Blogging tag team

What most of you don't know, is that almost all of my blog postings occur with Grace either in my lap, my arms, or in the bouncer beside me. Sometimes, this gets a little tricky.

This morning, after 20 blog-less days, I knew I needed to catch up. So I set about reviewing photos and updating the blog. Grace was in one of her fussy moods. Mom was jogging, then showering, and I was in charge of looking after Grace. The problem was that the only way she would stop crying was bouncing in my arms looking at me. This requires two hands, and therefore makes it very difficult to use a mouse and keyboard.

Finally, I went for an unusual postion that rarely result in happiness. But, it worked! She actually fell asleep slobbering all over my left arm. She stayed sleeping on my arm all the way through 4 postings before Kristie took her to eat "lunch."

Kristie decided she had to take a picture or two. I complained that I wasn't really looking my best, and she responded "well you have published pictures on the blog of me not looking my best for the whole world to see." Personally, I don't think there is anything on the blog where Kristie looks less than radiant, but there certainly are some candid photos. However in fairness, I decided I would share the picture of me not looking my best so you could see it for yourself.

Grace wears pants!

With a newborn, it is kind of odd the things that you think about being their "first ever." Last weekend, she had one of those weird to think about wardrobe firsts. With a closet packed full of onesies, and several cute dress outfits, she had the occasion to where her first pair of pants! Actually, I guess it would be more accurate to say that it was a pair of overalls, but it was defintely her first outfit with legs. She didn't seem to mind.

Luckily, even though the Newborn outfits say they are up to 8 lbs, and she is weighing over 10 1/2, she seems to be fitting into them fine. But those days are numbered. It is looking like the 0-3 month outfits will be coming out of the closet soon.

Father's Day and back to church

Father's Day was a big occasion for us. It started with a big event: returning to Sunday School and church for the first time! Kristie wore Grace in the Maya Wrap (sling) and Grace did what most adults wish they could do - she slept through the whole thing. In fact, heads turned in Sunday School when she started snoring. Yes, she got that from her Dad.

Grace has now been to church and Sunday School two weeks in a row, and we all have survived. It has definitley added a certain sense of normalcy to our lives.

Later that day, we had Grace's Grandparents (both Taliaferro and Gibson) over for hamburgers and gifts. Fun was had by all.

99 bottles of milk on the wall . . .

Daddy feeding hour has officially begun in the Gibson household. For the past two weeks, Grace and I have been learning how to eat together. It started out amazingly smooth. She took right to the bottle of breast milk. In fact, the first time she gulped it down in less than 10 minutes, with two burping breaks in the middle.

Like so many other things, just when you think you have a new task licked, it gets more difficult. This past weekend, she just didn't seem to want to take the bottle from Dad. Of course, he made a rookie mistake and assumed that the room temp milk would be fine instead of heating it up some in a warm bowl of water. When the cool drops of milk hit her tongue, it was all down hill from there. That bad experience carried over during last week and we spent a lot of time trying to get the task back on track.

Good news, however! Last night all seemed back to normal when she took the bottle right away and fell asleep on Daddy's chest afterwards.

Bath time stories

I know that inquiring minds have wanted to know, "how has bath time changed?" since the frightening days of the sponge bath? I am pleased to say that bath time goes much more smoothly these days. It was a good transition to the semi-submerged bath experience. She seems to tolerate bath time much better now, at least up until the point where we rinse her hair and shampoo. She is still not too fond of her head being wet. But otherwise, we do well.

Kristie and I tag team bath time. Kristie deos the washing, and I do the rinsing. It is also my job to gently pour warm water over her during the bath and in between rinsing in order for her to keep warm. She really likes that!

About a week and a half ago, we gave her a bath and she fell asleep hard afterwards. It was time for her to eat, but we let her keep sleeping. We woke her up to eat before going to bed, and then she slept 5 hours! It was great!!!

And there is really nothing as cute as a baby in a hoody towell . . .

Sleep patterns and other developments

OK, so it is hard to believe that it has been 3 weeks since the last posting. Let's just say it has been a real period of adjustment.

I think we were lulled into a false sense of security the first two weeks. First of all, Grace was sleeping pretty well (almost 7 hours in two stretches during the night). Second, we were probably running on just a little bit of adrenaline. Well, the second two weeks of Grace's life were different than the first. All the sudden, sleep was not coming so easy at night . . . for her or for us. Really, we cannot complain, because there were no totally sleepless nights. But let's just say there is a big difference between getting at least one sleep period of more than 3 hours and the longest stretch being maybe 2 hours if you round up.

So, we all started trying some things a little different in of our sleep routine beginning the fifth week (the breaking point was the two nights back to back where neither Kristie nor I got more than 4 hours sleep total) and things have gotten much better.

In fact, Grace gave us a present on our anniversary (June 6). Nine, count 'em, 9 glorious hours of sleep! Not straight of course, but with only two wakings during the nine hours. It was amazing. So, it only lasted one night, but in general it has been much better since that restless week 4. Grandma and Grandpa G. gave us the gift of babysitting so we could go out for dinner that night.

Grace continues to eat well, and is up to 9 lb, 8 oz. That means that by her 6 week birthday, she will surely have gained more than 3 pounds from her lowest weight. Amazing to think that she could gain almost 50% of her weight in 6 weeks. Mommy and Grace have this feeding thing down, but pretty soon Daddy will have to learn how to introduce the bottle for occasional feeding of pumped milk.

Grace is staying awake for some longer periods of the day, so it is nice to be able to share some pictures of her awake. She is also holding her head up some, and turning it from side to side to follow objects (like Mommy or Daddy, or the ceiling fan).

The latest big event is that last night we ALL went out to eat for the first time. Kristie wore Grace in the sling, and we ate at Razzoo's. It was nice to get out as a family and we almost didn't feel like going home afterwards. But what can we say, we are kind of boring; being too full for ice cream, we couldn't think of anywhere to go.