Summer is coming!

Jayney is getting ready for summer she has her been testing out her shorts, sunglasses and hanging out in the garden. Now if the weather would just stay nice so she can wear all her cute summer outfits we would be so excited!

Daddy's Girl

Here are some pictures of Dusty and his little Carhartt girl! Could they be any cuter together? This baby seriously loves her daddy!

Two Month Update Sprinkled with Pictures

Our Jayney Joy is TWO MONTHS old! Actually two months was on Saturday, but I have been waiting to post this until we had the newest stats from her doctor’s visit today. Jayney is growing like a weed right now, and I can’t believe how much she changes every day! Here are her new numbers: JJ is 11 pounds 1.5 ounces, putting her in the 50^th percentile for weight. That is down a little from the 75^th for weight at her one month but it is quite possible that she had been putting a lot of her energy into growing taller as she is now 23 and ¾ inches. That lands her in the 95^th percentile for height and means she has grown almost 4 inches longer than when she was born! Wow, can you say long and lean?

St Patrick's Day dress up!

Getting suited up for a walk

Hanging with Dad on his lunch break

As far as sleep goes, we continue to be impossibly blessed! At 5 weeks JJ started giving us at least six straight hours of rest at night. After the first few nights of sleeping six plus hours I thought we were just getting lucky and was afraid it wouldn’t last, but it has continued to get better with each night! I am thrilled to say that now at 9 weeks and a few days old Jayney regularly sleeps between 7.5 and 9 hours at night! I am so thankful to have a baby that loves her sleep as much as I do!

Still happy after a full morning of shopping

Pretty good at sitting up against the couch without the Boppy

Walking in the SUNSHINE

Daddy's Girl for sure!

All that sleep at night means lots of energy during the day. I am excited to have her awake, alert and playful more every day. She is getting to be quite proficient at holding up her head on her own! She clearly prefers practicing this in her Bumbo seat or Boppy, over her play mat. She is doing okay with her tummy time but not a huge fan of it unless she is face to face on someone’s chest. Jayney loves the toys above her play mat when she is on her back though and likes to bat at them wildly.


We may have quite a little ham on our hands!

Enjoying play mat time now

In the last month Jayney has learned another new trick thanks to her dad. Dusty taught her how to stick out her tongue! It is pretty cute to watch her see Dusty make a face, think about it really hard, then out comes the tongue. It pops out slow at first but as soon as she realizes she has done it it pops in and out faster. JJ will repeat this little trick over and over with less of a pause in between each time. Usually we end up giggling hysterically and Jayney just starts grinning from ear to ear. We are seeing more of her funny little personality every day!

Say cheese!

I know a baby holding up her head or sticking her tongue out may not sound that fantastic but I still think it is amazing to watch her learn a new skill, even if it is a silly one! It is so amusing to sit with her and listen to her new little coos, while watching her make adorable faces! I could just sit and stare at her all day. Although the hour and a half milk comas she has each morning and late afternoon are rather helpful in letting me get caught up with things around the house. 

Ready for Spring flowers

Bunny Baby

Bunny kicking up a storm!

Sweeter than Chocolate

Hoppy Easter!

 In between her feeding induced sleep, Jayney is a very smiley girl! She is nursing every four-ish hours but is just as happy taking a bottle if we are out and about. Whenever we put JJ in the car, she is snoring within a few minutes of hitting the road. It makes traveling super trouble-free! It still seems like she doesn’t cry that much. When the rare occasion does arise to make her upset, she is quick to calm down. She has some very consistent “tells” that simply let us know what she wants.

All ready for Easter!

Miss JJ in her Easter dress

I honestly don’t think we deserve to have such a great baby. I know her patience is not a product of our parenting; Jayney is just easy all on her own! I know all parents think their child is the most perfect thing to hit the earth’s surface but we really think Jayney might be an angel. She is a blessing in our lives in every way and I know her cheerful, easy-going nature is truly a gift from God! 

I love our new definition of a family picture

Our sleepy girl

First Night Out on April 1st

I have such a wonderful man in my life; he seriously spoils me rotten!  This last Sunday we had a great day together. It started off with Dusty giving Jayney a bottle and hanging out together in the morning until she conked out again. This meant I got to sleep in till almost ten o’clock and when I did get up it was to Dusty telling me he had made my favorite breakfast of hash browns and bacon! When I got out to the kitchen I also saw a beautiful bouquet with my favorite flowers daisies and yellow roses. I was so impressed that Dusty did not just pick it out but actually created it by putting several simpler bunches together into a unique arrangement made just for me.  Next I fed JJ and got myself ready for church. While I did my makeup, Dusty got himself AND baby all dressed for the day.

Raise your hand if you are adorable!

All ready for church

Happy Girl

 

After Church Dusty took me shopping for new clothes, just because I had a coupon that was about to expire! As a girl it makes me so happy that he understands that I love new things every once in a while and getting a good deal makes it so much sweeter. Then we went home for a little while. Dusty moved some cows around and Jayney and I took a short nap.  After our nap, it was time to get ready to leave again but this time it would just be two of us going away!

We left our baby at home, eeek! It was not fun at first but I sincerely think that I had a harder time with this than JJ. It helped to leave her in our house and smiling away with Grandpa Tim as her babysitter. I tried to convince myself that I was leaving her at home for Tim’s sake, not that he was watching her for our sake! It was so strange not having Jayney with me after being around her all the time for the last eight weeks and the previous nine months for that matter! I kept thinking I had forgotten something and had to remind myself that Tim would surely be enjoying his time at home with her.

Oh Hi Grandpa!

Once I managed to detach myself from baby, Dusty and I left for a hockey game that my sister Alli got us some tickets to through her internship with the Chiefs. We picked up my Grandma on the way and met my mom there. The game was fantastic and the Chiefs won three to one! My Mom offered to drive my Grandma home so we could save a few minutes and get back to Jayney sooner.

When we got home Jayney was asleep on Grandpa’s lap. She opened her eyes when she heard us talking looked right at me, made a confused face and then went back to sleep. Clearly, she was very upset that we had been gone for about five hours.

As you can see JJ is very concerned that we were gone...

The last bit of our evening was spent cuddling with baby on the couch and just relaxing with Dusty. As we were getting ready to go to bed I thanked Dusty for making it such a great day. He then laughed and said “I supposed I should have waited to do all that for a holiday or special occasion.” I reminded him that it was April Fool’s Day and his response just made me melt. Dusty said “I guess that works, after all I am a fool for you! “ Isn’t that sweet? I could not have found a better guy to spend the rest of my life with if I tried!

Ups and Downs of the First Month

Jayney is one month old!... and a few extra days because that is how long it took me to finish writing :)

I can’t believe how fast the days go. It really feels like we just brought our little JJ home from the hospital and now here she is a month old already.  We are loving being parents to our happy little baby. I would like to think that is because we are adjusting so well and felling very competent in our skills taking care of Jayney. But if we are being honest I think Jayney is the one doing the work to make our life go smoothly. She is seriously a super easy baby! Of course she is still a baby and that in itself comes with challenges but as far as baby’s go we could not ask for one that is any better!

Awake and happy - 3 days

The first few weeks with Jayney have had some interesting ups and downs. One of the first lows was when we came home from the hospital the swelling in my feet seemed to peak about the time I made it out the front doors to get in the truck. This meant I was glued to the couch for the first several days we were at home. I had such bad swelling even standing to take a ten minute shower was seriously painful. I had mentally prepared myself to have some discomfort from tearing/stitches but that was very minimal compared to surprising amount of pressure and puffiness I had in my feet. This time left me with a strong feeling of familiarity with my last few weeks of pregnancy; taking frequent trips to the bathroom as the fluids which caused my leg swelling slowly were processed out of my body. This was definitly one of the things you don’t know about when you are thinking about having a baby!

Relaxing on the couch - 4 days

Another low in the first week or so was waiting for my milk supply. It was super nerve-racking to feel responsible for feeding this little girl and not have the resources to do it adequately. We ended up visiting the lactation consultant for a little assistance (and more importantly encouragement) getting things going. We were worried because JJ had dropped from a birth weight of 8lb 13oz to 7lb 14 oz. I knew that a drop is normal but was concerned because JJ was on the higher end of acceptable range of weight loss at almost a whole pound! Then once my milk came in we went from dealing with no supply to having a significant oversupply! I felt like my body was totally out of control.

Cute Valentines Baby - 8 days

This was tough for me because I didn’t feel like I had any control over my body or my day. I was used to being able to just sleep or eat or do whatever I wanted when I felt like it. Now here I had this little person that was putting me on her inconsistent schedule. Since she had lost so much weight I was told by our doctor that I had to wake her up every two and a half hours to feed her even if she was not asking to eat. This was painful for everyone! I wanted to let her sleep so bad so I could too, JJ was irritated with being woke from her peaceful slumber and Dusty had a hard time watching us both be upset by the waking. Jayney was so sleepy we would have to strip her down to her diaper and brush her skin with a cold wet washcloth to try to keep her half way awake. Then because she was sleepy and not super hungry yet it would take her an hour to get enough to eat, often leaving me with just under an hour to sleep/get anything else done after getting her changed again.

The stinky cord stump fell off - 10 days

Sometimes she wouldn’t even give us that long because she would finally really wake up and be hungry after not feeding well just a little while before. Being new to parenting, we didn’t always know that was what she wanted. After all, she had JUST finished eating minutes before, how could she want more already? So I would go through the guessing game of burping, diaper changing (typically several in a row) and cuddling all with no effect on her crying. I felt incompetent as a parent and doubting every decision I made. This left me feeling stretched emotionally and physically; the only thing for me to do in a day was sit around and feed her without much more than a few minutes here or there to go to sneak down the hall to the bathroom or grab a granola bar on the go. I am so thankful that this phase didn’t last long.

Happy bath time - 13 days

This stage really switched from a low to a high for us at Jayney’s two week doctors visit. Her weight gain was going back up again and she was growing about an ounce a day! This change made it so we could go three hours in between feedings and since she takes so long to eat this meant almost four hours from start to start! Hearing this news from our doctor I thought hurray we might get some sleep! It got even better when our doctor said just one time each day we could even let her go for a four hour stretch from the end of one feeding the start of the next if she was sleeping and not wanting to eat. I was so excited I thought I was dreaming!

JJ trying to stay awake - 17 days

So much hair! - 23 days

Since that two week appointment things have been smooth sailing in the Walsh family! It is amazing what sleeping for more than two hours will do for your mental state! Once we started sleeping more we have had several highlights in the last few weeks including successful trips to the grocery store, a shopping trip for mom, parts runs all over Spokane, a 9 pound 7 ounce, 22 inch long healthy baby at her one month doctors visit, an awesome daytrip to see Pullman friends, our first nice dinner out as a family of three, going to Church together and a family birthday dinner at Great Grandma Slater’s house.

First nice dinner out together - 24 days

Goofy happy face -24 days

Surprise face -24 days

I am so cute! - 24 days

I think our baby Jayney is now trying to spoil her parents. She is making our life easy as her caretakers. At one day short of five weeks Jayney is now regularly (the last three weeks) sleeping about four hours between feedings. She is still feeding very slow (about 45 minutes) but is getting to where she will fall right back to sleep at night without having to be rocked forever like the first couple weeks.  I’m glad to report JJ had no “confusion” issues and will happily suck on whatever you put in front of her be it bottle, pacifier or nipple. She has changed her patterns to have just a few very full poopy diapers a day which is much better than the three or four in a row at each feeding!

Jayney is one month old - 29 days

Not a big fan of her bumbo seat -29 days

Oh look my hand! -29 days

Serious trouble with this pouty face - 31 days

We love yellow and green! - 31 days

 JJ is getting much more vocal each day. She now will make all kinds of funny noises and grunts which are unrelated to the poopy diapers. I have never heard a baby make so many grunting sounds as Jayney likes to in a day. She hardly every cries and when she does it is more like she is yelling at us. It sounds she is saying “Aaahhhh!” fairly loud.  When she does this it is almost always in short single bursts, rarely is it the long continued up and down lilting cry that typically comes to mind when you think of a crying baby. Sometimes I think she yells just to test out her voice. It is pretty funny to hear her little yells because they are surprising not only to us but judging by her faces sometimes to JJ too. They are certainly a lot less wearing on her parents’ ears than traditional crying.

Visiting our friends in Pullman - 32 days

What you mean I'm not big enough to be a coug yet!- 32 days

Family dinner at Great Grandma Slaters - 33 days

I think the most exciting thing that has happened in the last week or two is she now is getting much more interactive. She is having longer awake times during the day and really watches what we are doing. She can hold her head up on her own and look around for short spurts of time. I love watching her “track” us around the room. She is definitely a daddy’s girl! If she hears Dusty’s voice in the house she starts looking for him and when she finds him she will hardly take her eyes off him. She has started to make happy faces when we make faces at her first. We have even gotten a few genuine grins upon prompting, not just random smiles like in the first few weeks. … and as any parent will agree those first two crazy, sleepless, emotional weeks are totally worth it when you see a happy baby smiling back at you!