Piper is 6 weeks old!

Piper meets new family members!

Piper spent the weekend getting to know her Uncle Brenden, Aunt Sarah Beth, and cousin Ian. The six of us had a great time even though Piper doesn't allow us to do a whole lot outside of the house. On Saturday, the Webbs went to the Nashville Zoo for the first time while I was at a bridal shower. Ian came home with lots of stories about the animals and a new stuffed animal, an elephant named, you guessed it, Timothy. That night, Brenden and Josh went to the Predators game against the Red Wings where Josh almost literally ran into John Rich and Two-Foot Fred. The game was exciting, ending in a shoot-out. On Sunday we all went to church, and Ian made lots of new friends during Sunday School and the Easter egg hunt that followed the service. The weather was yucky all day, so we had to stay inside. This was ok while the UT game was on tv, but Ian soon got restless and was running laps around the house by the end of the evening.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. I am so happy that B and SB (finally!) came to visit us in Nashville. Piper and Ian are off to a great start as cousins. Enjoy the pictures!

Ian loves Piper!


Giving kisses




meeting Aunt Sarah Beth



Ian spent lots of time playing with Ally and McKenna. Here, he's throwing the tennis ball for them while wearing his footed pjs with shoes :-).

We cheered on the Vols to no avail.



There was plenty of silliness this weekend!

Brenden and Josh made an awesome cake from scratch!

Ian helped clean up the cake mess :-).

We visited an area playground on Monday before they had to head home. Anything to allow the four year old boy to get out some energy!

Piper enjoyed her first trip to the playground.

We hope they come back soon to visit us!

Stake your claim

Ok, family members. Which one of you has feet like these? Notice how Piper's second toe curves away from her big toe. And look at the spread between the two! Neither Josh nor I can claim this feature.

First conscious smile

We've been dealing with some not-so-wonderful sleep issues as of late, but somehow this makes it all worth it:

My life-saver

the only way I get a shower each day

Happy Birthday!

Me, one month ago--Ugh

Happy one-month birthday to my sweet baby!

Piper is beginning to show a bit of her personality; she now has some definite likes and dislikes. For example, she loves being naked. In the mornings while I change her clothes, I allow her to kick around on the changing table in just her diaper. She will coo and call out while almost smiling (I'm still waiting for that). She will also spend some of this alone time in her bassinett in the evenings. These little sessions don't last long, but it's nice to know she is learning to be a bit independent. Also, she's learning to enjoy her bath, although not when she's hungry, as we found out last night. She loves sleeping on chests, and we've broken our number one rule of keeping her out of our bedroom because she doesn't like to go back to sleep in her crib after her 5:00 AM feeding. The only way for anyone to get any rest at that point is to take her back to bed with us. My mom loaned us her Snugglie from 30 years ago, and Piper loves to be cuddled in it. I love it, too, since it allows me to vaccum and do other tasks hands-free while she snoozes.

Despite all my trying, Piper hates to be swaddled. She will fight and fight until her arms are free. This, of course, defeats the purpose of the swaddle and wakes her up. She is also not completely convinced about her swing, bassinett, and crib. She would much rather be in someone's arms (she's sleeping on my chest as I type this). Because of this, I'm beginning to feel a little sleep deprived since I can't really achieve a deep sleep with her sleeping on top of me. But when I can get her to sleep in her swing, she will stay that way for hours. She's extremely impatient when she's hungry. I can't move fast enough!

I hope to do one of these posts each month. It's amazing to think how far we've come in 28 short days, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Finally!

Piper finally reached and surpassed her birth weight! This is a HUGE accomplishment since we had been worried about her weight since she was born. She now weighs 7 pounds, just in time for her 1 month birthday!

Tough Love

This past week, Josh and I had to practice the first of probably many tough love sessions with Piper. In order to get her to eat more efficiently, our lactation consultant and doctor told us to cut out the supplemental bottle feedings and marathon nursing sessions. This video shows the result, which sometimes lasted for an hour. Thankfully, Piper figured out our plan and got with the program. She's a quick learner!

bad blogger

I've become a much worse blogger than I ever intended. Most of that is due to the fact that Piper doesn't often let me have both hands to myself. She has decided that she likes to be fed or held almost all the time.

Speaking of feeding, Piper apparently has her dadddy's metabolism. We just got back from the pediatrician, and she still has not gained back up to her birth weight. This comes after feeding her whenever and wherever she wants, sometimes up to four hours at a time (seriously). Most of the time she will nurse for an hour or so, which is still longer than she realistically should, but she still shows signs of hunger. I have been working with a lactation consultant, and I now pump as much as I can after each feeding. Up until today, I have been banking that milk and feeding several ounces to her each night. But now, in order for her to gain weight, I now have to limit each feeding to 30 minutes, feed her the pumped milk after every feeding, and try to feed her again two hours after each feeding begins. Exhausting. The pediatrician, lactation consultant, and I all hope this system will encourage Piper to be more efficient at the breast and not use her mommy as a human pacifier.

And speaking of pacifiers, we're now offering one to Piper, something I swore I'd never do. It's just that four hours of feeding is just too much for me to bear. That, and Piper obviously isn't getting the benefit of four hours of feeding, and the doc actually thinks she is actually burning more calories being a lazy eater during that time instead of waiting until she's truly hungry to nurse.

Although it seems here that it's been a rough couple of weeks, I have to admit that she still sleeps beautifully during the night. She wakes up twice to eat and goes right back down. I'm definitely thankful for that since she's literally sucking the life out of me during the day :-).

Here's to hoping we get this worked out this week.