Eight Weeks and Back to Work

Looking cool in her new shades

Last weekend Pippa and I drove down to Woodburn for a small family get together. Everyone loved her and I got some great pictures of her with family. My aunt Jeanne gave her a pair of sunglasses and it was so nice outside we had to use them.

I went back to work on Monday. I am currently allowed to telecommute Mondays and Tuesdays, then I am in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays. My boss allows me to arrange my schedule how I want on Fridays. Since this Friday is a field day at Liam's school, I will work from home then help out at field day. His last day of school is next Monday and he is excited about it!

Yesterday I went into the office around 8am. Dan stayed home all day with her. He did a fantastic job. She napped until noon! I left work at noon and headed to the gym for an hour of cardio and weights. I'm surprisingly not sore today. We will see how I feel tomorrow. I picked up some lunch for both of us and was home around 1:30 to daddy and Pippa playing on the couch. Today I have an afternoon meeting at work so I am staying home a bit longer and allowing Dan to sleep in. I'm only working 20 hours/week for a little while so I can get back into the rhythm of going to work. 

Tomorrow is Dan and my dad's birthday. Yes they have the same birthday, close to Father's Day and 25 years apart. I believe the plan is to go out to dinner but we are not sure yet. I have a baby shower on Saturday for a friend who is pregnant with her first children - twin boys! Then on Monday Liam and Pippa both have doctor appointments for normal check-ups. I can't wait to see how much Pippa weighs now and how long she is. The outfit she wore yesterday was "6-9 months" but she's mostly in the "3-6 month" range now. 

06/13/11 - 8 weeks old

Talking to Great-grandma

Cuddling with Aunt Glenda

Victory...with a Smile

At last! Tuesday night, Pippa became a bit drowsy at 9pm. I rocked her for a bit then took her to her crib for the swaddle around 9:30pm. She was down and out for the count. I did not have to go back in to check on her or anything! What time did she wake up this morning? 6:00am! That's a full 8.5 hours of sleep for baby (about 7.5 for me)! Woot!!!

And finally, with much dedication (and continued hovering) I was able to capture a smile on film. Behold!!

Pippa at seven weeks - smiling!!!

Seven Weeks

Pippa is seven weeks old today! I still need to post six week pictures. We have been very busy.

Our weekend at the beach went great! She is really becoming more alert and pays attention to everything. She ate good and traveled well.

This week has been a bit, um, rough. While we have been practicing our eat, activity, sleep method, there are times where she just wants to eat then sleep. Is that okay? Right now for example; she was pretty fussy this morning before I fed her then she passed out. I tried to wake her but she was having none of that so I swaddled her and put her in her crib. She's been sleeping for almost two hours now. That means when she gets up it will be time to eat again. It seems to me that if she's that tired, it's okay to skip the "activity" portion however at night, she wants to skip the "sleep" cycle. Around 7 or 8pm, she becomes wide awake and wants to not sleep. Usually we have been taking a stroll outside and that seems to at least keep her calm. Since she stays up during that cycle, I usually put her down right after her 9 or 9:30 feeding, she will fuss a bit (until around 10) then she's out for the night.
Pippa has been a lot more fussy during the day and in the evening as well. For the first 5 weeks she hardly cried, now it seems like some days I can't make her happy no matter what. Or she will sit in her chair, give a chuckle, smile, then start crying. I keep telling myself that everything is a phase. The younger they are, the faster they grow out of whatever the phase is. Things typically don't last more than a couple weeks. If I can tough it out, it will get better.

This morning we had to wake up early to drive my hubby to the airport. He is in Pennsylvania for training until Saturday afternoon. It's going to be an interesting week. Today is my last PTA meeting for the school year, Liam starts a cooking class tonight and is still finishing up his Tuesday pottery classes. I have my final (I hope) doctor check up on Wednesday and Liam has early release that day too! Thursday and Friday are surprisingly open...so far. If my appointment goes well, I should be headed back to work part-time. I'm actually looking forward to a little time away from baby and the ability to workout again. I'll be super close to the gym so I can pop over after work. I'm alternating between my maternity clothes and my "fat" clothes. It's frustrating just wearing sweats most of the time. I know that by losing just a couple of pounds I will be able to fit into some of my regular clothes soon. I lost 30-ish pounds right away but have been holding steady since then. I still have around 20 more to lose.

That's about it for us. Although a little fussy, Pippa has been smiling more and laughing a bit. She is finally enjoying the vibrating bouncy chair (we still don't own a swing) and again, she's become very alert and likes to be where the action is (in the kitchen during dinner, outside in nice weather etc.). I'm looking forward to what the next couple of weeks holds for us.