Another month has passed!! Seriously, time... STOP!!! I have to admit she is just getting cuter and cuter! She is smiling and laughing with/at us now, she's making real tears, her eyelashes and eyebrows are growing in (I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous when she was born and hairless there ;), and she's growing like a weed! 22in (+3 since birth) and 8lbs at her 7 week check up. She'll be taller than me within the year! She's sleeping longer stretches... 7-8 hours/night (waking up once or twice to stretch or nurse for a very short time), with one 3-4 hour nap and tons of little cat naps all day. She is definitely a morning person like her dad... NOT her mom! She wakes up smiling and giggling every morning around 7. She prefers to sleep ON me (yes, we co-sleep, but very safely!), but sleeps well in her co-sleeper for a good portion of the night... although she is about to grow out of it :(!
She also prefers to be on her stomach, which is why she sleeps on me. She will sleep on her back or side in the co-sleeper. She's rolling from side to side, and back to front; and holding her head up (while trying to push off with her feet) for pretty long stretches during tummy time. She will rarely take a paci (she's so dramatic and will act like it's gagging her if she doesn't want it.. which is most of the time!), but REALLY wants her thumb... thankfully, she hasn't mastered that task yet, but she's close! She loves watching the ceiling fan, shadows, TV (in small doses when desperate), her dolls "Dolly" and "Tootsie", and cooing while mom and dad sing to her. She does still have episodes of fussiness, especially at night. I can't tell if it's "colic" or just the fact that we've been so busy and unsettled all month. It doesn't happen every night, and is more common when we're sleeping in a new place (which has been often with the move and Texas tour). Thankfully, we're home now for a while so hopefully she will feel more settled. We are starting a bed time routine this week. Fingers crossed that leads to more quiet nights. She's still nursing like a champ and I'm loving that bonding time. And the question I know everyone is asking themselves... she's gone from pooping everytime she eats to just once or twice a day! Hallelujah!
This month started off with another week of Adam being gone at training in Phoenix. The second week was definitely harder than the first, especially after Adam being home the weekend prior, but we made it! Adam did try and squeeze in an extra night in Phoenix so he could "get some rest"... you can probably imagine how that conversation went (after he had 2 weeks of rest and I had NONE). Let's just say he won't be making that mistake again!
When he got home that weekend we did some packing for the move (happening in a week), and went to our sweet friend's wedding. Viv's first wedding! Congrats again Taylor & Kellen!!
I also had a check up with my Ob-gyn, Dr. Tran. I had to get a picture of Viv and the awesome woman who delivered her and made sure she had a safe and healthy environment for 9 months :)
That Sunday we were invited over to Taylor and Kellen's (and Jon's) house for dinner before we all had to part ways (Us to Tulsa, Taylor & Kellen to Korea, and Jon to Vermont). We sat down to eat a yummy steak dinner, and guess what?!?... my throat started acting up! If you aren't aware, I was diagnosed with "eosinophilic esophagitis" in 2012 (funny story.. feel free to ask). It's basically a condition where an (still unidentified) allergen attacks my esophageal lining and causes swelling and spasms. Sooo, when I eat things like steak, it can get stuck. Normally, I can get the food to go down, but not this time! After an hour and a half of trying every trick in the book the 3 of us had to make a trip to the ER. We waited 3 hours for them to call in a GI team to do a scope and push the steak down. For those of you wondering, yes I can breathe... it stops at the end of my esophagus so I can breathe, but I just can't swallow... VERY painful, uncomfortable and unattractive as I have to spit every few minutes... Adam loves it. It felt SO good to be able to swallow again. The issue was that since I had to be put under with propofol, I couldn't breastfeed for 24 hours until it was out of my system. Yay bottles! I seriously don't know how people do it, they're such a pain! Fortunately, I had quite a bit of milk pumped and stored so it wasn't really an issue. I did have to go to work for a few hours that next day so I left the pumped milk and Viv with Adam... I got a call from Adam when I was almost home hurrying me back because he "couldn't take the crying anymore". Viv really doesn't (didn't) cry unless she's hungry, tired, or dirty so I was confused... As it turns out, Adam was rationing the breast milk because she was "going through it too fast and we wouldn't have enough to make it through the whole 24 hours"... I then informed Adam of this stuff called formula and all peace was restored to the household.
The next week we continued packing. Adam's dad and his friend arrived Tuesday night, the movers and cleaners came Wednesday (that was a cluster of a day!), our property manager came at 4pm on Wednesday, and by 6pm we were on the road headed for Tulsa! We weren't on the road for 45 seconds when Viv decided she was wet and hungry (yep, we're rookies). So, we fed and changed her and 20 minutes later we were back on the road (for real this time). The trip took us 3 days (5 hours Wednesday night, 10 hours Thursday, and 3 hours Friday). This is what Viv thought about the trip:
We made it to our apartment in Tulsa by 1pm (we're renting until we find a place to buy). When we walked into our apartment it reeked of chemicals.... they had just painted and steam cleaned the carpets.... SO, we couldn't move in since the carpets were still wet... YAY! Another night in a hotel. Plus we had to reschedule the movers, who showed up an hour late on Saturday when we were actually ready to move in. And just when we thought things couldn't get worse, they did... the hot water wasn't working (turns out it was a flipped breaker which our tired frazzled eyes totally missed), our 11 foot closet rod broke off the wall so we couldn't move anything into our closet until maintenance fixed it on Monday (and you can imagine just how much stuff needed to go in our 11 foot closet..), our cable/internet was supposed to be connected on Saturday but they had the wrong address so they couldn't complete the order and had to reschedule for Monday, and after unpacking we realized just how little storage space we had and had to get really creative... the kitchen only had 2 drawers none of which would hold our silverware so we had to buy a rolling island. Fun times. First world problems... Thankfully my parents and sister were there to help us unpack and watch Viv. HUGE help!
My sister with Viv:
We spent the whole next week unpacking and trying out all the great restaurants around us (we are going to get fat here!). Viv also had her 7 week check up. Everything looked great and our new pediatrician is awesome! Viv with dad at the doctors office:
That Sunday we started out on our Texas Tour!
After Granbury, we headed to Gatesville to see my Aunts and SURPRISE Nonie Darling!!
After Gatesville, we headed to Galveston for a week to meet Viv's other cousins, aunts, uncles, and great grandparents:
Viv and her date Crosby:
Viv and Aunt Amy:
Viv and Uncle Johnny:
Aunt Amy and Cole with Viv:
Cole and Lola watching Viv and Adam:
Viv and Ty:
Viv and Meme:
Meme and Pop:
Nonnie and Viv:
Viv and Aunt Michelle:
Viv and Aunt Nicole:
Nicole, Ivy, me and Viv:
Viv and Tia Crystal:
Adam wanted to make a vacation of our trip to Galveston so we visited the (windy and seaweed filled) beach:
We visited NASA (where Viv slept the whole time except when she had a massive blowout just before we left... good timing!):
And we did a lot of good eating, which included Yamatos for a little hibachi lol:
More photos of my little monkey:
She finally fits in her Ellen onesie!
Viv and her F16 paci:
She loves Dolly:
Happy baby in the morning!:
Monkey loves her monkeys :)... my mom bought this little crib/bedding and she would stare at the monkeys for hours... so I didn't have the heart to remove the bumper....
A little too enthralled with the iPhone... but again, desperate times..
Playing with Dad in her Texas gear:
