Back to the Real World

That blissful period of reprieve from work know as "maternity leave" is coming to a close. I'm back on the schedule at work with a full 80 hour pay period ahead of me. Monday is my first day back. My managers and coworkers seem excited to have me back, but I'm torn. It'll be nice to get out of the house and to make money again, but I'm going to miss Anni like crazy. The garden departments are going through the transition from summer to the holidays. Halloween decorations are up and Christmas will be following suit shortly. From what I understand, I will be spending a large chunk of my winter outside, selling Christmas trees, packaged firewood, and ice melt. Kelly has a big down-filled coat I plan on wearing. I'm going to look like a red and black Michellin Man.

Annika is sleeping better. At night, she usually sleeps for 5 or 6 hours at a time. The problem is getting her to go to sleep initially. The past few nights we've both been so tired we don't have the patience to fight with her, so we just put her in the car and take a drive for a half hour. She'll fall asleep and stay asleep. Last night, I was bound and determined to have her go to sleep on her own. That went over rather poorly. We fed her and did her nightly bedtime bath, and she fell right asleep. That lasted for about 15 minutes before she woke up screaming. At about 1:30 in the morning she finally went to sleep and stayed asleep. I think I just let her sleep too much during the day yesterday. She falls asleep quickly and sleeps pretty well when she's on the bed with us in the evening or with us in the living room, but as soon as we put her down in her room, in her bed, she wakes right up and won't go back to sleep.

One Month Old!

Today, Annika is one month old! It's gone by so quickly, I just can't believe it.

Cousins

Yesterday, Kelly's nieces, Isabelle and Jasmine, came to see Annika. Jasmine is 7 and Isabelle is 5. It's amazing that in a few short years Anni is going to be that big and that much trouble. The girls just loved her and were so excited to finally get to see her.

Grandma LeAnn and Grandpa Brent were pretty happy to see her too.

I let the girls play in the kitchen while they were here. I suppose we could have actually made something, but they were having a good time mixing random spices in a bowl and adding water to see what came out. I'd forgotten how messy little kids can be. It cleaned up easy enough, and they had fun, so it was worth losing a bit of sugar, flour, and spices we don't use much.

A Day at the Fair

We took Annika to her first fair on Saturday. She slept through the entire thing. Addison was pretty excited about it though. Kelly got some Daddy-Daughter bonding time; she loves her little sling carrier.

She got a little overly warm and ended up with a little, tiny heat rash on her arm and cheeks. We should have taken the stroller, but I wanted her close to me while we were out in such a crowded place.

I'm amused that the first picture we have of all three of us is outside the Weber County Fair. Makes me feel closer to my redneck roots.

Kelly got his funnel cake fix and we got to spend time with my parents, Meg, Ryan, and Addie. She was so cute at the petting zoo. I can't wait to take our little bug next year!

This is the strip quilt that mom made for Anni. I just love it!

2 Week Follow up Visit

Yesterday was Anni's second week follow-up with Dr. Qader. She's 20.5 inches long and 7 lbs 14 ounces now. She's in the 50th percentile for height and 25th for weight. She's just a tiny little thing, but very healthy. We're really happy with how quickly she's growing, it's just amazing that she was just a moving bulge in my belly 15 days ago.

The doctor said not to worry about reflux unless she starts losing weight. The spit up and puking is just normal. If anything, she's probably eating a little too much and that's why she pukes. He says not to worry, she'll work it out and figure out when to stop on her own.

She's sleeping better at night, and waking me up to eat rather than me waking her up, which is a relief.

Anni also found her tongue and fingers this week. The novelty of her tongue is wearing off and she doesn't stick it out as much as she did a few days ago, but her fingers are still fascinating. She doesn't suck on her thumb, but will suck on the side of her fist or her first 3 fingers. She's extremely strong, and can hold her head up very well, as illustrated here.

She's doing better with baths. Her little stump has finally fallen off, so we can do real baths now. They're getting necessary, because she spits up and pukes on us and herself so much. Her little diaper rash is slowly getting better. The doctor said to keep an eye on it and to use a lot more Desitin than we were using, and it should clear up by the end of the week.