2 months already

Last week marked two months for Aurora... and we are astounded at how fast that has gone and how much she has grown. Everyone always says it goes so fast, and we are finding how true that is. At our 2 month doctors appointment today, Aurora measured 23 inches long and 10lbs 9.5oz. She is a growing girl!

2 month mugshot

Laughing smile - mom is funny

Wide-eyed

Last week was relatively uneventful - just trying to adjust still to a new schedule. It was Brandon's last week as a stay at home dad for a while since these next four weeks he will be away playing Army during the week up at Fort Devans. Luckily for Jessica, her mother-in-law Tina is visiting for the next month to help take care of the baby, she arrived Sunday afternoon.

Today, as mentioned above, we had her 2 month check up. This included a series of vaccines, 2 shots and one taken orally. She was a good girl, and mom managed alright too. For now, shes a bit uncomfortable, and letting us know. On that note - I am off to feed the baby! More updates next week.

keeping busy!

Well, it's been two weeks since our last post...time flies when you're having fun...or at least trying to figure out a baby's schedule...like I said, fun!!

Mom and baby playing

Week one (that we missed) was quite relaxing as Jes was able to stay home with Aurora and Brandon since work was officially closed.  The week was spent with some mommy nap time while Brandon watched Aurora, some Dr. Who episodes, and even a little bit of pool time for the family.

Dad and Aurora, letting mom swim

then we switched!

Brandon had a few job interviews for some youth ministry positions, and Aurora seemed to have a role in getting him a job  (he will be starting a youth ministry position in September); church's seem to give brownie points for young families with small children.  Not speaking or walking yet, and Aurora can get Dad a job...can we say talented.


Grandma and Grandpa Schmalz visited last weekend, and brought one of the most valuable pieces of furniture with them that all new parents need; a rocking chair.  Jaeo did a really great job at fixing it up as it was a very old chair (a newspaper was affixed to the bottom of the chair which was dated 1917).

Grandma Schmalz, Mom and Aurora

Beautifully repaired

This past week found Jes back at work, and Brandon the new stay at home care provider.  It's been fun, but  it seems that both mom and dad have discovered new levels of being tired.  Meanwhile Aurora smiles, fights sleeping and keeps them on their toes.

before....

and after...  bath time!

Finally, the family traveled back to CT to spend one more weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Schmalz before Brandon begins a one month training exercise with the Army next month.  We ate (Brandon cooked), we slept, enjoyed the weather, company and we had some fun; discovering new games to make baby smile...sticking out our toungues; she even appears to mimic by sticking hers out right back at us.

Grill Master Brandon!

Twizzle, enjoying the weekend with the Grandparents as well

Watching us...

"I can do that too!"

Grandma and Aurora, trying on a summer hat

This upcoming week promises to be semi-uneventful; back to work and stay home "daddery".  The major projects are getting Aurora on an eating schedule (which has been fairly easy), and trying to get her on a more regular sleep schedule (which is not nearly as easy).  Most times she seems to think that day time is for sleeping and night time is for playing...whatever it is, she certainly is a "morning girl" and making sure that mommy and daddy are up with her, even if they do appear to be zombie-like.

Aurora pondering the meaning of life in her sleep

Something to smile about

 This past week was pretty fun for us as parents since we hit the first "milestone" for Aurora - social smiling. She is recognizing our faces and smiling with excitement at this. We were able to capture some of these moments on camera.

Hi Mom!!

Kicking and grinning, her favorite past-times

SO EXCITED to see my parents!

 Unfortunately, she seems to not only express the happy emotions more, but also the fussy not-so-happy ones. Apparently weeks 6-8 are the peak fussy times, and we are starting to experience this. While before she would be fussy and it was either one of three things (hungry, dirty diaper, or gassy), now it doesn't seem as easy to solve. Sleeping is not going as well as we would have hope either, but we are working on figuring that out. She doesn't seem to like sleeping on her back, while a reclined sitting position or on her belly (in our arms) is her preferred  position. Since the current thought about infants is that they should sleep on their backs and not bellies to help prevent SIDS, we aren't putting her to sleep on her belly yet. As soon as she can roll herself though, all bets are off!

The lack of sleep has brought Jes to a new level of 'sleep walking' and talking. One evening Brandon awoke to find Jes standing next to her side of the bed, rocking a pillow. When he asked what she was doing, she responded 'rocking the baby' which was not in her arms or on the pillow, but rather asleep in the crib. Another night, Jes woke herself up, standing again next to the bed looking for the baby. She realized that the baby was not there, but in the crib, but then asked where the other baby was and began looking for it. Brandon wasn't home this time to remind her that we only have one child, but she soon realized this and went back to sleep. This is on top of the times she's tapped Brandon awake, mumbling incoherently or telling him 'its time to go' or other phrases. All we can do is laugh about these situations and hope more sleep will come in the future. At least it will make for interesting stories when Aurora is older!

Even with all of this though, one look at the pictures above and we know it is all worth it. She's too adorable!

What's that?

This week consisted of two types of events for little Rori, one where we documented that she is an official human being and citizen of the United States, and the other (more exciting) was her new cognitive developments: she can now see and focus on things.

We will start with the more boring but important events. This week, we were able to get her birth certificate (social security card came in the mail a little earlier) and also get her into the Army system so we can claim her on the insurance. Good thing too, babies are expensive. This will likely be another recurring theme throughout the blogs, but she is totally worth the investment :)

We also had her one month doctors appointment on Friday. All is well, doc says she looks happy and healthy. She confirmed what we already knew: she is a long skinny baby. She measured at 22 inches long and 8 lb 13 oz, so she grew about and inch and pound in one month. Her head is also growing, from 35.5 cm to 38 cm diameter. She is apparently in the top 80% percentile for height and head size, but the 30% percentile for weight. So, we need to watch her to make sure she still gains weight, but really the doc thinks thats just her physique. If only we all had that 'problem'.

Then this weekend, Rori had her first longish car ride to the Schmalz grandparents house. She did really well, actually. This is good, because come come August/September we will be spending quite a lot of time in the car driving out to Minnesota.

While at the grandparents, Rori had her first real playtime. She was a bit fussy, and apparently putting her down and letting her look at things and kick her legs was the solution. She started making a few cooing noises, which is exciting but also confusing for new parents. Usually any noise out of her means we need to do something, but this time there was nothing to do, she was just a happy noisy baby. 

We also went on a walk around the 'block' here, and she just loved looking up at the trees and the sky through the trees. She also liked looking at the photos on the mantle, the large red painting next to it, and the little giraffe attached to the stroller. It is so neat to see her finally focusing on things and following them. She spent a good 15 minutes looking at the giraffe below, which in baby time must feel like all day.

What's that? A giraffe without a neck of course...

Needless to day, Grandma and Grandpa Schmalz loved having us visit. Aurora spent a lot of time in Grandma's arms, which allowed mom and dad to get a few good naps in and the fuzzy baby (Twizzle) to run around the yard and play with Grandpa. It has been a great weekend, which will conclude with some ribs on the grill.... who could ask for more?

ONE MONTH!!

Uh Oh...a Monday post?!  Yes folks that's right...it's late.  After church and lunch at Great Grammie Harrington's, Jes and Bran needed naps (and Aurora didn't seem to want one).  Learning how to tag team snooze capabilities (one out and one in) has become quite the feat.  So for all those wondering where the Sunday post was...when Jes was sleeping Brandon was playing with Aurora and visa versa.

Aurora with Great Grandma Harrington

Week four (that's right, Aurora is officially one month old today) was mostly characterized by Aurora's increased sense of awareness.  It seems that she responds to mom and dad's voices, though face recognition is off: if she's hungry and dad tries to kiss her she attempts to suck on his nose.

The one-month mugshot

and for size comparison

In other news, Grandpa Harrington would be pleased to know that Aurora watched her first episode of Simpsons while sharing a bottle with Dad (no it was not Duff, though Brandon probably wished he'd had one).  There were even moments where we swear she was actually watching the television (we might have a Simpson's fan in the making).

A common question that we get lately is how Twizzle (our dog) is getting along with the baby.  For the first few weeks Twizzle approached the situation as, "Oh, a loud and boring blob of flesh" and generally just ignored Aurora.  Lately, especially when Aurora is crying, Twizzle will follow Jes around, or stare at Jes until Aurora settles down.  We are not quite sure if this reaction means, "hey, you need to take care of baby," or "hey, shut that thing up," but either way, she seems genuinely more interested.

Twizzle enjoying a moment outside

All in all it is amazing that a month has already flown by.  The new parents could certainly use some more sleep, but have yet to really crash as so many of the new parent horror stories seemed to imply might happen.  Please pray that we do not hit that point.  Though we may be tired we are thoroughly enjoying all the excitement, nervousness, and everything else that Aurora brings with her presence in our home.

POOP!

Before we get to the title of this post, I first want to say Happy Father's Day!! We had a pretty low key day: we dresses Aurora up for church and got to show her off and see Brandon's grandmother. Then we grabbed some fast food and stopped at one of our favorite stores before catching the end of his cousins baseball game and visiting with his uncle and cousin. The rest of the day included naps for father and daughter and steak for dinner. All in all, a success.

dressed up (& apparently ready to do the Mexican hat dance!)

So... poop. You know you have officially been inducted as a new parent when poop is not only a regular (haha) topic of conversation, but also a serious (as well as hilarious) way to get to know your baby and whats going on. I am sure Aurora will hate this blog post someday when someone digs it out of the depths of what might be archaic technology, but we are quickly realizing that part of parenting is developing an arsenal of embarrassing photos, videos and stories. How else do you keep children in line? :-P

For those reading who may not have experienced infant poop... it is a different thing all together. It is wet, various colors, and at the moment (I believe due to breastfeeding) they do not smell (we are not so lucky with farts, however). Anyway, Aurora has GOT to be the world loudest pooper, and these poops come rapid-fire. We've learned the hard way that when she gets going, we need to give her a few minutes and wait till she starts wiggling again before we attempt to change her. You see, pooping takes concentration, so we've noticed she gets very still and a focused look on her face (accompanied with some grunts) when she's doing the deed. We've washed the changing table cover about 4 times this week, and that was after we learned our lesson. The only problem with letting her finish is that then she then tends to overflows the diaper (which at the moment are a little big on her skinny butt and may also contribute to the overflow) and now we are going through about 4 outfits a day. While this is messy business, we keep it light and laugh it off. The surprised looks on friends faces when she lets one go is priceless.

In the end though, what we've learned through Aurora's poop is that she is healthy and eating well (and also that she is definitely a Harrington).What we wouldn't give for our own washer and dryer though!

That's it for this weeks update. I'm sure poop will be a continued theme throughout the blog, so be warned!

Two Weeks

Its hard to believe, well... a lot of things. Its hard to believe we are parents. Its hard to believe she's been here two weeks already, and its hard to believe it has only been two weeks. (Ever notice how time seems to drag on in the middle of the night? Especially when you're watching the clock, hoping the baby is REALLY asleep, and not just taking one of those 5 minute power naps.)

Week number 2 for Aurora was filled with meeting new people in her life and collecting some photos that she will love and some she will hate when she is older.

Jes's college roommate Summer was visiting for the week, catching up and helping Jes immensely around the house and with her new niece: holding her, changing her and taking many photos. While being cute, sleeping and eating, Aurora managed to make some pretty awesome faces that are 'rather good'.

Aunt Mandy and Uncle Matt also came over to visit (photo of Mandy forthcoming!) to meet the new addition and also to help make our couch more mommy-friendly. We had been using it without the feet, but it was way to low for us to get up and down while holding the baby. Matt can always be counted on to bring tools!

Finally, Grandma Harrington was able to meet grandchild #2 after a long wait and being there with us during the less interesting beginning parts of labor. As soon as she got here, she waited just long enough to wash her hands before she took Aurora for the majority of the night. 

Its been great and all the love and support from all of you has been wonderful. Though, we are looking forward to trying to figure out how she will fit in/change our daily routine in the next few weeks.