Ashley's latest

On Tuesday Ashley turned 6 weeks old. I can't believe it! She has just grown and changed so much over the past 6 weeks.

Just in the past week, she has had some new developments. First, she is smiling and cooing a lot more, and now more out of a response to things like us talking to her or singing to her. I absolutely love it!!! It just warms my heart every time she smiles at me, and I love it when she's "talking" to me. She is such a sweet girl.

Also, her gas issue has been much better this week, so I am able to see a lot more of my sweet happy little girl since she hasn't been so uncomfortable.

She has also figured out that her hands work. She has grabbed/held my hair, she pushes at things (she did that before, but now I think there's the connection and she realizes she has control over it).

She had tummy time yesterday and not only had her head up, but was pushing up with her arms and held the position for a while! She will also push up off of her feet now.

Yesterday I was skyping (video chatting) with my mom. She is ALWAYS wanting to skype so she can see Ashley, so sometimes I'll let her have her time with Ashley while I am showering or making dinner or something. Well yesterday I figured I'd have her see Ashley get a bath since Ashley loves them so much, so I had Ashley in her chair talking to my mom while I went and got her stuff and the bath ready. My mom didn't hear me, but she could tell every time I came into the room and was nearby, because Ashley would turn and focus on me and just give me that special "you're my mommy" look.

I think we are starting to get more into a routine at night...she seems to have determined her own bedtime, and starts getting tired around 9pm. We rock in the glider, read a story, and listen to some lullaby music before bed. When she gets a little older, I will also start prayers with her.

Lastly, we went to the urology specialist earlier this week. He said that in his years of practice and also residency, he's only heard of one other case of this. He said he needed to do some research himself and then get back to us on the best way to treat it. He also wants us to follow up in a month to make sure that the hemangioma has not grown much (thankfully it seems to be staying about the same size so far). I think we're going to start playing the lottery after some of these "rare odds" that we've encountered...lol.

Well that is all for now. Ashley is starting to wake up...

Just some cute pics

The past week

The past week has had it's ups and downs...Poor Ashley had a couple of rough days, where she was just soooo uncomfortable with gas. Sometimes she'll burp or toot with no problems, other times it seems to get stuck and she gets so uncomfortable and cries. I have gotten tips from the doctor, on call nurse, friends, family, etc. I've tried everything and nothing seems to help. I'm pretty sure it's not the foods I'm eating (I've cut out foods that cause gas for babies). I think it's that she eats so fast and gulps down her food and gets air bubbles--I can even hear them go down into her stomach when she's eating. I don't know if it's because she is so hungry and in a rush (kinda like her daddy), or the nurse said it could be that my milk comes in so well that it comes out fast which makes her have to eat/gulp fast. They suggested laying on my side or leaning back which I have done since. It helps sometimes. Again, it's hit or miss.

When she isn't gassy and uncomfortable, she continues to be such a sweet little girl! You know that she is so sweet and happy, and wants to be but is just uncomfortable at times.

Here are some pics from her good moments. Today the gas seems to be better, she has been full of smiles and coos. They just warm your heart and make it all worth it.

Also, Ashley has been loving bath time. She enjoys it so much and is always so happy when she's getting a bath. I even gave her a "spa experience", and had soothing music and gave her a massage while drying off...she seems to really like that too!

Pics Taken By Photographer at 9 Days Old, and Family shots at 3 weeks/1 month

February 4, 2011--1 Month Old Today

Ashley is a month old today! Technically she turned 4 weeks on Tuesday the 1st, but since she was born on the 4th, we will go with the 4th of each month for the markers to make it easy.

I cannot believe she is a month old already! It has been the best month of my life I think. I am just loving my little girl! I can't get over how much she has grown and changed in both looks and personality. She is much more alert, responsive, and demonstrative. She started smiling (for real) around 2 1/2-3 weeks old, she makes funny grunts, and today she cooed for the first time. She is getting strong with her neck and leg muscles. She lets you know when she is hungry! (I attached a hungry/impatient pic).

She continues to be such a sweet baby--the only time she cries is when she is hungry, gassy (we had a couple of days where the poor thing was having issues and pretty uncomfortable, but thankfully it's improving some), or tired. The rest of the time she is so sweet and pleasant--it makes the rest worth it!

She still sleeps pretty good during the night. She'll typically go to bed sometime between 9-11, then she'll sleep 3-4 hours, then get up again around 6 or 7 in the morning. Can't beat that. We've had a couple of "rough nights" if you can call them that. By rough nights I mean she is up and wide awake and it's taken a couple of hours to get her back to sleep, but when she is up she is happy and wide-eyed. So we can't complain, especially since she is such a great sleeper a majority of nights.

The only drawback we've had is that she has a hemangioma on the inside of her vagina of all places. Matt was changing her diaper and called me in to show me this red blister-type thing. We googled it, and it sounded like it could be a symptom of diaper rash, but called the doctor to be on the safe side. I'm glad that we did. They can grow pretty large, so we have to wait and see how big it gets. We need to see a urologist in a couple of weeks, but the doctor said today that he didn't think there was anything that needed to be done (she shouldn't need surgery or anything, and should be able to have a normal life and have children down the road if she chooses to).

Aside from that, she got a good health report. She was 8 lbs, 15 1/2 ounces (so they rounded up to 9 lbs today), and measured at 21 inches. Doctor said everything looks great.

She had to get a shot today. Poor thing cried and cried. I felt so bad for her, but I know it's for her wellbeing.

Anyway, life is good. Matt is loving Ashley just as much as I am. He's such a great dad, my heart melts when I watch them together. We were both saying that having Ashley has been pretty amazing, and that's great since the first six weeks are supposedly the roughest.