Fresh Air!! (it's been awhile...)

We all went for our first walk last night, and it was a wondrous event.  JKK pushed Millie in the stroller; I ambled along beside them.  Millie loves being outside!  We already knew this from JKK taking her outside on the deck to calm her down.  But oh, it was so cute to see her looking around on our walk.  I love that she is much more alert these days!

 She isn't mad; this is her concentration face.

I can see this nightly walk coming in handy in the months to come when she won't settle down before bedtime. ;)

This girl's tired...

and I ain't talkin' bout Millie. ;)  I know I should be thankful because she's sleeping so well at night; it's just hard to get used to getting up in the middle of the night at all. Guess that's the life of a mommy, so I'm glad to be doing it.

Aunt Jamie, aka the Midge, left early yesterday morning to go back to Milwaukee.  I was sad.  I could tell Millie was sad.  And Greenlee was definitely sad.  It was a great visit, and there was plenty of lounging, cupcake-making, and movie-watching all weekend.  We even got to eat pizza!  I thought it was not in the cards for me since I'm supposed to be living dairy-free these days.  Well, TGFH (Thank God for Hippies!) - Mellow Mushroom offers a vegan cheese option on their pizzas.  It was actually quite delicious; I'll be going again soon. 
If you look at my last post, you can see the three of us in a "before" shot.  Here's the "after" shot (too bad it can't also be at the beach):

Midge is also a talented photographer with a fancypants camera and everything.  She took quite a few pics this weekend; here's a beauty:

Also, my dad finally got to hold Camilla!  He, Tricia & Hillery all drove out to NWA to visit for a few hours Saturday afternoon.  We're so glad they did.  Not only did my dad get some Milla time, but he also got some deck time with John & the cigars he brought to celebrate.  Here's PaPa & Millie:

Okay, one more...this one shows her awesome neck strength & head control!

We are enjoying our week at home with nothing on the agenda - no doctors appointments or any place we need to be.  It's just me, Millie, a whole bunch of laundry, and all the air-conditioning we can handle (thank goodness).  I'm hoping to start going for some walks in the evening with JKK pushing Millie in the stroller.  Cabin fever is setting in - 3 weeks to go until the quarantine period is over and I'm released to get back into life!  Looking forward to that...and also looking forward to seeing my brother, Leann and the kiddos this coming weekend!  Camilla gets to meet her cousins, Ethyn & Kendyl; we can't wait!

TGIF

The weekend is here, and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my dear friend (& Milla's honorary aunt) Jamie!  Looking forward to having her here all weekend for some girl talk; although, it won't be the same without pizza.  Oh, how I miss dairy already...
Here are the three of us back in April when we met up in Boca Raton:

Last night, I finally busted out the Moby Wrap.  I have friends that LOVE this thing.  It's pretty amazing and the babies love it, but it is also kind of intimidating to learn how to use.  It is 20 yards of fabric that you wrap around yourself in a very specific way; then you plop the baby in it and expect it to hold up.  I was skeptical, but look!  Here we are and she didn't fall out once.

Here is a pic that includes two of my favorite things.  One, I love Etsy.com and here is sweet Millie trying out one of her new headbands that I ordered her.   Awww, it's little - just like her!  Two, I love these $2 Faded Glory onesies from Wal-Mart.  $2!  We discovered them when we brought her home from the hospital with only two newborn outfits to her name.  Off my mom goes to Wal-Mart, and she finds these onesies in the newborn size.  Fast forward one week and we've bought doubles in every girl color.  As John says "it costs more than $2 to do a load of laundry!"...so we've stocked up, figuring she'll be growing out of this newborn size pretty quickly.  She has so many cute 0-3 months size clothes I can't wait to see her in!

One semester in college, I thought I wanted to change majors and get out of the business school.  Thus, my coursework that semester included a 5-hour calculus class that blew my mind.  5 hours!  This meant I had to go every weekday for an entire semester.  AND this wasn't business calc; this was the hardcore calculus that engineering and science majors had to take.  Jeez louise, it was so hard and I never did catch on (evidenced by my grade of D).  It didn't make it any easier that the professor was from a tiny Eastern European country and he had a strong accent (and even stronger body odor).  Anyhoo, up until this point in my life, this was the hardest I have ever worked with so little to show for my effort.  Until now.  Now, 15 times a day I have to try to keep a newborn baby awake during breastfeeding.  Why is this so hard?!  Camilla can be wide awake and screaming like a banshee to eat, and then the second I start feeding her, she gets sleepy eyes and starts nodding off.  Argghhhh...

Nothing seems to work; not undressing her or tickling her or rubbing her head.  Observation: tickling her feet isn't the way to go as this causes milk to shoot out of her nose (it's funny now but certainly wasn't at the time).  Hopefully, this will get better as she gets a little older, and she will be able to stay awake long enough for me to feed her.  Until then, this is my daily mission.

And in this corner, weighing in at...

Camilla had her two week pediatrician appointment today.  She weighs 7 lbs, 9 oz.!  She's becoming such a good eater.  I feel so proud. 

We had to take in some of her poopy diapers for the doctor to test for the sensitivity to milk protein; test positive. :(  I'm supposed to cut out dairy - milk, cheese, ice cream (!), and yogurt.  Then we go again in 2 weeks to get tested again.  If this doesn't quite clear up the diarrhea, then I have to start cutting out foods that have dairy ingredients, such as whey and casein, which will be much harder.  Fingers crossed that this first cut works...
At least it won't be forever; the doctor said this sensitivity usually clears up by 6 months of age.

Now to the important stuff...picture time!

Here she is this afternoon chillin' in her swing; yes, it makes bird sounds.

And check out these feet!

JKK and I have noticed a big difference in how often she has her eyes open this week; she focuses on our faces and looks all around while having her diaper changed.  It's pretty cute, obviously.

Happy Hump Day!

Mommy Monday

Home alone for the first time with my Millie.  It's been a pretty boring day, but I've loved it!  It's so quiet.  She just eats and sleeps...and we can nap together anytime I want!  She's such a good napper.

I read this book called The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer.  The author has come up with this plan called E.A.S.Y., which totally makes sense to me.  However, it might be awhile before I can adhere to this plan.  E = eat, A = activity, S = sleep, Y = you.  Simple enough.  The idea is to have some sort of activity or play time after eating so that kids don't associate eating with going right to sleep; if you stay on this cycle, there will always be some "you time".  Millie isn't having any of it yet though; I spend a good 15 minutes trying to keep her awake WHILE she is eating.  By the time she's through eating, I've given up and just let her fall back asleep.  For example, this morning I tried some tummy time on her play mat, but somehow this always turns into naptime on the play mat.  Here she is having a very happy dream:

This weekend we received her hospital pictures in the mail.  When I agreed to have these pictures taken at the hospital, I had in mind the typical picture taken in the nursery and posted on hospital websites for the past 30 years.  Nothing special, but for sentimental purposes, it's a must.  We were shocked when the photographer showed up at our room and started arranging a backdrop on the bed for a full-blown photo shoot.  We were skeptical, but after being shown the proofs in a very manipulative slideshow (dreamy music & tear-jerk quotes included), we were quick to shell out $130 for the pictures.  I'm so glad we did though.  Our camera wasn't cooperating at the hospital, and now we have several good pics of Camilla's second day of life, p.w. (post-womb).  And as an added bonus, some of them are pretty comical because it looks like we've just checked our baby in to a health spa with her white robe on.

Next up is her 2 week checkup with the pediatrician on Wednesday.  Her diarrhea hasn't gone away, so I just had a telephone chat with the nurse practicioner.  She has no fever and no other symptoms; the nurse seems to think it could possibly be a milk protein allergy.  Oh boy.  I have a feeling I'm going to be banned from dairy products, which will leave John with the sole responsibility of polishing off the rest of the 20 gallons of ice cream we have in our freezer.  (I was pretty fond of ice cream at the end of my pregnancy and would stock up on Ben & Jerry's pints every time I went to walmart.)  Stay tuned.



Home Sweet Home

We've now been home for a week, and it has been glorious.  Endless hours have been spent staring at our brand new girl; you can see why (check out that dimple!):

It was a busy week for us!  I was so sad to see John go back to work on Monday.  Thankfully, my mom stayed with us this week to help with the baby; she also cooked us meals and did laundry, as well as getting in lots of Milla time (get it...Miller time...Milla time). 

It was a week of firsts:  Sunday was her first sponge bath (can't get a real one until that disgusting, mangled fake bellybutton falls off); Monday was her first pediatrician appt; Tuesday was her first photo session with a professional photographer; Wednesday was her first birthday (one week old!); Thursday was full of visitors and her first bout of diarrhea; Friday was her first meet and greet with Cayden, her soon-to-be BFF!

Here is video of Camilla on Monday...all dressed up to go to the pediatrician.  Her stats were good!  The jaundice hadn't really taken hold of her, so the yellow coloring had pretty much gone away.  Her weight was up a little from the day we left the hospital: 6 pounds, 11.5 oz vs. 6 pounds, 8 oz. on day of discharge.  Her reflexes were all what they were supposed to be.  We officially have a healthy, growing baby on our hands!

Video: Camilla's ready for her first dr appt

Tuesday, we went to see Amber Lanning for a newborn photography session.  She is amazing.  We cannot wait to see the pictures; I know they will be stunning.  Amber keeps her studio around 85-90 degrees so that the naked babies feel comfortable and will sleep during the sessions.  It was stifling.  I haven't sweated that much in ages.  It will certainly be worth it though...check out the single proof Amber has sent us of our sweet Camilla so far:

Wednesday, our little Millie is one week old.  Time is flying by already!  Every month we are going to put her in her little chair and take a pic of her so we can see how she has grown over the year(s).  You can see I've used one of these pics for the Blog header; here's another one that cracks me up.  It looks like the owl just scared the bejeezus out of her.

Thursday, Milla got to see Mimi & Papa again; she also got to meet Aunt Dina for the first time!  Cousins Jayme, Laura & Logan stopped by, as well as friends and coworkers Courtney & Jessica.  It was great to see everyone!  Unfortunately, also on Thursday, Milla started getting diarrhea.  Two days prior, I had started her on some vitamin D drops given to us at our pediatrician appt.  Apparently, her system isn't ready for that yet.  Poor baby...but no fever or any other symptoms.

Friday - we've officially been home from the hospital for one week, and where should we happen to go that evening?  Back to the hospital!  This time to see our friends Amanda & Heath's new baby boy, Cayden Rhys.  Amanda is a good friend of mine that I met through my book club.  We got pregnant around the same time, and we were due only 3 days apart!  Camilla came early and things got a little messed up, but still they are only 8 days apart.  When Amanda found out she was having a boy and I found out I was having a girl, we immediately started planning the wedding. :)  On a serious note, we both feel extremely lucky to have two healthy, beautiful babies. 

And now it is Saturday and time to spend the day with Johnny.  My mom left yesterday, and there were some tears.  We'll miss her (& her expertise), but we know she'll come back to visit soon.  Next week, I hope to get Milla on a more consistent feeding schedule.  It's sort of been willy-nilly this week.  She's been eating good though and even giving me some pretty decent stretches of sleep at night.  I'd call this week a definite success.  We've found out that she really likes her snug-a-bunny swing and vibrating little lamb chair.  She does not like to have her arms swaddled down to her sides, and she is learning to use a pacifier.  The moses basket is her favorite place to nap, and we have been experimenting with tummy time on her play mat.  And she really loves it when JKK takes her outside in the extreme heat for short periods of time.  It's crazy, she'll calm right down every time...or maybe it is just getting to spend time with daddy.



Born on the 6th of July

Our little Camilla couldn't wait any longer, and so it has started...she's already getting her way. Fourth of July, we had John's sister, Colleen, and her family out for the day. We grilled hot dogs, made a blueberry pie, and shot fireworks that night. I went to bed fat and happy. Around 3:30am we were on our way to the hospital with some bleeding and contractions. Milla was getting impatient...maybe it was the fireworks. I had originally had a C-Section planned for July 19th due to a condition called placenta previa; this is where the placenta is covering the cervix and can be dangerous to both the baby and the mother if I was to go into labor. I was admitted into the hospital and the C-Section date was moved up to the next day, July 6th! Holy bananas.

For the next 24 hours, I was pumped full of steroids to boost Milla's lung development; she was already 37 weeks, but my Dr. wanted to take every precaution. Then we had to wait until morning...and the anxiety about killed me. We had the house pretty much ready, but I'm not sure our brains were able to take in the fact that we would be parents in less than 24 hours. It's a rather large responsibility, but I think excitement was winning out over all of the other nervous and anxious emotions. My surgery was scheduled for 8am, but I got to go back early and Camilla Marie was born at 7:51am on Wednesday, July 6th. It was so fast!

John had barely gotten his hazmat suit on and come into the operating room when Dr. Hinton was saying "you're about to have a baby"! It all went so well and was painless and then Millie is being held up over the barrier for us to look at. Oh, the emotions...it was overwhelming, and she was covered in cheese (actually called vernix), but somehow we still knew she was perfect! John got to watch them clean her and take measurements: weight 7 pounds, 1 ounce; length 19.5 inches of gorgeousness. Apgar scores of 8 & then 9...atta girl.  Video: Camilla is born!

John even got to carry her to the nursery. An hour later, we were all back in our hospital room and Milla was nursing like a pro. (Okay, so this first time to nurse proved to be a bit of a fluke. We had a few struggles over the next couple of days, but by the time we left the hospital, I think we all had the hang of it again.) The next two days were spent in the hospital, and both of those nights Milla ended up sleeping on my chest. She did not like that bassinet in the room! I was happy to provide the space though and keep her close to me. John didn't like his bed in the room either, but he couldn't fit in with the two of us. He spent many hours each night rocking her and snuggling her and making her feel loved. And I'm pretty sure he got 99% of those nasty meconium diapers. :)

Forty-eight hours and a thousand pictures later, we were strapping her into her car seat and taking our cute little bundle home to meet her furry siblings. My mom and John's sister, Colleen, had stayed at our house all week taking care of the pets and keeping us fed so we didn't have to live on hospital food alone. Oh, it was good to be home! How I missed my buddy...and my bed. Our family of four is now officially a fivesome!