OH! The Joy of SLEEP!!!!

I have to say, for those of you that don't know me well, I'm a disaster, a mess, a wreck and basically not a good person to be around, when I don't get enough sleep!

Needless to say it's been rough these first 6 weeks of Sofia's life. Her usual schedule has been to eat around 10pm and then again around 2am and then again around 5am. It wouldn't be so bad if she would go right to sleep after she eats, but oh no, couldn't be that easy! I swaddle her and she will literally work for 30-40 minutes to try to get her right arm and hand out of the swaddle.

How do I know this, you may ask. I know this because I watch her on our video monitor. I could turn it off and try to go to sleep, but the kid isn't quiet while working at this little endeavor of hers. She grunts, she groans, she cries out and she keeps me awake!

So Thursday at my "booby group" I ask Doris, my lacation consultant that runs the group, what she thinks about this. She matter-a-factly tells me, "well, leave an arm out of the swaddle!"

Why couldn't I have thought of this? AH, the sleep deprivation!

Thursday night was amazing. I slept and slept until my very full boobs woke me up at 5am!

YIKES!!!!!!!! I freak out! Immediatley I flip on the video monitor to see my sweet baby just starting to squirm around.

She'd slept through the night! I did a little happy dance and ran in and got her. Without unswaddling I quickly fed her and put her back down and will you even believe that she slept until I woke her at 8am!

I didn't get too excited about this wonderful night of sleep. Could it have been a fluke? Oh no, it was not! She did the same thing again last night!

I feel like a new woman!

Here's a picture of our swaddled sweetie!

We Love Grammy!

Last week we were thrilled to have my cousin, Jenny, her hubby and their little almost 2 year old, Zachary. We went to the mall for a short shopping trip and I was able to snap off a few pictures of Gram with Sofia and then Gram with Zach and Sofia.

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

I am COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY!!!!!!!!! My girlfriend, Christine, owns her own professional photography company called Gigglebox Creative. She came over on February 14th and took these amazing pictures of my girls and put them on this video. Each picture is stunning! I know that I am bias, but my girls are beautiful! Don't look too close of the pictures of me....I'm working on getting rid of the baby weight! You'll need to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music in order to hear the music from the video.
If you are intrested in more info about Gigglebox Creative you can email at giggleboxcreative@hotmail.com.
I hope you enjoy this video as much as Mike and I did!

Happy Valentine's Day

My sweet girls on Valentine's day! Sofia is one month old!!!

Saturday Photo Shoot!

Sofia's One Month!!!

On Valentine's Day Sofia turned a month old. I can hardly believe how fast that flew by. It makes me sad that it's going so fast. She is up to 8 pounds and is still measuring 20.5 inches long. She stays awake a little more throughout the day and is much more alert when she is awake. She is starting to coo a little and smile a lot! I'm really trying my best to enjoy this time with her. I'm still exhausted from waking up in the night but I know this time is short. I find myself sitting around just watching her! Hanna continues to do great with Sofia. I'm still not seeing any jealousy. She just loves holding Sofia and kissing on her! I love my 2 girls!!!!

Gram bought the girls these darling outfits and we had pictures taken on Saturday.

Hanna's Valentine's Tea Party

Friday morning Hanna and I went to her school for her Valentine's Tea Party. Her teacher, Mrs. McElrath, did a fabulous job. Each child had a red heart balloon tied to they're chair. Each table had a red heart tablecloth with darling plates and napkins. The kids got little chocolate tea cakes and warm apple juice. It was very fun. After the Tea Party was the exchange of valentines and of course, tons of candy. Hanna had a great time!

The Girls!

Hanna's favorite thing to do before she leaves for school is to hold her little sister. Sofia usually puts up with it!

The Littlest One

A few pictures from last week!

My Lovely Girls

Snapped these pictures today while Hanna was holding Sofia. Hanna continues to be an excellent big sister. She loves to hold and kiss on Sofia. Sofia tends to be on the mellow side and just allows Hanna to love all over her!

My Little Valentine

Just picked up a couple new pairs of jammies for Sofia since she's so tiny and can't fit into the ones I have! These darling little Valentine pjs have a little heart on the butt that says Be Mine!

Alyssa in Town

My girlfriend, Alyssa, flew in from Denver for 6 days! We went shopping, drank coffee, drank wine and went out for sushi. It was nice having her in town, especially when she would hold Sofia during fussy times!!!

Little Sofia

A few pictures taken while out to dinner at La Fonda!

Out for Breakfast

Sunday, January 25th we all went to church and then out for breakfast. The weather was beautiful and Sofia did great!

The Sling

Shally Wise made this beautiful sling for me. I found the material at Joanne's and she sewed it up for me. Check out her website at www.wiseforbaby.com!
Sofia LOVES the sling....falls fast asleep. I love it because I can get lots of things done with her in it! Also it keeps people's germy hands off of her! Can't be too careful during RSV season.

My 2 Favorite Girls!

What a day! Sofia gave me a five hour stretch last night, but then was up from 3am-5am, and then up again at 6:30am to eat! After she ate I jumped in the shower and got ready. Then Mike showered Sofia and I got her ready, with the help from her big sister! We'd taken Hanna yesterday for a haircut so this morning I curled her hair and got her ready. Hanna and I got breakfast, got my coffee made, took a few pictures of the girls and we were off to Sofia's doctor's appointment. The appointment went great and Sofia is perfect! We were happy to find out she is already back upto her birth weight. Dr. Pendleton was happy to see that Hanna was doing so well and encouraged us to keep feeding her so she can gain back the 3 pounds that she lost.

*****

On a side note, I was very happy to weigh myself and find out that I've lost 20 of the 26 pounds that I gained! Too bad that I was 25 pounds overweight when I got pregnant! Back to the gym the end of February.

*****

After the doctor we had to go to the lab and have Sofia's heal pricked for the PKU test. Then we ran to pick up a birthday present for a party Hanna's going to tomorrow. By the time we did all this not only was I having crazy hot flashes, I was exhausted! We came home and I took a 2 hour nap!

Thank goodness for my sweet Hanna! She has been such a huge help. She loves her little sister so much and just wants to hold her and kiss on her. She is quick to run and grab me anything I need, stick a paci in Sofia's mouth or stand and sing to Sofia when she's crying! There is no jealousy or frustration with the baby. She wants to be right there for everything, including all of the feedings! She now understands all about breastfeeding! We had to talk with her this evening about not discussing the breastfeeding with her friends at school.

As unsure as I was about having a second child, I can't imagine life any differently. The three of us becoming the four of us is nothing short of spectacular.

Enjoy the pictures of my two favorite girls...........