6 Weeks - growing so fast

My friend Elissa came down from Virginia with her two little boys to visit me and see Daisy in person for the first time over the past couple of days. While she was here she suggested that we use Daisy's basket for a little photo shoot and I thought it was a great idea so we went for it. The pictures turned out so cute and I really think they are some of my favorites so far:). Thanks for the idea Elissa and thanks for the visit. It was so great to see you and the boys!

Daisy is 6 weeks old now! I can't get enough of our chubby cheeked baby girl:-) She is continuing to improve in her sleeping habits and last night we had our best night with her thus far. She slept from 10:30 PM to 3 AM then I fed her and she went back to sleep until 7AM. Granted, she does wake up from time to time and I have to give her a pacifier for her to fall back to sleep and stroke her cheek with my finger to soothe her but, then she usually falls right back to sleep. I truly think I have an angel baby (overall of course):) I am getting tons and tons of smiles and coos out of Daisy now as is Joey and they are all priceless!! As a parent it seems to be all about learning what your baby/child likes and doesn't like and then again, teaching them to like things through repetition and patience. lol. Daisy is starting to like her swing more little by little (still working on it), she likes staring at her toys while she sits in her bouncer for about 15 minutes or so and she still loves her sponge baths so long as we make sure she is nice and warm through the whole process...she loves the warm water just like her mama and she still loves talking to us when we change her diaper on her changing pad:). Daisy is also fond of laying in soft fluffy blankets on our bed in the morning so she can stare at the sunlight streaming in the window and though she does enjoy being held she does seem to tire of it unless she is sleepy which is understandable as it gets uncomfortable I'm sure. Plain and simple the kid likes variety and who could blame her right? Don't we all:-) So most of my days with Daisy consist of her napping, eating, hanging out on her changing table talking, playing under her play mat while we chat, bouncer time while I shower, swing time when she's sleepy and arm time when she's sleepy and then repeat. lol. Very, very exciting day for both of us!! :) I'm loving it all to be honest.

Daisy really amazed me (blew me away is more like it) yesterday by repeatedly smacking at her rattle intentionally on her play mat over and over again for about a half an hour. I could tell that it took a tremendous amount of energy and effort for her to control her hand and to actually hit the rattle but, she was determined to do it and she did! I could tell that it was overwhelming her...maybe even stressing her out after a bit so I gave her a break and she fell asleep from exhaustion poor baby. I am so surprised by how advanced her efforts are though. I have a short video to post of her smacking at her rattle. It's pretty cute. Daisy is one sharp cookie!

Duke Gardens - 6 year Anniversary Pictures

You have already seen some of these pictures but, I thought I would overwhelm you with my other favorites. We decided to keep our anniversary low key this year and stay close to home because I'm just not quite ready to leave my tiny baby for too long yet. So instead we traveled over to the beautiful Duke Gardens not too far from our house to check out the spring scenery and to take some family pictures for fun. I feel it necessary to add that it was about 90+ degrees and super humid that day and by the time we walked just from the parking lot to the garden we were already dripping with sweat, my hair was sticking to my neck and my make up was smearing, Joey's face was shining and his shirt was steaming and Daisy was melting. Before going I had visions of dreamy, romantic pictures with my hubby of six years and amazing family portraits with our angel baby but, in reality there were some grouchy moments between Joey and myself, a fussy, hot and hungry baby and then again some pretty comical moments as well between all of us! :). My mom was a trooper and seemed to love the entire experience because she's easy like that. lol. Regardless of the speed bumps I was determined to get pictures and woohoo, we did:) Thank you for taking these pictures for us mom and for spending the day at the park with us!

Me and the Kids - Happy Mother's Day

Dakota has been pretty good about not attacking Daisy with kisses or her paws on accident. On the other hand she has been very jealous of the time I have had to spend with Daisy, so I have tried to include Dakota as much as possible and this picture captures one of those moments perfectly. I think it's cute how curious Dakota is about Daisy and as long as we watch her she leaves Daisy alone which is great. Soon enough Daisy will be yanking Dakota's tail and chasing her around the house and then we will be worrying about Dakota! lol.

Today we had a wonderful Mother's Day service. The church spoiled all the mom's with a King sized candy bar and a note of appreciation as well as a coffee and doughnut cart that brought goodies to all the moms while they sat in church. Everyone was greeting me by saying "Happy Mother's Day" and since I am still completely new at being a mom it hasn't registered that this holiday now also includes me. Also, I wished young children, men and single gals a "Happy Mother's Day" right back because it was being said so much I wasn't even really thinking about who I was responding to. It's like when you go to a restaurant and the waiter says, "Enjoy your dinner," and without thinking about it you say, "you too." lol.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!

It is such a special thing to have now joined ranks with all the other amazing moms I know. I wish I could list all of you moms by name on my blog and give you personal kuddos for being so awesome but, that would be a really long list. So, I'll just say thank you! Thank you for all the tireless hours you have spent loving on, giving to and serving your children so they can grow up into confident, balanced, healthy, loved adults. Thank you for giving up so much of your free time and energy to bless the children in your life. God Bless each of you today and every day with extra strength, patience, love and endurance for the tough and the good days. You are all heroes in my book!! xoxo

Reflections

I posted the worship song Desert, by Hillsong United a while back but, I didn't post the testimony of one of the gals who sings it. It is very humbling and deeply touching and does not take long to watch so check it out. I have watched it a few times now but, this morning as the CD plays in my house and as my precious daughter sleeps peacefully on the couch while this particular song plays around her I am thinking so many things. I'm thinking how incredibly blessed I am that I have a healthy child and that I am a mother now. As I look at her helpless little body I know that I would do anything in my power to protect her from harm or pain but, ultimately I cannot protect her from everything and instead I have to learn to completely entrust her in God's loving care. I've been so overwhelmingly busy and tired since Daisy was born that I have not been praying or reading my Bible nearly as much as I need to, want to or should! More than anything else, I want my daughter to have an passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. I want her to know that her mama prayed diligently for her day after day and I want her to worship the Lord with her every breath. So, the responsibility starts with me to set that example and to be consistent in my pursuit of the Lord. It isn't always easy to find the time to worship the Lord, things are constantly distracting us, seasons of life might depress us and tempt us to turn from the Lord or seasons might be so great that we forget to praise the Lord in the midst of them because we might not feel the need to pursue God when things are so good (how sad though)! Just because we don't feel like worshiping doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, in fact all the more reason to press into worship deeper and more persistently and then in the process, thwart the enemies efforts to knock us off our guard. Anyways, this one post has taken me several hours to type and thus my thoughts are all discombobulated and I don't think this came out quite like I had hoped but, the video is quite concise and moving so give it a try:). Thanks for listening and may the Lord richly bless you with a passionate life of worship regardless of the season, distraction or mood you might be in. Bless the name of the Lord! If you want to watch the full song click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QemZQKKJbRU&feature=related

A little of This and a Little of That

After I gave Daisy a little sponge bath (shown in the pictures) she was completely exhausted because she had also been up for a while. She literally conked out on the dining room table after her bath and then when my mom picked her up we got the pictures on the top of Daisy totally checked out and peaceful. I couldn't get over how precious she looked so I took a kajillion pictures hence the variety:). While my mom was here she followed me around with the camera a little bit to capture memories of me with Daisy. I am more often than not the one behind the camera so I have missed out on getting in the pictures with my little girl. Now I have lots and I am so happy about that!

Sleeping at night with Daisy is finally becoming more routine which is such a blessing after 5 weeks of so little sleep at night. It's still exhausting to get up with her 2-3 times a night but, it's definitely getting easier. After Daisy's last night time feeding around 10 PM she is usually pretty much in bed mode and we are able to lay her down in our room with her baby lullaby's playing on a CD. She sometimes will chat for about 5 minutes or so and then falls asleep very easily which is wonderful. Then she usually sleeps anywhere from 3.5-5 hours for her first stretch depending on how much she napped during the day. I will get up with her around 1:30-3:30 and feed her again and then she usually will go back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. Some nights, such as last night, are still tough but, I'm feeling more confident that Daisy is sleeping more consistently which will help out tremendously when I go back to work in just 3 short weeks.

Things Daisy seems to enjoy these days...laying on her play mat for a good 15-20 minutes and staring at the octopus while I rattle the toy hanging from his arms. She can stare at that rattle forever while I shake it and stop to let her look at it and then shake it again. She loves Mr. Octopus! Daisy is definitely an observer and loves to just lay quietly on mine or Joey's laps and stare at us intently while we talk to her or stare back at her. She loves hearing Joey's voice and will quickly turn her head away from me to look at him when he walks up to her. It's so cute! She also loves her pacifier and so far I have found it to be the best way to soothe her and quiet her when she starts to fuss. She still struggles to keep it in her mouth initially but with a little help and once she gets a good grip on it she doesn't like to let go. It keeps her quiet which makes me happy:). Another thing that I have noticed is that Daisy seems to really like having a soft blanket by the side of her face when she is tired and I'm trying to get her down for a nap or bedtime. I don't leave it like that necessarily when she is sleeping but, she seems to like soft things touching her cheeks for some reason and it seems to really calm her. Joey and I have been so impressed by how easy Daisy has been the past two weeks. She has a short period of time that she periodically gets fussy in the evening for a couple of hours but, she doesn't always fuss and it's pretty minimal. Granted, her behavior could still change drastically so for the time being we are really enjoying are content little Daisyroo:).

Grandma Lulu and Daisy - All Smiles

I was outside taking pictures of my mom and Daisy on my mom's cell phone and we just so happened to capture this shot of Daisy and my mom both smiling ear to ear at the same time. Daisy wasnt trying to smile but, the moment could not have been better! This is one of my favorite pictures from my mom's visit...well, actually I have tons of favorites but, this is one of them:). My mom also planted the flowers shown in the picture in a cute pot which now adorns my porch:) Thanks Marme!

Already One Month Old!

I have had one of the most wonderful months of my life being home with Daisy and watching her grow. I can't believe that she is five weeks old already!! Joey and I were observing that Daisy has gotten very good at turning her head back and forth to look directly at people or things when she wants to. She also has loved holding her head up (with support of course) since day one and as a result her neck is getting so much stronger and she can hold it up on her own a lot longer now. She is also so squirmy that I wouldn't be surprised if Daisy is rolling over very soon. She loves chatting and is happiest and most talkative in the mornings and early afternoons. She tends to fight sleep and nap time and can get a bit cranky when she doesn't get a long nap in during the day. Today she got a nice long nap and was super happy and adorable all day but, now as I type this at 11 PM Daisy doesn't want to go to sleep for the night. It seems that sleep is going to be our tough area with Daisy for a while but, in time this too shall pass:-) As I said in the last post, Daisy is smiling a lot more often now and intentionally. It is the cutest thing in the world to see that gummy mouth bust into a huge, ear to ear smile. LOVE IT!!

Some of these pictures are a bit repetitious but, I liked them all so I couldn't choose just one. Daisy has lost a lot of her hair at the front of her head but, still has quite a bit on the sides and back. Culdesac hair as we call it;). Both Joey and I lost most of our hair after we were born and it started filling back in when we were about a year old I think. Still thinking Daisy looks the most like Joey at this point but, then again she changes so much just about everyday so tomorrow she could look more like me! lol. My last note on Daisy is that she has almost completely outgrown her newborn onesies and clothes. Some of them still fit her, but are quite snug due to her chunky belly and long torso. I have been dressing Daisy in her 0-3 month onesies and they fit her much better but, are still just a tad too long but, not by much. That's all on my little Daisy Love for now:-).