5 weeks old

Last week Mary Lawton started smiling real, big, sweet smiles. (She smiled at me at 2.5 weeks, but no one believes me.) She's also cooing more. Most of her noises are loud grunts and moans, but in the past few days she's started oooh and aaaaaAAH. I love it.

I need to take more pictures and some videos! I'll try to catch that cute, gummy smile and her sweet voice.

Thank you!

Thanks, everyone, for all your suggestions for Mary Lawton's screaming fits. I changed a few things, and she's a happy baby again with a little crying here and there. I sincerely appreciate the recommendations and reading all of the "oh yes, I remember..."

She won't turn down a meal.

Mary Lawton had her first breastmilk bottle last Thursday. Loved it. No issues. She stared at Sweet LJ the whole time. She had another one on Sunday.

I'm still crafty!

I used to be pretty creative and liked to do craft projects. Then I sort of quit. I guess yard work and home projects became my outlets. Anyway, someone--won't mention any names here--was going to sew me these birds to use for a mobile. No birds (yet?)

So, Mary Lawton and I went to Michael's a week or so ago, and I was inspired when I saw some tiny wooden bird cutouts. I used ribbon, scrapbook paper, 10 wooden birds (glued back-to-back), Mod Podge, and the inside ring of an embroidery hoop to make this.

I think it looks a little cuter than these photos. What pleases me the most is that Mary Lawton really seems to like it! We hung it over the changing pad, since she doesn't use the crib yet. I might make another one for the crib, though, with a few modifications...maybe with the stuffed fabric birds?

One month check-up

Yesterday was Mary Lawton's one-month well baby doctor visit, and she is a well baby!

Weight: 9 lbs., 3 oz. (75th percentile)
Length: 21 3/4 inches (also 75th percentile)
Head: (50-75th percentile)

The doctor was impressed with her almost 2-inch growth in length. We talked to him about her crying fits, and he recommended a few things to us to try to figure out what might be the cause. One of his suggestions was more structure to her day, and I think she would like that (takes after her mama). I'll be working on putting her on a schedule. We already have a morning routine pretty established...we just have to work on the rest of the day! Overall, she's a healthy baby, except for a strange thing going on with her fingernails. One looks like it's about to fall off, and three others look like they're going to meet the same fate. The doctor wasn't too concerned. He said, "well, they'll grow back. " She got her hepatitis B vaccine, and was very brave. She looked surprised, and then started crying about 5 seconds later. Then, after 5 seconds of crying, she stopped. (She screamed all the way home, though. I think she was trying to show off for the nurse by holding back while we were there.)

The weather has been gorgeous this week, and we ate dinner outside last night. Mary Lawton had a very good day and a relaxing evening, as you can see.

One month old

Wow...it's already been a month since Mary Lawton joined us. She loves to eat and enjoys bath time. She especially loves having her hair washed and brushed and will settle for a basic head rub, too. She likes stoller walks through the neighborhood sometimes but don't bet on it. She likes the Baby Bjorn and will sleep in it happily for an hour or two while I take care of stuff around the house or walk Coqui. She's discovered the ceiling fans and loves to look at them, and she's discovered her reflection in the mirror. If she hears her Daddy's voice, she turns her head to find him. My heart melts when she does this.

Mary Lawton chatters nonstop. She's quiet only when she's in deep sleep; otherwise, she's constantly talking, sighing, grunting, cooing, squeaking, and squawking. It's pretty hilarious.

Her sleeping is just ok. She usually takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap, but sometimes she fights to stay awake and gets fussy as a consequence. She doesn't have a very good schedule, which I'm fine with right now, but I do want her to have a bedtime routine. We haven't settled on one yet. Her nighttime sleeping is decent, but she really wants to sleep on us--not near us or in another room. We're giving in, partly because we just want to sleep, too, and partly because there is something glorious about co-sleeping. Even Sweet LJ loves it. We might be setting ourselves up for disaster.

Other than the recent screaming fits, she's a good baby, and we're over-the-moon in love. Thanks, Mary Lawton, for coming to be with us.

Outtakes
Small yawning monkeyJazz hands

Thought we'd turned the corner...

Mary Lawton had such a great day yesterday, and then the tide turned last night around 6:30 PM. She screamed for about 20 minutes (I timed it, since it seems like hours, and it makes me feel better to know it lasts only a short time). Then she screamed off and on for about an hour. Thanks, Melissa and Nancy for the words of encouragement and advice. She does like the front carrier and falls asleep pretty quickly, which allows me to do things around the house. Nancy, I'll ask the doctor about reflux this week.

I need advice.

If my precious girl isn't sleeping or eating, she's screaming. This is a recent development--just started this week. She doesn't cry for hours at a stretch, so I don't know whether it's truly colic. Just regular (bad) gas? I try everything and usually end up putting a hysterically crying baby in her carseat for a trip somewhere. It makes me sad, since I can't stop it, so I often end up crying, too.

She has her one-month check-up next week, so I'll talk to the doctor about it, but I'd love to hear your advice--or even just a "you're not a bad mom. Your baby loves you."

My sweet sugar baby

3 weeks old already (a little more than that since I can't seem to find the time to post anymore).

Mary Lawton's getting quite chubby and more and more alert. Some of her recent adventures:

• A real belly button (stump fell off at 13 days. It seemed to fall off too early, because it got very crusty. I was worried it was infected and took her to the doctor, but it was fine. yay.)
  
• A picnic and walk in Piedmont Park with her family
• Shopping with cousins Alisa and Lilly
• An outing alone with her dad
  
• And the most exciting: A visit from her Aunt Sis and cousin Olivia! Thanks for coming over. We miss you already, so please come again soon. Unfortunately, I waited until she got a little fussy before I took any pictures, but Mary Lawton loved all the attention and cuddling and slept in their arms for hours.
  

A perfect birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and I had such a wonderful day. For the past few years I've taken the day off work to go shopping (which I highly recommend to everyone--don't work on your birthday!) This year my girl and I went to the mall. I mainly went to walk, because it's too cold to go outside, but I ended up buying a few shirts. Sweet LJ took us out to dinner last night and surprised me with the most gorgeous ring I've ever seen (besides my engagement ring, of course.) It's amethyst--Mary Lawton's birth stone.

Going out for my birthday dinner

Thanks for a great day, Sweet LJ. Thanks for the sweet birthday wishes, everyone!

Snow day!

My friend Sara came to visit on Sunday, and we enjoyed a glorious snow day. I've never seen flakes so fat. They were like feathers floating down from the sky. Mary Lawton slept through it all, but hopefully it'll snow again when she's big enough to enjoy it.

Sara gets ready to unload a snowball on Mary Lawton.

Sara, thanks for coming to meet Mary Lawton!

Her polar bear coat is a bit big.

Interestingly, the last time it snowed (February 2008), Sara and I hung out that day, too. We went on an 8-mile run that morning, and at the end of the run it started snowing.

Go, Dad!

I got out of the shower this morning and found this.

Legs

Cuddle time

What's better than a baby sleeping on your chest?

In real time

Mary Lawton asleep in my lap right now

Lounging

Letter

Dear umbilical cord stump,

Please fall off so I can take a real bath.

Sincerely,
Mary Lawton

Actually, she doesn't mind bath time much at all. She loves having her hair washed. She loves the towel I warm up in the dryer for her. (I told her today not to get used to that.)

Outings

So far Mary Lawton has been to Target (twice!), Once upon a Child, and on three neighborhood walks. Because I'm not used to carrying my camera around with me all the time to document these milestones, I don't have any photos. She slept the whole time on all of these outings, as you can imagine. I was a little nervous about yesterday's Target trip, because I went by myself, but it turned out fine.

One week old

Today is Mary Lawton's one week birthday. She loves eating, sleeping, and entertaining us with funny faces. She has tummy time a few minutes a day, and plays (is awake) on her play mat or cat mat for awhile. The dog is in love with her and follows us from room to room. Luckily, the cat is oblivious to her. He doesn't want to be too close to her, and when she cries he can't get away fast enough.

play time

The week has been a blur. They let us leave the hospital on Tuesday evening rather than Wednesday morning, with our promise that we'd take her to our pediatrician or back to the hospital for another bilirubin test. Her level was a little high. We took her to the pediatrician the next morning (Wednesday), and her bili level was even higher, and she'd lost quite a bit of weight. A bilirubin light was delivered to our house that afternoon, and we started putting her on it an hour at a time. I also had to feed her a tiny bit of formula to supplement, since my milk hadn't come in. The next day (Thursday) her bili count was down and her weight was up 2.5 oz. No more formula! We went back to the pediatrician on Friday for one more visit. Her bili level was 10.4, and she'd gained even more. The doctor declared her an "A+ baby" and said she was very healthy. Sweet LJ has been amazing. You'd think he'd been changing diapers and soothing babies his whole life. And her diapers...I recently read something about "sweet-smelling breastmilk bowel movements." Whatever.

Visitors

Mary Lawton had a number of visitors last week.

Lilly and Alisa

Jan (Jan came by twice!)

Gail and Andrew

and of course her Biffy.