One Month!

And in the blink of an eye, our baby is now one month old! Blair has done a lot of changing in this first month! She has gone from looking like her Momma, to looking like Daddy. She gets more and more beautiful each day. Her hair is starting to grow back and fill in and she has the cutest little rolls in her arms and legs. She is a healthy baby and is strong! Anyone that holds her comments on how she likes to try and hold up her head up and kicks her feet. She still has very long and skinny feet and fingers, I just love them!

Blair enjoys music and bath time and despises being cold (after bath time and during diaper changes) and hungry (immediately upon waking up). She is still the biggest snuggler I have ever seen... it is the sweetest thing. Blair is eating an average of 5-6oz during feedings and eats every couple of hours. We don't have her on a "set" schedule of sleeping and feedings... we just go with the flow.

During the days, Blair and I like to listen to music, play on her activity mat, have sensory play and read books. I've had to stay away from the mushy books (insert, "I love you forever") since reading them to her makes me tear up (my hormones have gotten the better of me). I save those books for the bedtime story times and make Daddy read them. :)

Tonight Travis and I will try having her sleep in her crib. And will "tag team" the efforts. Wish us luck!

Happy "One Month" Birthday to our little sunshine, Blair Melisse!!!

4 Weeks and Easter Recap

So, as an exciting recap from my last post and Blair's sleeping... Blair slept 6 hours on Friday night and (drumroll please!), 7 1/2 hours on Saturday night!! Yay Blair!

With only two weeks before I go back to work, I decided that last night (Sunday) would be a good night to transition B into her crib (from our room). Not my brightest idea. Despite having a big day, Blair did not sleep well. In fact, I think that I got less sleep last night than I have in almost 3 weeks. So much for our 6 - 7 hour stretches. :( We'll give it another try and see how it goes.

This past week we have switched Blair's formula to the sensitive tummy / gassy formula due to her gassiness. I think (fingers crossed) that it is working and helping ease some of her discomfort. She is such a silly baby. She grunts and makes all kinds of noises while she sleeps. Sometimes it sounds like a little old man is sleeping in our room! We love it - every squeak she makes is precious. Blair has had some physical changes. She has lost some of the hair on top of her head and her skin is breaking out. Poor thing, it is her body's way of getting rid of hormones. Good thing it is temporary!

We had a great holiday weekend. Travis watched Blair so I could take a nice, long, uninterrupted nap. It was lovely. We took it easy, grilled yummy dinners and hung out as a family.

On Sunday, we met Nancy, Robert and Loren at church for Easter service, then we all met my family for brunch. Blair did a GREAT job at church and lunch! It was her first time to be out (other than venturing out to the doctor's office or Mimi's) and was SO good. We just passed her and Zoey around so we could all get a chance to love on the babies. They were such big girls! After brunch, we took Blair to Grandpa George's house for a relaxing visit. We had a great time visiting with our family. Unfortunately Conner was working so we did not get to see him... we missed you Uncle Conner!

Speaking of Easter, the Easter Bunny was good to our Blair! She got all kinds of fun stuff... sunglasses (love!), books, rattles and toys, candy (Mom and Dad are pleased to help her out with that), bath toys and finger puppets. Travis and I gave Blair her first piece of jewelry (she has gotten some other pieces from family, but we got this about a month before she was born!) - an engraved angel ID bracelet from James Avery. It is so tiny, but still looks big on her!

We have such a sweet family! Blair was showered with Easter gifts from her Great Aunts and Uncles and all of her Grandparents. She is one lucky little bear and is so loved! Thank you for all of the wonderful gifts!

Here are some of the photos from the Easter photo shoot. Considering the outfit changes, the girls were troopers!

Sweet Zoey

Such a little thing!

Sweet face

Blair

Cousins wearing matching dresses! :)

Here are some pictures from Easter and some random pictures taken last week!

My sweet little family (look at that sprawled out sleeping baby!)

Mommy and Blair

Blair with her Easter basket

Pretty Girl

My Easter Bunny

Love.

Hanging out on her mat

Snoozing in her sleeper

Laying on my baby comforter! Travis has the same one in blue gingham!

This past weekend we were happily surprised with the news that our friends Nic and Jill are having a baby! We are so excited for them and cannot wait to meet their sweet baby in October. We also found out that our friends Greg and Christie are having a boy! Yay!

I cannot believe that our little girl is already 4 weeks old today. Every Monday, I'll look at the clock throughout the day and remember what was happening at that time, on the day Blair was born. Travis and I love her so much. She is such a special gift from God... My heart is filled with such love, gratitude and peace for all of our blessings, especially our happy, healthy baby girl.

XoXoX

Ch-ch-changes!

Blair is continuing to grow like a weed! She changes from day to day... it's amazing to watch! She eats anywhere from 4-6 ounces in a sitting (though usually more like 6!). We still do not wake her up to eat, we simply feed her when she's hungry (and that is generally right when she wakes up!).

At night, Blair's first stretch of sleep is consistently 4 hours. Then she wakes up to eat and get her diaper changed, then falls back asleep after about 45 mins. Her second and third stretch is 3 hours and that gets us to mid morning or so. For the past 2 weeks, I have been getting up with her in the middle of the night since Travis is back to work. B and I have the schedule / arrangement down and although I haven't slept a whole night through in awhile, I feel pretty rested (all things considered).

So, last night, Travis offered to help get up with Blair (since he is off today for Good Friday), so I figured I would let him take the first feeding. Well don't you know... Blair decides to sleep SIX HOURS!!! No kidding. I couldn't & still can't believe it! After going back to sleep, she was up again about 3 hours later. Six hours?!? I hope this is a new change for our schedule! That would be wonderful!!!

Like I mentioned earlier, Blair is constantly changing. She seems to be out of that newborn eat/sleep phase (after only 3 weeks?!?) and is now much more awake during the day. She takes a lot of little 'cat naps' giving me few precious moments to do the things I need to do during the day (shower/get ready, straighten up around the house, clean and make bottles). She really enjoys it when we put music on (surprise, surprise!), especially records.

I am so excited that Travis is off for Good Friday so we can celebrate the (long) holiday weekend as a family! I cannot believe that Blair's first holiday is almost here. It will be a big day for B, Easter service and brunch (oh how I love brunch!) with the fam, followed by a visit with Grandpa George! So excited and cannot wait! :)

3 Weeks!

Well, another week has come and gone... Blair will be three weeks old tomorrow. She continues to amaze Travis and I with how much we love her on a daily basis. We have so much fun showing her things, playing with her and just staring at her.

Blair is still eating about 5 ounces in a sitting and sleeping in about 3 - 4 hour blocks. Her umbilical cord came off late Friday night, so we got to give Blair her first real bath last night! Although I think she was a little unhappy at first, she finally started to enjoy it. Too much fun! We spent the weekend hanging out together and hosting Blair's first photo session. Cousin Zoey came over and the girls took Easter pictures. We even got pictures of the girls in their monogrammed bloomers - too cute. It was a long hour for Blair, with three different outfit changes - she was exhausted by the end of it. We cannot wait to see how the pictures turned out (thanks Mimi and Pops!)!

I have added in some more photos of Blair that I have taken over the week. My hope is to take a picture every day for one year (and longer!) to watch and chronicle how she grows and changes. Today we were doing some work on Blair's room and I came across my favorite baby picture of Travis (that is on Blair's wall). After gazing at the picture, it dawned on me that Blair looks EXACTLY like this picture - just a younger version (Travis is about 3 in the picture). The eyes, nose and mouth look just like Blair... it's amazing. Everyone has said how much Blair looks like me, but this photo really shows how much she looks like Travis.

This is the picture of Travis that Blair looks like!!!

Travis and Blair

Looking at herself in the mirror... she was very entertained!

Sleeping angel

Our happy girl wearing 0 - 3 month clothes!

We LOVE her!

Raleigh laying underneath his sister! Too funny!

2 Week Check-up with Dr. Kavin

Yesterday, Mommy and Blair had our 2 week check-ups! I am healing well and have been given the ok to drive again (woo hoo!). I'll go back to see Dr. Schmidt in 4 weeks, right before going back to work.

After a less than satisfying first appointment with Dr. Fotouh last week, we decided to give Travis' pediatrician, Dr. Kavin, a try. Ever since the beginning of my relationship with Travis, he has talked about Dr. Kavin, and how great of a pediatrician he was / is. Luckily, Dr. K was accepting new patients, and we were able to get an appointment for Blair.

Dr. Kavin was very excited to see Travis, and now be seeing his daughter, whom Dr. K called his "grand patient." We had a really great experience with him and Dr. Kavin answered all of my questions, explained the physical tests he was doing on Blair (and commented on how strong and healthy our little girl is!), and listened to my concerns about immunizations for Blair. He put me completely at ease and I knew that he was the right doctor to take care of our little girl.

Our B is growing! She now weighs 8 pounds, 1 ounce! I cannot believe it! I guess those 4 - 5 ounce bottles (yes, she is a great eater!) have aided her gain.

After a quick heel prick (and a couple of tears), we headed home. Big days like doctor days usually end with lots of cuddle time between the three of us. :)

We are thrilled to have Dr. Kavin as our pediatrician and know that he will take great care of B.

On a sad note... today was Travis' first full day back at work. All good things must come to an end. We have loved having him home and taking care of both me and Blair! We miss him lots and I have spent part of the morning just emailing him pictures of Blair. Luckily, his early mornings (6am!) lead to early afternoons, so we can't wait to see him this afternoon! We love you Daddy!

2 Week Update!

Wow, how quickly time NOW passes! I cannot believe that two weeks have come and gone, in what feels like the blink of an eye. Being pregnant for 39 weeks seemed to crawl by, and now I find myself adjusting to the instant change of not being pregnant. Like I explained to Travis, it takes a long time to "be pregnant," then in one day, you have your baby and you are instantly not pregnant. Although I was really tired of being uncomfortable in the last few weeks of the pregnancy, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't miss it (or at least a small part of it).

Today I also put all of my maternity clothes into the storage container (for the next pregnancy). I am pretty much back down to my starting weight, so no need to for the extra clothes hanging around the closet.

Enough about that, and on to the most important, wonderful, perfect little being in existence... our Blair. We are still just loving every precious second with her. I love every little face, yawn (she has THE BEST yawns!), sound, snuggle that comes out of this little girl. She's an amazing snuggler and prefers to snuggle up next to Travis, on her side, any day or night (she gets the snuggling from both Mom and Dad). It's the most precious thing and warms my heart beyond words. We've had such a special bonding experience with our daughter, it's been really, truly wonderful.

Our days are pretty relaxed, we just go with the flow. When Blair wants to eat, we feed her and when she wants to sleep, we snuggle her until she falls asleep. Since day 2, she has showed an incredible urge to lift her head up (which terrifies her mother). Such a strong little girl! We talked to her pediatrician last week and they said we could do supervised tummy time. Tonight we are going to put her on her Baby Einstein activity mat. Obviously she can't really do anything on the mat (other than look adorable), but it might be fun to get her used to it.

Blair is sleeping about 3 -4 hours at a time, which has been great! We are very fortunate. She is also now up to 4 oz bottles (finishing them most of the time). She is growing every day... it is so amazing to watch. Sleep, eat, snuggle. Repeat. That's the way we roll.

We've had lots of family and friends come to visit us. A huge THANK YOU to our friends and family that brought us yummy dinners. Such a nice treat to have dinner made for us. Lasagna, chicken spaghetti and brisket sandwiches... just to name a few! We are so thrilled to be able to show off our little Blair to anyone that wants to come and visit, and she sure enjoys the attention! I am in the process of planning a "Sip and See" so that friends and family can come over, open house style, to meet our B and see her nursery. Assuming that I can get things ironed out and I can make it happen, we are aiming for the middle / end of May.

We take tons of pictures of Blair, but usually when she is sleeping. When she is awake, Travis or I are generally in her face playing with her and forget about taking pictures. :)

We are just loving our little family and taking in every moment with our little Blair. She fills our hearts with so much love and so much joy, I cannot believe how wonderful being a parent feels. It is everything that I thought it would be... and so much more!

She's Finally Here!

Well, as most of you know, our little Blair Melisse was born on Monday evening, at 5:31pm. She weighed in at 6lbs, 12.5oz and a "towering" 20 inches long. She is quite possibly the most beautiful thing Travis and I have ever laid our eyes on.

We went into Katy Memorial Hermann hospital on Sunday night so they could begin the induction. After dilating to 10cm (around 5pm on Monday), Dr. Schmidt told us that Blair was in the "OP" position (face up, instead of face down) and that there was still some cervix around her that hadn't moved away. She suggested that we do a C-section. After being in labor all day, Travis and I readily agreed. Even though I had gotten an epidural earlier in the day, I was still tired. These "walking epidurals" you get now aren't really what they used to be (or so I am told). While your pain is blocked, you still feel quite a bit of pressure with each contraction and it's pretty tiring.

So we got scrubbed in and were wheeled to the OR. By 5:31pm, our little B was born. Unfortunately due to the timing, all of our families were only able to catch glimpses of her in the nursery and had to wait until Tuesday to hold Blair.

I will say to anyone that is looking for a new gynecologist or OBGYN... I cannot say enough about ours, Dr. Kris Schmidt. She was referred to me by a co-worker and I absolutely love her. Additionally, the nursing staff at Katy Memorial Hermann were SO wonderful. Each and every nurse was so kind and sweet- to not only us, but our little Blair. The nursery nurses LOVED Blair and did lots of holding and passing her around... she was a big hit.

After 3 days in the hospital (typical with a C-section), we were finally able to go home yesterday. What a wonderful feeling to finally be leaving with our baby!

Last night was our first night, as a family of 5, in our home. It was wonderful and even more special than we imagined it would be. Needless to say, we are head over heels for our Blair Melisse. We waited a long time for such a precious gift from God and boy, did He deliver. It's like the Winnie the Pooh quote on Blair's wall, "Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." It couldn't seem more true.

Thank you to all of our sweet family and friends for visiting us and for all of your prayers. Your love and support are humbling, and Blair is so lucky that you all are apart of her life. And so are we!

Below are some pictures of Blair's birth-day, including pictures up until today, as she is 4 precious days old!

The first picture of Blair through the nursery window (proud Daddy in the backround)!

"6 pounds...."

Proud Daddy

Hours old

One day old

Two days old

My favorite... she is like a doll!

Three days old

Four days old

Daddy reading to Blair in bed

We are having so much fun as a family and just absolutely adore Blair. She is such a blessing; there simply are not words...