought was OK, but through hard work and supplementation to nursing she has gained quite a bit of weight and is currently 7 lbs 11 oz. I am so proud of her weight gain, but it has hampered Abby and Mommy bonding time. I spend all of my interaction with her trying to make her eat and now she sometimes purses her lips closed when she sees me. Greg and I are both looking forward to the day when we can stop force feeding her and can just feed her as she demands it.
I am trying to adjust to having Greg back at work. I try to give him a full night's sleep (not much he can do to help feed her) :), but he insists on helping at night anyway. I doubt that Abigail has noticed that he is gone more, but I am missing his companionship. It was nice to discuss my fears and worries (plenty of those) with him and to have someone to exchange a look with when Abby did something cute or strange. Now most of my discussion about Abby is directed at Ellwood.

Abigail is here!

Abigail was born on March 11th at 1:59 pm. She weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 20in long.

We were so happy to bring her home and start our loves together as a family. I will post more about her later.