Thursday, January 12, 2012

Christmas stockings

Robbie's family (like most American families) hang Christmas stockings each year. Theirs happen to be a family of little stuffed animal bears. Moose (aka Brian, our brother-in-law) and I have to laugh that as the "outlaws" we were given other animals for our stockings. Moose obviously was given a moose stocking and last year I was given a puppy stocking. When we pointed out the fact that I wasn't a bear his family was adamant that this was the greatest honor they could give me - what could be better than the loyal family dog?!? After seeing how much they love their dogs over the years (they are truly part of the family) I had to agree. Baby Max was given a little bear stocking before he even arrived on the scene so, of course, this was Annabelle's year to join the little family of bear stockings. (Which causes me to wonder how a moose or a dog can produce a little bear stocking, but I digress...)

We took a few photos to commemorate the occasion and I have to post many of them because her faces just made me laugh. Funny to think that this year she was about the same size as the stockings and next year she will be big enough to be pulling them down!

Mine is the puppy, Robbie's is the bear with suspenders,
and Annabelle's is the one on the right!
I'm a little shy...
now I'm annoyed...
Where did you come from??
Feeling like I might fall off this couch...
now a little scared...
...not really sure...

everyone make silly faces...
Oh my goodness, did you see that?!?
Practicing her Uncle Seth face
If I smile, will you stop taking pictures?
I think I could get used to having these three buddies around!

Big baby girl gets even bigger!

With her 2 month anniversary here and gone, I figured I should give a "quick" update! It has been a busy month with the holidays and Annabelle has been busy packing on the pounds. At her 2 month appointment on December 22nd, she got her first vaccination shots. She took them like a champ but I was miserable. Thank goodness Robbie got off work in time to be there for moral support. Annabelle weighed in at 13 lbs. 2 oz. (97th percentile), measured 24 1/4 inches (97th percentile) and had a head circumference of 35.5 cm (75th percentile). She seems to not be slowing down on growth and, at times, we feel like we already have a 6 month old!

In the past few weeks she has outgrown another step of diapers and is quickly outgrowing her 3 month onesies. We gave Annabelle her first bottle December 17th and have given her several bottles since. When we do she is drinking between 4 and 5 oz. We tried giving her less once and she cried (guess that explains her ridiculous weight gain, huh?). She still generally eats 6 or 7 times a day.

I snapped a discreet photo of her first bottle drinking experience even though Robbie rolled his eyes at me.
First bottle
To kick off the family holidays, Robbie bottle fed her overnight so I could get my first full night's sleep in months. I slept 7 straight hours without moving a muscle and felt amazing. Best of all, all three of us survived the night without any tears or insomnia.

She is sleeping really well at night, generally going 6-7 hours for the first stretch now starting between 9 and 10 p.m. waking to eat between 2 and 3 a.m. The second stretch is generally a solid 4 hours and she wakes up pretty consistently now between 7:30 and 8 a.m. She has set a new sleep record by going 9 solid hours straight just one day before 11 weeks old. Too bad mom and dad were up hanging out with our house guests and missed half of that stretch of sleep... Most days she is a cat napper taking 4-5 forty-five minute long naps during the day but she has recently had a few 3 hour afternoon naps. We are hoping she will start making that a habit soon! When she wakes up she stretches her arms above her face, puffs her cheeks, and sticks out her belly. Trying to get a photo and this is as close as I have gotten so far:
She must have woke up scared for this one...
Just missed it....
BIG stretch!
Week 7 she got her first little cold. It was so sad to hear her all congested and she sounded like a little piggy. She recovered really quickly though and mom and dad didn't freak out too much about it. A few restless nights of rocking, the boogie sucker, and a steam treatment brought her back to her normal happy self. 

She is holding her head up really well now and is not minding tummy time quite as much. She still cries but can make it several minutes without throwing a fit.
Look at the neck rolls!!
This face cracks me up!

On her 11 week birthday Robbie was doing some tummy time with her and she rolled herself over. (As a side note, baby Robbie rolled over at 10 weeks and 4 days..just a touch earlier than his daughter!) He was really happy to be home to see it since I had been telling him she was getting really close in the days before. It was neat that both of us were there to see one of the first big milestones. She hasn't been able to repeat the performance these past few days but will push herself up on her side and still get pretty close.

She is quite the little explorer now and loves to be held facing outwards and walked around the house. I'm happy to see her discovering new things but it is a bit tiresome to have to walk and walk and walk when she is awake. We figured out she will sit fairly well in her swing in the kitchen as long as I'm in there with her cleaning or cooking. She loves the company I guess. My dad discovered she likes the TV colors and noises and she definitely likes when I sing to her. She wiggles and sings along especially to her favorites. Absolutely adorable! She has found her thumb a few times and loves to put her fingers in her mouth. She sometimes sucks on her fist just to hear the funny noises and then giggles at herself. Like a true girl she is extremely emotional lately going from laughing to crying/screaming in a matter of seconds. She usually redeems herself by making adorable giggling and cooing noises and giving us big smiles. She is getting much louder with both happy and unhappy noises which is cute and frustrating respectively. I can only imagine what this translates to as a toddler and teenager but I just try not to think about it too much.

She lost most of her hair during month 1-2 and has been growing it back quickly! I'm so excited that she has cute little peach fuzz hair back and can really tell a difference when we give her a bath. She has successfully completed two baths now that didn't end in tears and is starting to enjoy the process more. No matter how much we bathe and clean her though, she remains the stinkiest baby I've ever encountered...ugh!

Here's a few other photos of the month:
Look at those chubby cheeks!
Just chillin'
Pink hoodie!
No more pictures mom!
Playing with daddy!
Big smiles!