Six Weeks Old!

Weight: If you recall, I was estimating last week that she was weighing in between eight and eight and a half pounds. Well, after an unplanned trip to see Lizzie's doctor last week, we learned that she is eight pounds, three and a half ounces. Which means she gained another 18 ounces in two weeks :) She is now at the 12th percentile for weight, up from the second percentile when she was born. My goal isn't necessarily to have her "gaining" in percentile level, but rather to at least stay steady at whatever percentile she's at, if that makes sense. Therefore, I'm a happy momma to see my baby holding steady and then some :)

Sleep: This little one doesn't look like she'll be letting me sleep through the night for quite some time. She's holding steady to her typical pattern, which is a solid three or four hours when she first goes down at night, and then waking every two hours or so after that. We did have one night this week where she was waking one or two hours (without any four-hour time frame of sleep). I was wondering if she was having a growth spurt after that night, but I haven't seen much for other examples of growth spurt after that. She has started to sleep less during the day, though -- she now has nice, long awake periods each afternoon and evening, probably about three or four hours worth each.

Medical Issues: I mentioned last week that baby girl might be battling some gas issues. We had kind of a scary last Thursday (well, scary for me, anyway). She woke up and ate, but not well, and immediately following, began crying hard. This made me think she probably wasn't feeling good after eating, as she typically is so content when she has a full tummy. Poor sweet baby continued to cry for the next 45 minutes straight, which is extremely unlike my little girl. I'd never seen her act that way! Her whole body would go rigid and stiff, and she'd grab onto me with both little hands as hard as she could and just cry. Completely broke my heart. So I called her doctor, and they suggested she come in later in the afternoon. She did finally give in and go to sleep around 11:00 for a nap, which I was glad for because she finally seemed comfortable again. However, she slept for the next four and a half hours straight. Even when I put her down on the floor without being wrapped in a blanket, she slept. Even while I changed her diaper, she slept. And when she would wake, her little eyes would just open, blink a couple of times, and go shut again. At that point, I became very concerned. She had only eaten once since her poor feeding right away that morning, and that second feeding wasn't much better than her first. Typically, she wants to eat every two hours. I was worried there was something bigger going on, so I took her temperature -- normal. I walked around the house with her like a zombie, worried out of my mind. When it was finally time to go in for her appointment, I cried on the way into town. I was already planning what I would eat for supper in the hospital when they admitted her for the night (I'm obviously extremely dramatic). When we finally saw her doctor, she had just woken up (which happened as the result of her having to be stripped down to just a diaper to be weighed) and he did her little check-up. And whaddya know? She looked perfect. He listened to her tummy and thought there were a lot of noises in there (meaning, I assume, gas), but other than that, all was well. I asked about her sleepiness and lack of appetite for the day, and he said that was likely due to her "stressful" morning when she had tummy troubles for an extended period of time. She was just sleeping off the stress, I guess. So I took baby girl home, where she continued to sleep for three more hours. I was just starting to get worried again when I heard her little cry coming from her bedroom... a sound I've never been so happy to hear! Sweet girl was back to her normal self by that evening, and momma was a happy lady.
Clothes: Still sportin' the newborn sizes and have yet to grow out of anything, but are beginning to grow into more and more of our "bigger" newborn stuff.
Socialite!: Lizzie girl visited lots of family in Fargo this weekend for her cousin's baptism. She enjoyed being held by some family members she hadn't seen in a few weeks and was a fabulous travel companion, as per usual. She's also started to hang out with other kiddos at the Y when I go to group exercise classes. So far, she seems to be a popular lady amongst the two-year-olds -- because, let's face it: what toddler doesn't love a new baby? And the workers there seem to like her too, mostly because she wears cute headbands, has lots of hair, and does nothing but sleeps while she's there... so she's sweet to look at and easy to take care of :) Nothing better, right?

Diet: Milk, as usual. Still nursing exclusively.

Baby Gear Love: I'm going to be lame this week and say her crib and rocking chair. I'm loving her crib, because she takes such long naps in there, which I think is awesome when it comes to getting things around the house done. Earlier this week, she slept for two hours while I made supper and Andy and I ate supper. It was genuinely shocking at how much I'd forgotten what it was like to hang out with my husband as just the two of us. It was nice... but it was also nice when she woke up :) I'm also loving her rocking chair. She loves a good rock combined with lullabies. I've been singing many of the same lullabies now as I did to her when she was in the womb. I was especially fond of "You Are My Sunshine" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" while she was still in my tummy, and those two seem to be the  most soothing to her. Isn't that so cool?

Crying: I've realized that "crying" is different from "complaining" when it comes to babies. She doesn't do a lot of crying, but she will "talk" in a complaining tone, if that makes sense. Anyway, that being said... her crying still remains to be very much under control. She doesn't cry too often, and when she does, we can remedy it quite quickly. Sometimes all she needs is a good snuggle... to which we're happy to oblige :)

Mommy News: This week, I returned to the Y as a group exercise class goer. I've gone to a few yoga classes and one Zumba class (no more Zumba in my living room... hurrah!) and have really enjoyed them. What I enjoy even more is the drop-in childcare offered to members and the fact that she's so close by, and if something goes wrong or if she needs me, the workers know where I am (you write down your work-out plans in the sign-in book) and can come and get me.

Sidenote: seriously, Zumba is maybe the most fun thing I do in the week. So much fun!

Anyway, I will start teaching my pilates class again next week, which I'm excited for. I've missed it!

In other mommy news: I cut my hair! I think my hair stylist probably took off five inches or so... but I needed it! My hair was getting so heavy (I have very thick hair) and just needed a change. So I went for an inverted bob that can still be put into a (teensy tiny) ponytail.

Milestones: The smiles are continuing to make a gradual appearance. So excited to see them regularly and to hear those little giggles, too! We're also hearing more and more "talking" from her... we love hearing her little voice!

Lizzie has officially figured out how to roll from her tummy to her back. She's been rolling like that since she was six days old, but as of last week, it's very apparent that she knows how to do it. When we put her on her tummy, she'll just decide she's had enough and roll over to her back. It's hilarious :)

Another milestone? She made mommy realize it would be best to bring a change of pants when going somewhere. And not a change of pants for Lizzie -- but for me. When we were at my nephew's baptism last Sunday, Lizzie got hungry about 15 minutes into mass. Andy gave me a diaper and wipes on my way out to change her with as well. When we got into the gathering place, I sat down in one of the chairs and put on my nursing cover-up and put baby girl in my lap. Now, she's been wearing size-one diapers since she is up to eight pounds (newborn diapers go from six to eight pounds, size ones go from eight to 14 (or 16?) pounds), but they have seemed to be a little big for her, but we hadn't had any mishaps with them, so I didn't think much of it. Anyway, when I sat down in the chair, she must have peed simultaneously... and unfortunately, since her diaper was a bit big, the leg holes weren't tight against her little legs (I'm sure you can see where this is going) and I felt something warm in my groin area. I thought it was odd that she felt so warm (I assumed at first that it was due to a very full diaper that needed changing), but then I realized that I recalled that same warm sensation from my early childhood years. Unfortunately, it was the feeling of peeing one's pants... no, not me peeing my pants, but Lizzie peeing and it coming out of her diaper and onto my lap. Because I was sitting down in a leather chair, the pee ended up not just going on the front of my crotch, but also up the back of my pants. So it completely looked like I had peed my own pants. Great. I made my way to the bathroom as discreetly as I could, hoping to find a hand drier... no luck. So instead, I didn't end up going back into mass and stood near a window and a heater vent, hoping that both would help my pants dry out. Which they did, without any staining... but not before mass was over. Anyway, I learned a couple valuable lessons: bring an extra pair of pants, and always dress your child in a diaper that fits.

Ah, the life of mommyhood :) I wouldn't trade it for anything -- peepants and all.

Five Weeks Old!

Our fifth week with little Lizzie included some smiles and Daddy's first Father's Day. It was, of course, extraordinarily wonderful :)

Weight: As of two weeks ago, Lizzie was seven pounds, one and a half ounces. I spent the next week speculating what she might be, and I was guessing maybe around seven and a half pounds. I mean, she can't keep up the pace of gaining 18 ounces in 13 days, right? Well, I might be wrong. When we stepped on the scale without and then with her the other night, she clocked in at eight and a half pounds... say what?! Now, there's certainly room for error, because our scale isn't all that precise, but... I'd say there's a good chance she's pushing eight and a half anyway. Which means she's gained another 18 ounces (at least) in 14 days. This girl is a machine!

Sleep: Lizzie is still giving me three or four hours of sleep in our first stretch at night, followed up by two-hour chunks. Some nights when I get lucky, she'll sleep for two four-hour stretches, but that doesn't happen too often. However, I can't complain much: baby girl wakes up, eats for five to 10 minutes, and then goes back to sleep right away -- so it's not that bad. Plus, mommy gets some middle-of-the-night snuggles :) I kind of love that quiet time. Just the two of us, when the rest of the world is completely quiet and I can tell her how much she's loved. She's my girl.


During the day, she still sleeps most of the time. She has a few two-hour "awake" periods throughout the day, usually falling in the morning when we get up, in the later afternoon and before we go to bed.


Medical Issues: I have a hunch that my sweet baby might be battling some gas issues... she can tend to get fussy in the middle of and/or after feedings sometimes, and also will wake up from a dead sleep and let out a painful cry, and then go back to sleep. These both can potentially signal a gas problem, but who knows. Hopefully we'll get it figured out soon. For now it doesn't seem to be too earth shattering, but I'd like to resolve it sooner, rather than later, if it is an issue for her.

Clothes: We're still in our newborn clothes. Have yet to grow out of anything, and still have lots to grow into! We did get to break out a cute dress last Saturday for a wedding of a coworker of mine :)

Socialite!: The glamorous life of Lizzie continues! As I just mentioned, we attended a wedding of another teacher from my school over the weekend. Lizzie got to hang out with lots of wonderful friends of mine and we got to enjoy good conversations and lots of laughter :) Strangers continue to love on her, as she still appears to be a newborn even though she is five weeks old.

Diet: Milk, of course, Nursing exclusively, though I should probably take out a bottle so she at least gets exposed to it for when the school year starts.

Baby Gear Love: This week I've become a huge fan of my Moby wrap! A sweet friend on Facebook directed me to the newborn hold, and since Lizzie is now (an estimated) eight pounds or more, I felt comfortable using it -- and let me tell you, it's awesome. I now have two free hands again! I can cut pineapple, make lunch, fold clothes, empty the dishwasher, (the list goes on!) all while keeping Lizzie happy, close and comfy :) Both Mom and Lizzie are big fans. It also lends itself to dancing in the kitchen to Taylor Swift comfortably, which both Mom and Lizzie are big fans of as well :)

Crying: She's had a few fussy times, but usually those have been due to Mom and Dad's silliness. You know, when you look at each other after she's been crying for ten minutes and say, "maybe we should check her diaper..." -- and lo and behold, it's dirty! And once it's changed, viola! Like magic, she's back to her happy self. So we're learning! Check all the obvious things first. When those don't work, she loves being sung to and rocking in her rocking chair while snuggled in a blanket -- and, I'll admit, I don't hate those activities ;)

Mommy News: This mommy is learning how to "let go" just a teensy bit. And by that, I mean I'm starting to allow Lizzie to sleep in her crib for naps rather than holding her. While talking with my mom about when babies should start to fall asleep on their own, she suggested I start laying Lizzie in her crib for one nap a day so she gets used to it and being in her room. Right now, Lizzie sleeps in a bassinet next to our bed, and I tend to hold her while she naps during the day (newborns are just so sweet, how can you not!?). So even though it was ridiculously hard, I did the impossible and laid my sweet baby in her crib when she fell asleep a few afternoons ago. And although I was reluctant to leave the room, I did... and you know what? It was actually kind of nice. I cleaned the house while she rested peacefully. Granted, I was definitely in her room every five minutes to check on her, but still. I let her sleep until she woke up. And then I got to run in and look like the hero when she cried upon waking :)

As mentioned last week, I started doing yoga again and am also trying to do some more "active" things (i.e. Zumba in my living room... HA! Please don't drive down my street and peek in my windows. I'd be horribly embarrassed!) a few times a week. I'll likely go back to teaching yoga/pilates in the coming weeks, too.

Milestones: Last Saturday morning when Lizzie woke, I picked her up and said, "hello!" in that mommy-way, and she gave me a great, big, gummy grin :) Her first smile without me having to act like a fool! Unfortunately, it seems she's a tough cookie, and has been holding out on smiling much more than that. We've seen maybe one smile a day since then that we've been able to elicit... but it's coming!

She also found her hands and will suck on her fist, and sometimes her thumb :) It is so cute!

Lizzie is also getting much stronger in her neck! She can hold it up for longer, and last night she was even up on her elbows  and had her shoulders lifted, too! It was awesome. I also think she's starting to roll on purpose from her front to her back. It's amazing to watch her figure it out and take the steps she needs to roll from front to back :)

Four Weeks Old!

We are officially one month old as of today! My baby girl is looking older and older all the time. The theme of her fourth week was definitely traveling far from home on some fun adventures :) Daddy's first Father's Day is coming up on Sunday, and Lizzie is ready to par-tay!

Weight: Proud momma right here! Lizzie and I went in to the clinic last Thursday for a simple weight check, to make sure she's getting enough to eat and is, in turn, gaining weight appropriately. My sweet baby continues to be an over achiever in the weight department, because she gained 18 ounces in 13 days... woohoo! We are now seven pounds, one and a half ounces!

Sleep: Lizzie has given up her middle-of-the-night alert hours this last week, which I can't complain about :) She tends to sleep for four solid hours for the first part of the night, and then wakes up once every one and a half to two hours to eat and goes right back to sleep. This is typically her nighttime schedule, although we've had a couple of nights where she's let me get two four-hour chunks of sleep instead. Those are mommy's favorite nights :) Although, I do have to say, that I'm not bothered by her waking every hour and a half to two hours. I know this might not last a whole lot longer, so I try to enjoy it as much I can. So I get in my snuggles and gaze at her sweet little face in the dim light and say some pretty hefty "thank yous" to the Big Guy upstairs for giving me this wonderful reason to be awake at three o'clock in the morning.

She's not a big fan of being swaddled while she's awake, but if she's not swaddled, she doesn't sleep... so I try to wait to swaddle her until she's extremely drowsy. She still fights it, but she gives in to mommy's lullabies and falls asleep shortly thereafter.

On Sunday morning, we had a slight sleep hiccup that I'll take responsibility for. I didn't change her diaper earlier in the night (er, early morning) when she woke up to eat because she didn't feel wet and didn't smell much, but then she woke up pretty sad at 4:45 in the morning. As it turns out, she had a slight blow-out... which could possibly be attributed to a very full diaper since I didn't change it a couple hours before. This meant we needed not only a new diaper, but new jammies and a new sheet in her bassinet as well. All of this commotion resulted in a very alert baby who didn't feel like snoozing again until 7:00 that morning :) Unfortunately, the alarm rings at 8:00 on Sundays now for mass since I have a little one to have prepped and ready to go by 9:40. Luckily, my husband is a stand-up guy and took his turn with Lizzie at 6:30 so I could get a little more sleep.

Clothes: Still hanging out in all of our newborn things! Nothing is too small yet, and we still have lots of newborn things that are still too big!

Socialite!: Ah, the life of a social butterfly! Lizzie is still buzzing around and hanging out with lots of fun people. I mentioned last week that we were waiting for the arrival of our new nephew, who was supposed to be due right around the time we were due. Well, Michael Patrick arrived a couple of days ahead of schedule (and was 10 1/2 ounces heavier than Lizzie!), so we had to go meet sweet baby Michael Patrick on Saturday. Lizzie did a fabulous job riding to and from Fargo and only had a few tears on the way home. While in Fargo, we got to hang out with Auntie Desiree, Uncle Jake, cousins Brayden, Noah and Mykenna, and Uncle Josh, Auntie Tracy and cousins Rachel and (brand new!) Michael. Michael and Lizzie bonded over being almost the exact same size, swapped stories about womb life, and even held hands (that one actually did happen... it was ridiculously sweet)!

And those strangers are still loving our little girl :) I think it's because she's so tiny, so at four weeks, she's still looking like a newborn... and apparently people love newborns.

Diet: Milk! Still has a good appetite.

Baby Gear Love: Our new favorite swaddlers are the "SwaddleMe" sacks, which I bought in St. Cloud at their Target yesterday. They're pretty awesome, as they help out moms and dads of babies who don't care much for being swaddled but still need to be. They have velcro on them and make swaddling extremely simple. We tried them out for the first time last night and they're keepers!

Crying: The crying still remains pretty easy to solve by either changing a diaper, feeding, or snuggling her. She's a pretty sweet baby girl!

Mommy News: This momma remains on cloud nine. I am loving every single day with my sweet girl! I didn't go through a "transition" time, really -- I was ready to have the role of "mommy" and have embraced every aspect and tried to appreciate every moment. I look at Lizzie now and can honestly hardly remember being pregnant at this point -- it's still so surreal to me that she came out of me and had been living in my tummy! God is so amazing. Babies and the gift of life are proof of miracles.

Something I've found that's really odd now that I'm no longer pregnant is I'm starting to crave junk food like nobody's business! Cookies, candy, ice cream... you name it, I want to eat it. And not just a few times a day. But all. The. Time! Which is strange for me, especially because I had zero cravings while pregnant (well, aside from OJ, milk and Oreos). I'm trying my best to keep it under control :) I assume that this will pass, but we'll see...

Last week one day, I did yoga again for the first time since Lizzie was born and it was glorious. It felt incredible to be all stretched out again and to just be quiet. I was glad to feel this way, because I wasn't sure how I'd feel about going back to teaching it again in a few weeks -- but I feel like I could teach again now!

I also got to go shopping in St. Cloud yesterday. It was my first shopping trip in probably 10 months that I felt like I could really buy things that weren't maternity-friendly (and I tried not to buy much of that!).

Milestones: Our first shopping trip was yesterday at four weeks, two days old! She was a fabulous shopping companion :) She slept the whole way to and from in the car, and only woke up when her tummy was hungry.

Lizzie also met her new cousin, Michael Patrick, which I would consider a milestone :)

We think she's starting to smile for us just a teensy bit. She seems to get this slight smirk on her face when we clap her hands together really fast and say, "yay!!!!" with a big smile on our faces. Don't we sound like such cool people now? :) Babies change everything.

She is also doing some "ooh" and "aah" noises. Cutest sounds we've ever heard!

Lizzie also has a talent for being able to hold her body weight on her little legs when we hold her on her feet... maybe she'll be an early walker? Or maybe this mommy is just thinking her little lady is amazing and an over-achiever all-around ;)

We're looking forward to those smiles becoming for sure smiles and getting bigger and more frequent :) We also can't wait for her to be able to hold up her little head, just because she would love to be able to look around on her own so much!

Three weeks!

How is my sweet baby three weeks old already!? I think I'll probably feel this way always. Time goes too fast! This week marks the week Lizzie was expected to arrive. We're so blessed with having her arrive healthy even though she arrived early :)

Weight: As mentioned last week, at Lizzie's two-week check-up, she weighed in at five pounds, 15 1/2 ounces. She's continued to eat like it's her job (which, let's face it, it is), so I'm guessing she's put on at least another half-pound at this point. My guesstimate is she's somewhere between six and a half and seven pounds. I have a nephew who is set to be arrive any day now, so the big question is: who will be bigger? Lizzie, after being out of the oven for three weeks? Or baby boy, after baking the appropriate amount of time? My money is on baby boy, but we'll see...

Medical Issues: Medical issues? What medical issues? There are none, aside from being petite like mommy :) Our sweet baby is healthy and happy! So here's to hoping we can leave this section out forever (or, at least, for a very, very, very long time)!

Sleep: Most nights are still fabulous for Lizzie, but there have been a few nights that haven't been so stellar. She can have a tendency to wake up to eat in the middle of the night and take a "cat nap" for long enough to be swaddled and placed in her bassinet... only to grunt and kick two minutes later. At which point I pick her up and do one of three things: sing songs, "shhhh" loudly in her ear (I promise I'm not a meanie. I'm doing as the "baby whisperer", Dr. Harvey Karp, says to do... plus it's extremely effective), or offer her the option to nurse a little more. All three options result in a happy, sleepy baby again... until she's placed in her bassinet. It's at that point that the vicious cycle begins again. So we go through this some nights for two hours, until she finally sleeps for real and lets mommy sleep again. This has probably happened twice now, so it's not all that common. Regardless, I'm hoping it doesn't become a routine for us :)

Her morning sleep routine changed a little for a couple of days, too. I've been trying to teach her the difference between day and night from early on, so I have all the lights and the TV or radio on pretty much all the time in order to teach her that daytime is when we are awake, bright and noisy! A couple of mornings (mornings being 5:00 a.m...) this last week when she woke to be fed, I think the noticed the light coming in our windows... which, to her, meant it was time to be awake! So those little eyes opened wide and remained that way for two or three hours. Now, don't get me wrong... we love when she's awake! But we'd prefer if that wakeful time happened to fall in later morning hours, like at eight or nine (or ten...).

In spite of a few early mornings and middle-of-the-night sleep losses, I've found that I'm far less tired than I would have anticipated. I always end up not feeling like I've been hit by a bus each day, but I'm sure it helps that I'm not working during the day.

Clothes: We're still in our newborn outfits and don't anticipate heading anywhere else anytime soon.
Some of her newborn outfits are still too big, so we still have to grow into those!

Socialite!: This week, Lizzie remained a little socialite. We visited Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Wayne and Auntie Jenny one night for supper while Andy was away at his Master's class. The girls, including Lizzie, also took part in watching the premier of the new Bachelorette season this week -- which, by the way, has way too many beefcakey guys on it, don't you think? We also headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Bristow's house on Saturday to celebrate Grandma Jean's birthday, where we also got to see Auntie Megan. Our biggest outing of the week, however, was to my cousin's wedding in Wadena. Lizzie girl got to meet lots of aunts, uncles and cousins there, but she and I both missed the wedding itself because someone was hungry (no, not me!) :) That was okay, though. We got to celebrate with everyone afterward.

Lizzie remains a fun little lady for strangers to take a peek at when we are out and about, too :)

Diet: Milk -- still eating a lot, sometimes every two hours, sometimes every one hour.

Baby Gear Love: Aden and Anais swaddle blankets for nighttime swaddling remain pretty popular around here. This week we finally started using her Snugabunny swing and she loves it. We swing on the lowest setting and listen to the nature sounds or raindrop sounds and stay content for quite awhile. It's pretty fabulous for when I need to make supper and Andy isn't home yet, or for anytime when he's at work and I need to get something done.

Crying: Still not much of a crier. Her cries are louder, though. She's letting her demands be known with a little more gusto now :) She tends to cry only when she's got a dirty diaper, is hungry, or wants to be snuggled.

Mommy News: Still feeling really good and starting to be a little more active. I'm trying to go on walks with her three days a week if we can, weather permitting (which has been tough with all this rain and wind!), and I tried doing yoga last week one day, and that went well, so I think I'll start getting back into doing that once a week if I can.

Emotionally, I don't think I've ever been so happy in my entire life. The only thing I've got nagging me is the "mommy guilt" bug some days. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Like, we go out to run errands for three or four hours, so I feel guilty that poor baby girl is in her carrier for that long. Or the other evening, I made cookies and made supper consecutively while Andy was outside fixing a problem with water in our basement, so baby girl spent some time in the swing that we've come to love so dearly. The whole time, I felt incredibly guilty that I wasn't holding her and loving on her even though she was sleeping the entire time. Anyway, it's stuff like that -- anyone else know what I'm talking about? Now just imagine how I'll feel when I go back to work! Yikes!

Milestones: Well, a few milestones this week. First, we hit Lizzie's actual due date on Monday, June 3rd! So we celebrated her all day and spent time being very grateful that she's been here for three weeks already and was born healthy even though she arrived early.

We also had the "mommy gets spray blasted with poop at five in the morning" milestone this week as well. Under normal circumstances, I would have likely not had a sense of humor about being sprayed with projectile poop, but considering it happened by way of my sweet baby, I found it completely hilarious and had Andy take my picture. I think that's the rite of passage into parenthood, right? Check that one off the list! Anyway, as you can imagine, I've been a little more cautious about changing diapers these days and haven't had another mishap since.

Another rite of passage includes having your baby cry loudly in a store, right? Well, that happened this week, too, at Target (I know what you're thinking: how can she be my daughter if she's crying while in Target? That's right up there with Disney World as far as being the happiest place on earth! But don't worry, it was just because she was a starvin' Marvin, so it wasn't Target's fault). This was one of those "mommy guilt" days, when we spent too long in our carrier and pushed our eating sessions too far apart, and she let me know it. Normally I would have just left and gone home, but I was trying to get a new cell phone activated (which is no excuse) and it took forever. And I kept thinking, "oh, we'll be done soon... we have to be! It's been 30 minutes already, it can't take much longer." Alas, I was wrong. So we took a little break halfway through our activation process so I could feed Lizzie and we returned much happier :) I do have to say that one of my favorite parts about being a mommy is when your child is crying and you hold them and they suddenly calm down. It is an amazing feeling.

Aside from these milestones, we continue to see Lizzie's neck strength increasing, and we're seeing a lot more smiles these days, too, though I know they're not showing up purposely yet (but sometimes it almost seems like they are...). She's also gotten really good at focusing on things and loves looking around the room. She loves when we hold her so she's sitting up or looking over our shoulder because she can see so well from there.