Girls day out... and then some.

So, Miss Isabelle and I had our first lunch out with the girls today.  It was very nice.  Amber and KP loved up on her the whole lunch and she stayed awake (with minimal fussing) for them the whole time!  She loves the attention! :)

We also went shopping this week.  We went to Kohl's, Target and Giant and she slept almost the entire time.  She started fussing when we were at Kohl's and it was time to leave.  (It was lunch time and she was ready to eat!)  So I have been figuring out her schedule a little better and am starting to figure out when she will sleep for a long time and when she won't so if I need to get out to run some errands, I have a very small window of time in which to do it!

So, Grandma Flint, Grandpa Brunk and Uncle Jeremy are coming out to visit next week and Grandma and Grandpa Hietikko are coming out the week between Christmas and New Year.  We are excited to have company (and a little help so I might get a little nap in every once in a while).  I still haven't mastered the art of "sleeping when the baby sleeps"... in fact, I haven't mastered it at all.  I don't get any sleep during the day, but I'm doing okay with the sleep I get at night.  And if I can get Belle to go back to sleep at her 7 or 8 o'clock wake up, I go back to sleep with her then.  I have also learned that I have a much better chance of getting her to go back to sleep at this time if I put her in bed with me.  In fact, she ALWAYS sleeps better if I put her in bed with me, but it's not something that I do often because I don't want her to get used to sleeping with us and before you know it, you have a 2 or 3 year old child sleeping with you and then good luck getting them to sleep in their own bed after that... but anyway, sometimes I'm just so tired and I just put her in bed with me and usually I fall back asleep before she does!!!  Anyway, I can't really remember where I was going with this story, so I'll just stop with the sleep habits here...

So, we've been getting some gifts in the mail the past couple days... Miss Isabelle now has quite a Michigan Tech wardrobe!!  I am proud to say that she will be sporting MTU parfinalia until about 18 months of age!!! :)  A special "Thank you" to Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom for her very first MTU hoodie.  I absolutely love it! :)  And a special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Lumsden for the adorable pink MTU onesie and the bib. :)  If I wasn't so tired and lazy, I would take pictures and post them here for you all to see, but, well, I'm too tired and lazy. :)

Okay, that's about it for me.  Belle is probably going to wake up to eat in the next couple minutes, so I'm going to relax for a few minutes until that happens...

Oh - one last bit of information... We FINALLY found a daycare accepting infants (I have called more than 25 places and only 1 place is accepting infants...).  Anyway, we are going to go meet with this lady Monday.  The only problem is that her hours are 6:45 - 4:30... That's going to make it really rough, but it's do-able if I get to work by about 7:15 and only take a half hour lunch...  anyway, there were two other places that will have openings for infants in April and in July, so I will probably call them back and make appointments to meet with them too and at least if we don't like the first one, or the hours are too hard for us to make, we can at least have other options come spring... ugh... this whole motherhood and responsibility thing is killing me already... :)  JK  I'm loving it. :)

Ooops - I forgot!

I forgot to tell you all that we went to the doctor Thursday for Isabelle's 2 week checkup and she is now 8 lbs even and 21 inches long.  That means she has gained over a pound in the last two weeks and grown an inch.  She's a champ!   We can really tell that she's growing too.  She no longer fits into some of her newborn clothes (but the 0-3 month stuff is still really quite big on her, but we use it anyway!) and Nick says he can really tell when he swaddles her because her little feet stick out the end of the blanket now!  :)  But she's still very content and just a very good baby.  We are so blessed! :)

I am planning to get out today to get Christmas pictures taken, but it's already 3:00 and we haven't moved and Belle still needs a bath before we get out... so maybe tomorrow instead??? I don't know, but if we don't go soon, she's not going to fit into her Christmas dress!!!  Yikes!  I'll post those pictures when we get them done.  :)

Have a great weekend!

Tired Mama

Well, I am finally getting around to posting some more pictures.  This whole being home during the day with a baby thing is tiring!! Holy cow.  I feel like I should have so much time to get things done around the house, but every time I turn around, Belle is waking up, crying and wanting to eat and I never really seem to get anything done until Nick gets home and can watch her for a little bit.  It's crazy.  On the up side of things, we have been really quite lucky and she has been getting up only two or three times a night (knock on wood) except last night which was terrible... Belle was up from 8:00 until 2am crying and being fussy.  Every time she would fall asleep and we would put her in the bassinet and she would wake up again... finally she fell asleep at 2, just to get back up at 5 and was up until 7:30...  I was exhausted.  Then she got back up from 9:30 til 11 and finally mommy got to rest a little from 11 until 2 (catnaps between her fussing, but rest just the same... I'll take it!)  Luckily she is sleeping right now (she keeps making little squeaking and crying noises over there though).  Hopefully she'll be down for another hour or so so I can get some laundry and dishes done.

Little Isabelle got a wonderful package in the mail yesterday from Grandma and Grandpa Hietikko.  She got a beautiful little dress and red shoes and a little dolly and some adorable puppy slippers (for when she gets a little bigger).  You will see pictures of the dress and shoes as soon as I get some time to play dress up again! :)  In the meantime, here are some more pictures from this week...
This is my sleepy little girl after her bath.  I love getting her picture after the bath.  Her hair gets all fuzzy and sticky-outie and is just so darn cute. :)  I love it!  She still has lots of hair and hopefully she doesn't lose it.  Her eyelashes are so long!! She's going to be a real heartbreaker! Daddy is going to have to get a couple shotguns!! ;)

One of her favorite places to be - snuggled up with mama!! :)
Just so darn cute.  Sleeping after another bath.  I sure wasn't prepared for this bath... I did everything backwards.  Fed first, then bath then diaper... She was up for quite a while after that... I now know that you should do bath time in the following order:  Bath, diaper, food... That should put her to sleep!  We will test it tonight.

She's a little angel.  Sleeping in the warm sunshine! :)

Well, that's it for me.  Have to go get that laundry going before Nick gets home with dinner and Belle wakes up!!  Will post more later.

Daddy's Birthday

Today was Nick's first birthday as a Daddy!  We didn't do much since we've been so busy at home with Isabelle and company and whatnot.   But he got some relaxing in and got to play some video games that he's been wanting to play but hasn't had time.  He also spent some good quality time with his little girl. :)  It's so sweet to watch them together.  I just love it. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Lumsden left yesterday to go back home.  We are expecting Grandma Flint and Grandpa Brunk in a couple weeks and Grandma and Grandpa Hietikko around Christmas.  Little Isabelle is going to get so much love!!!

Anyway, not much else going on today.  It's just been relaxing.  I've been sleepy, but took a little nap with Belle this afternoon... I have been having a hard time getting enough fluids though!  Breastfeeding really sucks the energy and the fluid out of you!  I have a headache that just won't go away because I'm a bit dehydrated, but I hate taking stuff for it because I don't want the meds to get into her system.  But I'm working on drinking lots and lots of water and juice and trying to keep up with her eating demands!

Here are a couple pictures for you to enjoy.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and had safe travels!

The First Week

Believe it or not, tomorrow our little Isabelle will already be one week old!  I can't believe it.  She was a little jaundiced so we had to take her back to the doctor on Monday to get her billy-reuben (that's how it sounds... no idea if that's how it's really spelled) level rechecked.  She has been eating and pooping like a champ so her levels are back down to normal and will continue to decrease as she eats.  She was 6 lbs 12 oz when we left the hospital on Saturday and was up to 7 lbs 4 oz on Monday morning.  I told you - eating like a champ!! :)  She's growing like a weed!  We (Grandma Gloria - aka "GG" - and I) went shopping yesterday afternoon and got all sorts of pink and purple clothes so our little girl gets to be dressed up in cutesy girl stuff now! :)  It's fun!!  Here are a few more pictures from this week.  She's just so darn cute!

Sleepy head.

Our little munchkin bundled up like an Eskimo.  She loves it.  Puts her right to sleep!
After her first actual bath.  She was NOT a happy camper during her bath.  But she loves these fuzzy snuggly little jammies!

We can't forget the furry little children.  They have been incredibly well behaved since we've been home with Isabelle.  They are super curious, but already very protective.  Elwood likes to lay in front of the swing when she's in it like a little watchdog.  Yesterday, she was sleeping in her playpen and started spitting up a little and making little gurgling noises and Jake started barking to let us know that something wasn't quite right.  As you can see from this picture, all that hard work "baby sitting" keeps them zonked out! :)

Happy Turkey Day to all tomorrow!!

Isabelle Marie

Just a quick post before I head off to bed for some much needed rest.  Miss Isabelle Marie Lumsden joined the world Thursday morning weighing in at 7 lbs 1.7 oz and measuring 20 inches long.  She is such a beautiful little angel!!!  We love her to death! :)  Here are a couple pics for now.  I will get more posted eventually... I actually have been a really bad mommy so far and haven't taken many pictures...  But here are some to tie you all over! :)

Maybe not...

So I had a doctors appointment this morning and they checked everything out and I am not dilated at all.  So, maybe there won't be a baby this week... She said she expects to see me at my appointment next Tuesday... So who knows.

I am finally done working though, so I got home a little early yesterday and was able to call (finally) on some pediatricians.  I have appointments scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday, so I'm hoping, at the very least, this baby waits until Thursday night.  Nick says Friday afternoon would be better (then he could get out of work early on Friday and take time off next week and have a nice long week).  :)  But it's looking like it might be next week anyway!  I hope it doesn't wait until Thanksgiving though!  I really don't want to miss out on Thanksgiving dinner because I'm in the hospital!!! But I guess if that's what's meant to be, that's what's meant to be!

Anyway, I did do a belly pic last night, but then I put the camera in Nick's hospital bag, so I probably won't get around to posting that one unless I feel like going and getting the camera out... :)

But for now, I'm going to go take a nap because I can!!  Yes!!!!!