Time Flies!

I can't believe that I haven't blogged in so long! We are busy bee's around here now! Here's an update starting from December.

We made the LONG drive home to Philadelphia to spend christmas with our families.

First, all my friends from high school and my great friend from college all came over to visit with us and meet Ansley!



We spent Christmas Eve at Uncle Fran and Aunt Mags House. All the Doyle's, Lazurs, and Millers were there to meet Ansley.


Christmas morning was spent at my parents house. Ansley slept great that night and took her nap in the travel swing we bought with us while we opened our gifts. That morning my grandparents, Sandy, Steve, and Lilly came over. They all got to meet Ansley for the first time!


Dustin's grandma Wayda, Aunt Denise, Uncle Chuck, and cousin Denise traveled all the way from the Chicago area to share Christmas with us and meet Ansley! We felt so blessed to see them. We had a lovely Christmas dinner with Dustin's family and were able to spend a few more days there with the Fricke's before they went back to IL.

One of the best parts of being in Philadelphia was that Ansley got to meet some of her great-grandparents. Here is her with 2 of her great-grandmoms.



All in all, Ansley's first Christmas was so special! She got tons and tons of gifts (especially from the grandmom's). Ansley was so lucky to have so many people who love her showering her with cuddles and attention the whole time!

While were were in PA, we planned to also get Ansley baptised. On the Sunday after Christmas, Ansley was baptised at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Lansdale PA. It was a nice ceremony. We had a lot of family there to support us. Clayton is Ansley's godfather and Nicole is Ansley's godmother.




We drove home, making it in time for New Years. Being brand-new parents, we didn't have big plans. We were able to go over to Nick and Tessa's for a couple of hours, but were home by 10:30pm (and I fell asleep on the couch about 11:45).


Since the holidays, Ansley has changed so much. She smiles constantly and is such a happy baby. She loves it when people talk to her and give her attention. She has long "conversations" with us everyday. She rolls from her tummy to her back and is really close to rolling over onto her stomach. She grabs onto rattles and holds them tight. She even sometimes holds her bottle up! She loves it when Dustin plays the guitar for her (and I love it too). We've been able to take out a lot more toys for her now that she is interested in. She still loves her gymini, but also loves playing in her Baby Einstein entertainer and sitting in her Bumbo chair. She also loves a red baby doll that my cousin Kelli gave her when she was first born.

On January 26th, I had to return to work. It was a really tough week. It has gotten easier as time has gone by, but I still wish I had more time with her. The lady watching her everyday is fantastic. We just couldn't be happier with her level of care for the kids! It is adorable to see Ansley laughing at the other kids when I pick her up each day. I try to get home each day as quickly as possible so I can spend a few good hours with her before her 7:15 bed time. Here are some pictures from the last few months.

This was an unusually really nice day in Atlanta in January, so we took Ansley to the park for the first time. We walked along the pond and saw the ducks, went on the swings, and went down the slide.




When she is wrapped up in her swaddle, we call her our "little Burrito".


Sitting up like such a big girl in her bumbo chair.


Ansley loves to look at books!


Here is Ansley with all of her stuffed animals. She blends right in :)


A picture from a "photo shoot" my mom and I had while she visited in early February.


My mom has a baby picture of my brother, about Ansley's age, where he has a blanket on top of his head. I love that shoot and wanted to try to recreate it with Ansley. I love the way it came out!


Just being happy :)


On Valentine's Day, my mom was here visiting, so Dustin and I were able to go out. We had a great evening. Here's Ansley in her valentines Day pj's.


It's been an exciting, exhausting, and AMAZING 4 months since we've had Ansley. She brings Dustin and I joy so many times a day. We are the luckiest parents in the world :)

I promise I will try to blog more often. Thanks for reading!
Erin

Ansley's Beautiful Bedroom

I just realized I never posted final pictures of the nursery. Here's her beautiful bedroom :)

Too big too quick!

Okay, so who would've known that there wouldn't be any time for blogging once you become a mommy (haha)! Or atleast, it's not on the top of the priority list. We have really been enjoying our precious baby girl and all the ways she is constantly changing. Ansley is currently 7 weeks old. At her 1 month check-up she weighed 8.1 and was 20.5 inches long. She looks like she is getting bigger by the day. She has already begun growing out of her newborn clothes (a few outfits are getting a little tight). Most of her 0-3 months stuff is still a little too big though. Ansley has finally begun to enjoy bathtime! For some reason, she also loves to lay on her changing table. She begun smiling at about 4 weeks and has been smiling more and more each day. She is typically really happy and smiley first thing in the morning. No matter how tired, frustrated, or drained I am, as soon as she smiles at me, I can't help but to smile back and then I just feel so much better. We haven't had much luck with getting her on any kind of schedule yet, but I know she's still really young. Getting her to go to sleep in her crib at night is the most frustrating part of our day. She typically won't finally go to sleep for the night until around midnight. Then. she is getting up around 2 times a night. She usually wakes up for the morning around 7ish. Luckily, she typically takes a nice long nap in the morning hours, so thats when I get a little more sleep. Ansley loves tummy time for the first few minutes and her neck muscles are getting very strong. But, after a good 4-5 minutes she starts getting tired and is ready to stop. I am still breastfeeding, but we are also supplementing with formula as well. Here's some pictures from the last 5 weeks.

Week 2

Ansley's 1st Week

I can't believe Ansley is already 10 days old! In just the short time that she has been home I already notice ways that she is growing up. Also, when we left the hospital she weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. At the doctor this morning she is already 6 lbs 10oz. Most babies don't even regain their birth weight for about 2 weeks, and she is already past her birth weight. When we left the hospital last Thursday she was a little jaundice. We went to the pediatrician on Monday and he jaundice level had doubled. The doctor suggested supplementing 1 oz of formula after each breast feeding session as well as putting her in the sun for 10 minutes a day when possible. We went back to the doctor Tuesday and then today and her jaundice level is continuing to decrease. We are so happy about that!
Ansley is such a little doll. For the first week, she slept for 18-20 hours a day. We would try so hard to wake her up but she wouldn't have it. Mom and Dad Doyle were at the house when we came home on Thursday. It was so heartwarming to see my parents with their first grandchild. They were so incredibly helpful the entire week. They went grocery shopping and planned and cooked meals for us all week. Mom cleaned my whole house for me and helped me take care of Ansley. She would even get up in the middle of the night after I fed her to stay up with her so I could go back to sleep. Dad was hesitant to hold Ansley in the beginning. He said "she's like a baby pigeon" so small and precious looking. He eventually gave in and spent some time cuddling with his grandbaby. They left yesterday morning :( It was super sad to say goodbye. Dustin and I have a wonderful life here in GA, but it makes me really sad to know that Ansley is going to miss out being close to her grandparents. Hopefully we will all travel more often and see eachother as much as possible.
Ansley has been sleeping pretty well at night. She gets up every 2-4 hours to eat. Most of the time she will go back to sleep, but sometimes she is just wide awake. Breastfeeding is also going pretty well. We had some issues latching on and staying awake for a feeding, but everyday has gotten better and better. I think Ansley and I will be pro's soon enough. Ansley and I got some flowers, gifts, and cards sent to the house the first few days we were home. The house looks beautiful with all the gourgous flowers around. It's so nice to have such loving caring people in our lives.
Ansley really hates getting her diaper changed and especially hates taking a bath. Poor thing screams the entire time we bathe her. Luckily, the doctor said to bathe her every 2-3 days. She absolutely loves to lay on her daddy's chest and sit in her swing. Dustin even plays the guitar for her when she's fussy and she calms down. She also found her thumbs a couple days ago and has started sucking on them occasionaly. Dustin and I were going to try not to give her a pacifier, but in the midst of a crying fit, we gave it a try and she calmed right down. So, now we are trying to save the pacifiers for just night time crying to try and get her back to sleep, but who knows what will happen.
This week has been so exciting, exhausting, and really memorable. I can't wait to see what the future brings for us.
I still have quite a bit of time to stay home with her. My return to work date is January 26th, 2010. I plan to cherish every single solitary moment.