First outing with just me and Gloria

I'm off to see my doctor and bringing Gloria with. It's the first time that I've ever attempted to take her anywhere by myself. I feel pretty confident - as long as she eats a bit before we go. Another first - I gave her a bath all by myself today too! Usually Rob and I do it together or he does it by himself or I do it with my mom. Not today! She was dirty and we had fun.

This morning we were playing on the play mat and she was "talking" up a storm with me. It really seemed like we were having a conversation. It was cute. I would've liked to had the video camera within arm's reach, but it was in the kitchen and I was not about to disrupt our conversation.

Okay, time to get ready for this "trip." Wish us luck!

Officially the "First Smile" Day

There's no mistaking it! Gloria can smile! Check out her many smiles caught in a few minutes while sitting in her bouncy chair. I'm putting the "first smile" sticker on her baby calendar today! What a cutie!

Saturday morning

Here's Gloria getting ready for her outing on Thursday to Meijer and Target. Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?


And some cute pictures of Gloria and her mommy (me!) from Thursday night.


Here's Gloria sitting with Daddy on Thursday night. She's been working on her neck and back muscles. They're getting much stronger. She's picking her head up while being burped and during tummy time. Rob thinks she'll be standing by 3 months and walking at 4 months. He was wondering what the Guinness World Record is for the earliest walker...

Who's that pretty girl in the mirror? Gloria likes her new mirror - a shower gift from Betty. Thank you!

And now a picture of what is happening at this very second in the bedroom...

Such sleepy heads :)

Baby Shower and Outings

Our "Welcome Baby Shower" was last Sunday and all went well. The ride to St. Joseph was uneventful until about 15 minutes away when Gloria decided she wanted to eat. We stopped in a parking lot of a store that was closed, Gloria ate for about 15 minutes, and then we were off again. During the shower, Gloria slept almost the entire time except for 15 minutes when she wanted to eat. She was passed around among the guests and didn't make a peep. She stayed sleeping all snuggled in her blankie.

The food was DELICIOUS thanks to Vicki! Yummy chicken salad puffs, cucumber sandwiches, and ham ribbon sandwiches. The cake was really pretty and April made "G" cookies.

We received many great gifts. Gloria now has so many different outfits she probably could wear a different one every day of the year! She is definitely a fashion diva now! How will I ever decide what to put her in?


On Wednesday this week, my mom and I decided that it was time for Gloria to make her first outing in Grand Rapids. We bundled her up and loaded her in the car on the way to Costco and the mall. She fell asleep instantly in the car and stayed sleeping most of the time in Costco. But then she woke up - and she didn't wake up silently. Oh no! She woke up crying loudly. We ended up carrying her until we left. I fed her in the parking lot and then we made our way to the mall. At the mall I used the stroller for the first time, but she didn't want anything to do with it. She knew when she wasn't being held and would start to cry. My mom and I took turns holding her and pushing the stroller. We did manage to do a bit of shopping at JCPenneys (and found her some cute summer outfits), Barnes & Nobel (and bought Rob a "dad" book), and Motherhood Maternity (to buy me some nursing shirts and jammies). I fed her again at the maternity store and she finally let us set her in the car seat in the stroller and she fell asleep. It was a very interesting day out - I definitely don't think I could've done it by myself. That night she slept straight through from 11pm to 5am :)



Yesterday my mom and I took Gloria out again - this time to Meijer and Target. The trip was the complete opposite of the one on Wednesday. I fed her right before we left and she ate very, very good. She fell asleep in the car seat before we even got her in the car and she stayed sleeping the entire time we were gone (about 2 1/2 hours). She had no idea we even left the house. When we got back she was still sleeping, so we let her finish her nap in the car seat. Last night Gloria slept from 10pm to 4am.

Tonight Rob and I took Gloria out to a quick restaurant and then to Babies R Us to buy the final items off of our registry, including a mobile and a mattress for her crib. She fell asleep on the way to the restaurant and slept through almost our entire meal. When she started to cry we were ready to go, so we loaded her up and crossed the street to Babies R Us. I was able to feed her right away since the store has a nice room for moms, complete with a couch. Gloria ate and then we tried to start getting our things but she was crying. Rob held her for awhile and then I did. She finally fell asleep in my arms as we gathered the last things on our list. She woke up as we were getting ready to check out. She hadn't eaten too much when we had gotten there, so I took her back to feed her again as Rob checked out and loaded the car up. We just got home and Rob is holding her. I think she has fallen asleep. She really didn't sleep too much today so hopefully she has another restful night. I would like another 6 hour stretch of sleep tonight.

Sleep

I don't know what's going on, but the last two nights Gloria has let us sleep for a few nice stretches of time. On Thursday night, she slept from 11:30pm to 4:30ish and then last night she slept from 10pm to 4ish. 5 hours and 6 hours! What is happening?! I loved it. I actually felt awake when I woke up in the morning.

Now she's sleeping with Daddy on the couch. She spit practically everything she ate at the last feeding, so I'm hoping that her tummy feels better when she's ready to eat again - which could be any minute.

Tomorrow is our "welcome baby" shower. I'm really excited to get out of the house and see my family. But I must admit it's a bit daunting trying to figure out when to leave so that we'll have enough time to feed her right before the shower so that she doesn't need to eat during it. This is the first time Gloria will be going anywhere besides the doctor's office. I hope she's all smiles and content the whole time.

Wednesday was Gloria's one month birthday and she spent the majority of it sleeping. I made her some celebration brownies but she didn't want to eat any of them so I shared them with Rob, my mom and April. April came over for dinner and Gloria fell asleep in her arms. However, she did make sure to show off her manicure! She wanted bright red nail polish but mommy had to tell her she wasn't old enough yet. :)

Happy 1st Valentine's Day!

Gloria spent most of her first Valentine's Day sleeping :) After about 45 minutes of play time after waking up this morning, she couldn't decide if she wanted to sleep or not until 3pm when she conked out until 5:30.

Yesterday was her 1 month "birthday" and she spent that sleeping as well. I guess a growing gorgeous girl needs her sleep.

Something funny that she just started doing is while she's in a light sleep state. She smiles real wide with her mouth open and then kind of laughs. She laughs so hard that it makes her head wiggle.

Little Lady!

What a cutie little Miss Gloria Grace is! Today she modeled a stylin' outfit given to her by her honorary Auntie Ashley. She was very cute in it and kept it clean all day long!


In 13 hours and 50 minutes (at least at the time I'm writing this) Gloria will be exactly one month old! Where has the time gone? Can I rewind? It's all gone so fast that it's hard to remember it all. I know I am not remembering everything I would like to. Rob and I have yet to watch the video of her birth - maybe tomorrow will be a good day to do that.

Today Gloria and I spent the morning together before my mom got here. We had lots of fun playing. The living room has become "Baby Playland!" There's the bouncy seat, play mat, and a big blanket for tummy time with lots of toys and books. Oh, and she learned the capitals of all 50 states today too! heehee

Just me and Gloria

Today was the second day that Gloria and I have spent together - alone. It went much better than last week. She was content to play with me and then eat and sleep. I even was able to eat lunch - a salad at that! I had time to cut green peppers and everything! She still wants to sleep a lot of the day away, but she was able to enjoy some tummy time, some bouncy seat, and some swing. It was a very full day.

It's 8:45pm right now and she's sleeping so I need to quick jump into bed to try and get a little bit of sleep before she decides her tummy is hungry.

Here are some pictures from our fun-filled day. You'll see that I tired her out :)




And here's Gloria with Auntie April!

Wonderful Saturdays

I like Saturdays. Rob is home and Gloria can hang out with him for most of the day. Of course he has things to do, but she just wants to snuggle with her daddy.

Gloria has gotten into a pretty good routine at night. She usually eats around 9-10pm and then sleeps until 1am, eats again, and sleeps until 5:30am. I don't know how she got the night figured out like that, but I'm not complaining. Now she just needs to shorten her feeding sessions - become a bit more efficient. Last night she took almost an hour just to eat 20 minutes.

Here's a picture from a week and a half ago...

Tummy ache

Today I think Gloria had a tummy ache. She was spitting up a lot, crying, and just not being comfortable. She slept only for a few minutes at a time and it was a fitful sleep. Finally after gas drops and lots of cuddling, she fell asleep around 2:45 and slept until 6 - when I woke her up so I could feed her and eat dinner. She seems to be feeling a bit better. She didn't spit up anything after the last feeding, thank goodness. I just hope that the night goes better than the morning did.

Here are some pictures taken last week.



She loves to snuggle. It's her favorite thing to do - especially if she can snuggle and sleep at the same time!

She's growing!

We just got back from the doctor's office. When Gloria was born, she weighed 8lbs 9oz. She left the hospital weighing 7lbs 14oz. Today, at 24 days old, she weighs 9lbs 15oz! She's a 10lb baby now :) I guess we don't have to worry about her getting enough milk!

She also grew an inch, making her 22" tall and her head circumference also increased by an inch from 14" to 15". The doctor said everything looks great - she's perfect. (But we already knew that!) The next time we go to the doctor, on March 19, Gloria is getting a shot. I know it will hurt me more than it does her.

Now for some fun pictures of her playing on her play mat. The first one is from Monday night and the second one is from last night. She's getting much more active on the mat, swinging her arms and hitting the toys. She also likes to look at the lights that flash while the music is playing.


I can't believe that Gloria is almost four weeks old. It seems like we just went to the hospital knowing that we were going to have a baby in the next 24 hours. I never could have imagined that we would have a daughter as beautiful, calm, and wonderful as Gloria is. Incredible!!!

Sleepy girl

So unlike yesterday, Gloria has decided that today is a good day to sleep. She has been awake for probably a little over an hour since 8:30 this morning. She was wide awake in her bouncy seat this morning and then she was out, waking up only every 2-3 hours to eat for about 10-15 minutes.

My mom is in town for the week to help out with Gloria. With her help, I've gotten more baby announcements written and sealed, did some laundry, and went to the post office and grocery store. Up next is a shower...though I'll wait until Gloria wakes up and eats. It's about time.

Now I'm going to try to put some pictures on here. I'll start with her first picture - taken right after she was born!

And here is our first family photo!

First Post

I thought it was time to start a blog to share stories and pictures with our families.

Gloria is 3 weeks and 1 day old today. She is growing up so fast!

Today was the first day home alone with just baby and me. It was a bit difficult I must admit. She decided that she didn't want to sleep at all today - just three short 25 minute cat naps between 8:30am and 3:30pm. Of course, mommy wanted some sleep but it just wasn't in the cards.

However, I did discover that Gloria really enjoys her bouncy/vibrating seat when she's awake. I took off the fishy toys to make it easier to get her in and out. Besides she doesn't look at them yet anyways. Other than lounging in her bouncy seat, Gloria enjoyed the company of the birds and animals on her play mat and read some black and white books.

Needless to say, I was ready for Rob to get home this evening. Time to pass the baby on :)