4 Months Old!

Today Hayden is 4 months and 1 day old. She is getting so big and learning all kinds of new things. She rolled over for the first time this morning. I had her on her tummy for "tummy time" and all of a sudden she flipped over onto her back! So that is the exciting news for the day! I haven't posted on here in a while, and alot of things have happened since. So where do I begin. First of all, I am currently only working part-time. We worked it out so that I work in the evenings when Mike is home, therefore we eliminated daycare. So we are actually saving money now. Plus I get to stay home with my baby all day!! I love it! Here is just a little list of all of Hayden's new accomplishments in the past couple months:

- She started eating solids! She loves Squash and Peas... but hates Bananas!

- She no longer needs to be swaddle at night to sleep, although she hasn't started sleeping completely straight through the night yet.

- She has complete head control - ok, maybe about 98% of the time.

- She has a few new toys, to include: a bumbo, a jumperoo (which she plays in until she wears herself out and I find her passed out in it), new books - she loves Dr. Suess.. and so does Mom!, and many rattles, teethers and other various toys she loves to put in her mouth.

- She loves to suck on her hands 24/7.

- She rubs her eyes to let you know she is tired and ready for a nap.

- She laughs and smiles! (It is the cutest thing ever)

- She loves television... thanks to Dad.

- She's been to 2 weddings already, and loves to dance with Dad.

- She can roll over now!

Well, I'm sure there are lots of other little things I am leaving out. But that was just a little update. I promise I will update this more often!

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure:

Ok.... it's been way too long since I've last posted. This weekend I am taking Hayden to Grandpa and Grandma Weiler's for the weekend, and of course Auntie Amy, Uncle Wayne and Cousin Megan will be there as well. Hayden will be 2 months old on Sunday! I can't believe it. I feel like I can never enjoy the moment. I'm am always wishing for the day when she can crawl, sit up, smile at me when I make a silly face, eat solids, babble, etc. But at the same time I am missing when I held her in my arms and she was just a little newborn peanut. I need to start learning to live more in the moment. I am definitly learning alot as a new parent and loving every minute of it! She is teaching me sooo much about myself as an individual, wife and mother.

I went back for my 6 week checkup with my OBGYN two weeks ago and towards the end of the visit he asked me if we were going to start on baby number 2 right away or if I would like him to write me a script. I gave him a look that made him whip out his pad and start scribbling without having to say anything more. But even though that was only two weeks ago I can totally see myself mentally and emotionally preparing to give Hayden a sibling. I definitely want to have more children, and although we are going to wait another year or two, I am completely in love with being Hayden's mom.

I am so happy the weather has been so nice lately. Last Friday when I got home from work I put Hayden in the stroller and we went for a walk around the block while Dad went to go get Pizza and movies for the night. I have to say I am starting to like our new neighborhood more and more. It seems to consist of alot of families with little kids. Everyone I passed on the sidewalk seemed really nice and I also discovered a playground in the middle of our subdivision; not to mention the elementary school is literally 3 blocks away. I can't wait for summer to really get here!!

I am putting up a pic of Hayden with her Auntie Erica. Erica drove all the way down from Alexandria on Sunday to visit.

Tired

I started back at work yesterday and it was probably one of the most miserable days I have had in a long time. All I could think about all day was Hayden and how I couldn't be with her. I even brought a picture of her to work with me to look at every once in a while and I called her babysitter on my lunch hour to check up on her too. Today was a little bit better though, and I have a feeling that slowly it will get better and better and I will just get used to it. But not to used to it, because eventually I will be a 'stay at home mom' at least until all our kids (yes... we are going to have at least 1 more) are in school.

So since I started work again Mike and I agreed that we would alternate nights getting up with her. I told him that I would get up with her on Tuesday night because I took a nap on Tuesday and wasn't that tired and figured that by Wednesday night after a long day at work I would be pooped. So then he would get up with her Wednesday night. Well low and behold the first night he has to get up with her she decides that she is going to sleep through the night! What the heck! This just isn't fair. As much as I couldn't believe this I am sooo happy and I am crossing my fingers that she keeps it up.

Well... that is about it for now. I having been thinking about starting to post about things other than my baby - branch out... but tonight I am just too tired, maybe next time. I still have to go give her a bath, take a shower myself, pack her stuff to go to grandma and grandpa's house for Easter this weekend and feed and put her to bed.

Here are some more recent pics (she is 6 weeks old today).

One Month Old

Hayden is now more than a month old! I can't believe it how fast time has flown by. We've noticed new changes in her almost everyday. She has definitly gotten quite a bit bigger. She is starting to fill out and get baby fat. She also has a double chin which has proven almost impossible to keep clean. She is making new noises as well. Sometimes it sounds like she is laughing or she will let out a short giggle. She also smiles more and makes better eye contact. I can't believe how fast she is growing up! And I only have 1 more week left to enjoy with her until I go back to work :(

My mom came to stay with us all of last week, which was really nice because she took the night shifts so that I could catch up on my sleep :) She also babysat Saturday night so Mike and I could enjoy a night out. We are also going to a wedding this coming in weekend in St. Cloud and we are spending the night in a hotel both Friday and Saturday night. This is going to be interesting because it will be her first overnighter. Hotels can't kick you out in the middle of the night if your baby is crying to much can they??? I hope not. Although she isn't really too bad, she only really cries when she is hungry. Hopefully it will be all good and I remember to pack everything we will need.

Well.... time for a nap.

Hayden took a bath in the sink. We made a trip to Target together. Thats pretty much all that happened - I know... exciting. Somehow both of these events took almost all day.
I am pretty tired today because Hayden woke up every two hours last night, and I think I know why. I usually swaddle her at night and then she can go about 4 hours in a row. However, when it came time to go to bed last night I had forgotten that I had her swaddle sack in the wash machine and forgot to throw it in the dryer. She only has one right now... I guess I need to get more. Instead of waiting 45 minutes for it to dry and then put her down I just put her in a regular sleeper. Tonight I will not make the same mistake!

On a different note, I just realized that I only have 3 weeks of maternity leave left and then it is back to LabCorp :( Don't get me wrong, I like my job and all, but I could definitly get use to this 'stay at home mom' routine. I even threw the idea at Mike to let me go back to work part time in the evenings. This would let me stay home with her during the day and we wouldn't need daycare. He said maybe in a year or so but not right now because we need the extra money. So I guess we will see how it goes. I'm am mainly nervous about leaving her for 10 hours straight everyday. What if she forgets who I am? What if I miss out on all of her firsts? Luckily the person who will be watching her everyday is a friend who is a stay at home mom with a 1 year old. So I know she will be really good with her and be able to give her lots of attention as oppose to a daycare center or in home daycare where they have 8 million kids to 1 adult.

So I've also decided that I am going to start running again. The Twin Cities has alot of different races throughout the spring/summer/falls months and I really want to get back into it. I miss running and competing in races and I think it will help me get back into shape before I have to fit into a bridesmaids dress come October :)

PS... I think I might make a trip to Tomahawk soon. I am getting cabin fever being in this house all day long everyday, especially since the weather is getting so nice it would be nice to get out of the city and enjoy some time in the good old northwoods.

My Little Leprechuan

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2 Weeks Old

Well, today was Hayden's 2 week checkup. Can you believe she is already 2 weeks old!! I can't. She is growing up so fast and soon will be heading off to college :( Ok... well maybe not soooo soon. Her check up went well. This was pretty much my first alone outing with her which I was a little nervous about. I overpacked her diaper back with way too many things and never once opened it the entire trip out. Hey... I was expecting the worst and at least I was prepared, so there. And although the nurse kept calling her "he" and "him" (I didn't correct her.. after all I did dress her all in dark green and her car seat is brown, green and cream colored.) I think she was a little taken aback when I pulled out a bright pink blanket to swaddle her in after she weighed her. Oh well. It was slightly humerous. She now weighs 7lbs and 10 ounces. So she has gained a whole pound since she has been born. What can I say - she is a bottomless pit, which she gets from her dad. Oh in other big news... her belly button fell off today!! yeah! we are so happy, because I always felt like I had to be so extra careful and manuver around it all the time when changing her.

Grandma Palin also came to visit today so I could go out by myself. I spent two whole hours at Target! I could have probably spent all day at that store though so thats not really a big deal.. but it felt oh so good to get out and not worry about Hayden. I forgot to get my dad's birthday present when I went out though so now I have to take her out with me tomorrow to go get it anyways since my parents are coming to visit on Saturday. Well see how it goes.

Hayden also started sleeping in her own bedroom last night. Mom and dad finally had enough of waking up at every little grunt, moan and cry she would let out during the night. I figure if she is crying I will hear her no problem. I also got her to sleep 4 hours in a row twice last night - which was awesome! I think it had to do with this swaddle sack I started to use. As soon as I wrapped her up in it she calmed down and went right to sleep. We will see if it lasts.

Other than that not much else new here. I am posting a photo of her at 2 weeks old. I know it looks the same as all her other ones... but what can I say the girl loves to sleep in her swing.

1 Week Checkup and Visitors

Hayden had her 1 week check up on Thursday and everything went well! All of our concerns we had, the doctor assured us that they were totally normal (constant hiccups, not wanting to wake up to eat - this little lady loves her sleep! , and congested nose). She has also gained back the weight she had lost when she had left the hospital... which was only 4 oz. but now she is back up to her birth weight, which the doctor says is excellent. Mike and I also noticed that she is already starting to look bigger. I know this is suppose to happen.. but come on! she is only 1 week old and she is already growing up too fast! Oh well, I guess thats how it goes.

I was a little bit nervous about Thursday night because Mike officially went back to work on Friday, and we agreed that I would be the one to get up with Hayden at night while I was still on maternity leave so that he could get his sleep. He just got promoted to store manager and needs lots of rest so we agreed to this arrangement, (except on the weekends of course) and then once I go back to work in 5 more weeks we will go back to taking turns getting up with her. But hopefully by then she won't need to get up quite so much. I think she is actually pretty good though I have nothing to compare her to since she is our first. Last night she only need to get up twice to eat between 11 and 7. So Mike and I only had to each get up once in the night which isn't so bad. Espcially for me, since anyone who knows me knows I love my sleep... which is probably where my daughter gets it from.

This weekend we also had some visitors come. My sister Amy, niece Megan, Amy's friend Emily and her 6 month old daughter Sally came to visit. Everyone was very excited to meet Hayden, especially Megan. She seems to love the role of the 'big cousin'. Amy was kind enough to help out feeding and changing Hayden on Saturday so that Mike and I could catch up on our sleep. She also babysat for a few hours Sat. night so that we could go catch a movie. And I must say as much as I loved getting out alone with my husband for a few hours, I really really missed my baby :(

Well, that is all for now...

First Week Home

Hayden has been in this world for exactly one week now. I delivered her at 12:52am on Thursday, the 26th of February. Unfortunately there were some minor complications during birth. Because my water broke at 8:00am on the 25th and I didn't deliver her until 17 hrs later, the risk of infection was high. Around 11pm I had a fever of 103 and Hayden's heartrate went way up. I was put on Pitocin to increase the contractions and within two hours Hayden was born. The doctor ordered blood tests on both of us to check for infection. Because of this we had to stay in the hospital until Saturday night. Hayden also had to stay in the NICU because she needed to get antibiotics. This was really hard... because I had planned on having her room in with me so I could be with her the entire time. But since she was in the NICU we couldn't take her out and only Mike and I could go in a hold her. I was able to go in every three hours to feed her which was nice. But I was so happy we were able to come home on Saturday night when all her tests came back normal.

The first night home was a little rough as we were trying to establish her sleeping and eating routine. We introduced her to Misha which I was a little bit nervous about, but it went surprisingly well. Misha just sniffed her a little bit and that was about it. I think she is now starting to realize that Hayden is here to stay. Mike and I have been taking turns getting up throughout the night to feed and change Hayden. We are a little sleep deprived right now but each night has gotten a little bit better and I think we are finally starting to establish a good schedule. I am really surprised at how much she has been eating and sleeping though. When we left the hospital on Sat. she would eat about 50 ml in one feeding, and it has only been 4 days and she now eats twice that in a feeding. What a pig!

We gave her her first sponge bath yesterday and although she cried pretty much the entire time I really think she enjoyed being clean again and not smelling like old milk... yuk! As soon as I took her out of the bath, wrapped her in a blanket and held her it wasn't long until she was back to sleep again. We have her first drs. appt tomorrow and it will be the first time we are taking her out. Hopefully all goes well and the dr. says she is doing well in every way.

Well... that is all I have for now. I am posting some pics we have taken during her first few days home.

So it has been over a month since I have posted on here, and I'm sure that anyone who was every reading my blog gave up on me. But I am back people! Here is an update: we finally moved into our house the 3rd weekend in November. Mike's parents came down on a Friday and helped Mike move all our furniture over... I had to work that day. I felt bad for not being able to help but I probably wouldn't have been able to move much myself anyways. Plus it was really nice to come home to our new house and have everything moved in. I am however, still in the processes of unpacking everything. Then the following weekend my entire family came over for Thanksgiving, which was alot of fun and it was nice to see everyone all at once. Amy and I hit up the Black Friday sales... which ultimately sucked. The only store we were going to buy something at was Kohl's and the line to check out was about a mile long. The only reason I really wanted to go though was because I had never done it before, so at least I can say I have experienced that madness and I can safely say I will never put my self through that again.

I am 30 weeks right now, and counting. I am finding it very hard not to keep a countdown going. I have my next Drs. appt on the 30th and we have to go every two weeks now until Feb, and then it is every week after that. We also just registered for our birthing/preparation class, which we are luckily getting done in one weekend. We have the changing table and half of the crib set up and I have washed and organized all the cloths I have so far. We still have to paint the room which I'm not sure exactly what color I want to do yet. The bedding set Amy is making for me has mainly pink and blue in it. I'm not a huge fan of pink, so I don't think I want to paint her entire room pink. But I am afraid that if I go with blue it will look too much like a boy's room. So I am trying to figure out a way to incorporate both without looking too busy or gaudy. And I don't want to just paint it white because all the furniture is white and then it will just look like a solitary confinement room for a baby. Oh well, we still have two months to figure it out.

Ok... I am going to complain about one other thing. I can't wait until Christmas/Winter is over! I am already looking forward to summer and I believe today is only the first day of winter on the calendar... how sad. We put up our Christmas tree and decorated the weekend we moved in so I feel like it has been Christmas for forever now. I'm not too fond of the cold and wind... and the snow is ok, except when it takes me an extra hour and a half to get to and from work. Ok... I'm done.

I am posting a couple pics I just took of my baby bump since I have been getting requests. Mike says I look gianormis (word taken from Paris's vocabulary), but I still don't feel like I am that big. Although it does take me quite some time to put my socks and shoes on these days. And I have found out that I am unable to paint my toenails. I tried the other night and got one done and gave up. Otherwise I am feelin' pretty good. :)