Lilly Belle: 2 Weeks Old

(Lilly Belle kept wiping the board clean...oops)

Another week gone by? We can't believe our sweet girl is already 2 weeks old! Things are really starting to feel natural around here. Nights are getting easier and I cannot imagine life without Lilly Belle around. She is such a good baby and we feel really lucky and thankful for that. We had her 2 week check-up today and we are so proud! Lilly is now 7 lbs 4 oz (she was 6 lbs 9 oz when she was born). She is 20 inches long which means she grew 2 inches! We knew she looked bigger.

***Correction as of 8/21...Lilly weighed 7 lbs 14 oz at her appointment! not 4 oz.***

*Lilly is in the 50th percentile for her weight & 90th percentile for her height.

*Lilly Belle loves getting her hair washed. It is our new way to calm our sweet baby during her evening fussy time. We wrap her up in a towel and I just wash her hair in the sink. She gets this look of such calm, like she's at a baby spa. It's the cutest!

*We visited the beach house for the first time and spent the night. It was probably the worst night with sleeping and eating that we've had so far. Poor girl just couldn't get comfortable. Its like she knew we weren't home. She was up crying/fussing/screaming from around 10pm-4am on and off. There was no solid chunk of sleep that whole night. We're hoping it was just a fluke. Matt and I are also wondering if it bothers her when I drink wine. I gave it enough time before feeding her again, but still. So, no more wine until we can start giving her my milk from bottles.

*Lilly Belle met more of my dance families this week. It's been so much fun to see them with her. And my families have been so sweet bringing us meals every night. We didn't have to make dinner for the first week and a half of her life. So amazing.

*On Wednesday, August 14th, we went on our first outing together. We went to the mall and Lilly handled it amazingly well. She got to go to the Disney Store and for a bit she had her eyes open in there so she totally saw it ; ) She slept so I could buy some jeans at Express. I even got to try on jeans at a few other stores and she just chilled with Daddy and didn't make a peep. When she got hungry, her and I went to the Family Room for 40 minutes while she nursed and I changed her diaper. Matt just got to chill on his own for a while :) It was perfect.

*Lilly Belle now notices the toys that hang from her carseat and bouncer seats. She will notice them and try so hard to focus in on them just staring and staring. I love it.

*She fits in her carseat much better now than she did when we first came home. We're so curious to know how much she weighs now.

*We went back to the beach house and stayed from Thursday-Sunday. Thursday and most of Friday we were there with her alone and it was so fun to just be our little family there. She got to meet a lot more family on Sunday as we had a family birthday party.

*Lilly Belle got to meet her Auntie Megan, Uncle Chris & cousins on Sunday, too! It was so awesome to have them finally meet her! :)

Lilly Belle met lots of my dance kids this week :) 

My friend, Jessica, came over to do Lilly Belle's newborn photos. They're amazing!

Lilly Belle wore her new beach dress to the beach house

Uncle Clint held Lilly Belle for the first time and seemed pretty comfortable ; ) 

Lilly Belle loves her Uncle Clint :) 

Uncle Clint & Auntie Mel can't believe how teeny Lilly is!

First time hanging out with Auntie Mel :) 

Lots more sleep smiles. I love catching these! Sweet girl...

Squishy baby :)

Madison was excited to meet Lilly Belle after spending the whole summer helping me at camp everyday!

Girlfriend does this a lot. Beauty sleep is a big deal around here.

Little Miss practiced Tummy Time for the first time this week. She's so strong and it didn't bother her at all! :) 

Bath-time is still our favorite. Especially getting her hair washed.

Lilly Belle discovered her toys!

She met another one of her babysitters :) 

She's getting so big already! Last week she didn't look nearly this big in her Snugga Monkey!

Lots and lots of sleeping. She is our little Houdini and always manages to get her arms out of her swaddles so she can sleep with her hands by her head.

 So many cuddles with Daddy!

Watching ESPN with Daddy at the beach house.

This deserves its own post! Lilly Belle meeting her cousins for the first time. And without planning it, all 4 kids were in navy blue and jean dresses :) 

Auntie Megan meeting Lilly Belle :)

Uncle Chris was really excited about her too and it was really awesome :) 

More cuddles with Daddy...

Hanging out with Nana watching Daddy & Papa play ping pong.

We are so so in love!

Bath-time Fun!

Girlfriend loves bath-time. 

She sits there and will just stare and stare.

As long as we keep a washcloth over her to keep her warm, she loves it.

Her favorite part is after we wash her, we always wrap her in a towel to wash her hair in the sink. Its like baby spa time for her. We discovered her love for this when she was just 1 day old and the nurse washed her hair this way at the hospital. 

My absolute favorite time of the day is after bath when we just cuddle her all wrapped up in her towel. Her cute hair all wet and clean. She is always so cozy and just stares at us as we sing to her and talk to her about awesome things like Disneyland. 

"...this is the life..."

"No fair. Are you serious, Daddy? I have to be how tall to ride Indiana Jones?!" 

We are loving our new life so much! She makes everything so much better. 

Lilly Belle: 1 Week Old

Our Lilly Belle was 1 Week Old on Sunday, August 11th 2013.

Miss Belle didn't feel like having her pictures taken. "Mooommmm, seriously?!"

A week already?!

Where does the time go.

I cannot believe our sweet baby girl is already a week old. Matt kept saying today that she looks bigger. No...! (I agree) People aren't kidding when they say they grow so fast. 

We have made it through so much already this week and have grown together as a family so much in just our first week together. Today (Saturday night) Matt and I finally felt like, "we got this!" And we did. Today was flawless. Our sweet girl is finally taking to breastfeeding and this mama could not be more happy and relieved. I was feeling so down about it. "Why doesn't she want to latch to me?" "Why does she push away from me?" "What's wrong with me?" Little Bean just needed some time. She needed time to figure it all out and so did I. We have it down now. Not once did she pull away from me today. I actually cried tonight after her bath as I held her and through my shirt she tried to suck. She knew. I was so excited and felt so much love from her. She does know I'm her mama. 

Here are some highlights from our week (not that I can really write them all out...every moment is a highlight to us right now).

*Tonight after her bath, I had her wrapped up in her towel all cozy rocking her in her glider. Matt was out at the store and it was just the two of us. She made eye contact with me for a good 5 minutes while I sang "Lilly Belle" and "Part of Your World" to her. She just stared and stared and I sang and told her how perfect she was and how much I love her. It was a moment I wish I could have held onto forever.

*Like I mentioned above, we have breastfeeding down now. We had lots of hard times this week. From cracked/bleeding nipples to her screaming when it was time to feed. Now for two days in a row...perfect. Every feeding we've just got it down. It's starting to just come natural and I'm so thankful. I was so close to giving up and just start pumping and giving her bottles instead.

*She is super strong. She can roll from side to side and holds her head up so well. We have to be super careful holding her because Little Miss can really throw herself around.

*Lilly is a really easy going baby. Today she has a good 3 hours of awake time while Matt and I worked at the studio (maternity leave? what's that?). We cleaned and prepped for a weekend of birthday parties and she just chilled on the rug and made the cutest noises. 

*Lilly Belle gave us a few scares this week. Our first night home she gagged on her spit up and stopped breathing. Enough that she blocked her own airway, was stiff as a board and her eyes rolled back in her head. I don't know what made me awake at that moment, but I am so thankful. And I am so thankful for my Mom Lanese because I ran out to the living room franticly sobbing that Lilly wasn't breathing and she calmly took Lilly and held her and Lilly came to and it was okay. I just lay there holding Lilly with Matt for a good half hour just terrified and crying. It took me a day or two to get over what I saw. My baby girl not breathing and looking terrified. It was the most awful moment of my life. Now, thankfully, Lilly Belle has the spit up thing figured out...it definitely goes out instead of staying in. Thank God! 

*At her first appointment, prior to my milk coming in, Lilly weighed 6 lbs .5 oz which means she lost 8.5 oz. So, we had to go back two days later to check that she was gaining weight and that my milk came in. It definitely came in and Lilly Belle gained 4 oz. in just a day and a half! Our pediatrician was pretty happy about that. 

*At her second appointment, the doctor thought that she may have Jaundice. So we had to go to the hospital and have lab work taken. I know there will sadly be many times when my baby is in pain and I can't always fix it. This was just too soon. They had to prick her foot and then squeeze an entire vial out while shaking her leg and squeezing. I held her in my arms the whole time and just felt like she wanted me to help her. Her cry was the saddest most helpless cry. I cried the whole time just looking at Matt like I wanted him to make them stop. We couldn't do anything obviously and it was awful. Turns out...she is not Jaundice, but we did take her out into the sun a bunch yesterday and today just in case. 

*Lilly had her first bath, met tons of friends and family, went on her first walk and learned so many new things. We are so proud of her already. 

Hands down, this has been the best week of my whole life. The best week of our lives. We are beyond in love with our little girl. I just want to spend every second I can with her. I wonder what we'll all discover together next week :)

Here are some highlight pictures... (I already have 100's so this was hard to choose)

She loved her first bath so much!

Cuddle time with Nana

Meeting Katie & Avery, our best friends :)

So many cuddles with Daddy

Ready to go home!

First time in her room.

Papa's first time holding Lilly Belle

Lilly Belle met lots of my dance kids her first week! Samm will also be one of Lilly's babysitters :)

Cogsy is so amazing with her! Other than a few sniffs and kisses on her feet, this is as close as he gets.

Our sweet girl had lots of sleepy time her first week, of course :)

Lilly Belle's first bath at home in her whale tub

She's still a bit too small, but she loves her 4moms boucer, Mamaroo. Not sure if Daddy or Lilly Belle love it more??...

First walk (we only made it around our apartment to get the mail, but still counts)

A few days later we ventured a little further until Mommy had too much pain.

More sweet sleepy time

Lilly Belle's first time at the studio with Mommy & Daddy

The week flew by so fast. I'm excited about what adventures we will have this week together!