Lounging around

Crying it out

So. I don't have any actual photographs of my crying baby but Ms. Lucy has been tres fussy the past week. Its almost as if she has decided not to nap at any cost - getting whinier and more upset the longer she goes without sleeping. She actually has been sleeping better at night - between 5-7 hours for her first stretch. But the rest of the night has then been much smaller increments of 25 minutes-45 minutes, and what with her going to bed at 8 that leaves her and me mostly awake from 2am onward. 

After rocking, cooing, talking, changing, nursing, walking her around, the only option I seem to be left with is to let her cry for a little while - strongly advocated by some, discouraged by others. Although, you'll find if you've been holding a crying/whining baby for 3-4 hours, putting her down to let her cry on her own starts to seem a lot more appealing. In any case we have a doctor's appointment (a routine one) on Friday so I will be asking about all of these things and what I can do. I have heard that most fussiness passes by the 3rd or 4th month anyway so lets hope. 

In other news, Lucy is two months old today! 

I'll try not to make it 10 days until my next post....

B.

Lazy weekend

Below are some pictures from the past week, since that seems to be about how often I post these days. The first two are of my grandmother, Charlotte, with Lucy. Lucy walked around with her great-grandma for a while in Beverly on Thursday after Nana and I had lunch - Nana sang to her and they got to know each other. The third is of Lucy and me in our usual afternoon spot - her napping on me in the rocking chair. Seems to be becoming a daily ritual - I don't mind it. The last is of Frank, during HIS daily ritual of placating the baby in the morning while I try to get some extra sleep. 

More soon, I'm sure.

B.

New Pictures!

Back in Salisbury...

Lucy, John and I had a great weekend in Beverly visiting with Elisabeth, who came to us all the way from Chicago. Here are some shots of Elisabeth getting to know the baby - the second (where the baby is asleep on her shoulder) is after about an hour of Elisabeth walking and dancing around the dining room table to get Lucy to go to sleep. 

The third photo is of Lucy waking up in bed between John and myself - a place she has been sleeping on and off for the last couple of days (although less buried in burp cloths and blankets when she's actually sleeping...). 

Baby in a pram

Genie has an old pram in her sewing room and last night Lucy decided to take a nap in it...

Smiles!

Lucy has started to for-real smile - not just the in-her-sleep-might-be-pooping smiles. These I got by poking her in the nose and talking to her. 

B.

Sleepy pictures

So after I posted that last entry, Lucy fell asleep on me (finally) for about 2 1/2 hours - starting in the position in the first photograph and ending up in the position in the second photograph. 

Wish us luck for tonight!

B. 

Fussy baby

I know, I know, I am once again falling down on the job. And I have no new pictures. I'm terrible - of this I am aware. Anyway we had a pretty good weekend - Lucy has been having very fussy days, some more than others, and is having some sleeping issues (i.e. is not sleeping when we want her to), so there isn't much interesting to post. This weekend we will get a fun visit from Elisabeth - coming to see us all the way from the Windy City...I'm sure we will have some great new photos then, if not before! Keep checking....

B.

Hangin out

Last day in Beverly - tomorrow we head back up to Salisbury. Lucy and I have had a long and fun week hanging out alone. 

Here are some shots I took on my phone today - the first of Lucy asleep on my chest this morning, the second of Lucy in her chair, where she has been asleep for about 2 1/2 hours. Let's hope it doesn't mean she doesn't sleep tonight....

Fingers crossed. 

B. 

We are still here...

Hi all, 

Sorry its been so extremely long since my last posting...Lucy and John and I are spending the week with my parents since Frank and Genie are getting their furnace replaced and have no hot water. It turns out being alone with the baby all day is actually quite complicated - being able to hand her off to Frank and Genie while I nap or shower or anything is quite lovely. In any case Lucy and I have gone up there a couple of times during the day so that she can visit and I can get a wee bit of sleep. 

Anyway, here are some shots of Lucy stretching on her changing table. 

Hope to hear from all of you soon - I promise it won't be (almost) another week before we post again!

B.

New Photos

Today after a feeding, Lucy and I had a wee photo shoot using my iphone. I am uploading all the photos to the larger slideshow - so click on the link on the left and you should be able to see all of them - I'm putting one up here as a teaser. 

B.

p.s. I'm starting to upload them after I post this, and the speed of connection in this house is glacial at best, so patience please, if they are not there by the time you click. They will be. 

A Better Day....

So yesterday was our first really not-so-good day. Lucy was up from about 1:15am on Tuesday on - never napping more than 30 minutes to an hour at a stretch. Plus, all the time she was awake she was either whining or full-on crying/screaming. Last night went MUCH better and today seems okay so far (fingers crossed) - as evidenced by this photo taken during a whopping 30 minutes of awake time with no tears. Wish us luck for the rest of the day!

B.

Faces

Hi all, 

Sorry about the lack of posting, I guess settling into a routine means less pictures and less people coming by all the time. 

Maine was really nice, we all had a very relaxing time and Lucy had pretty good nights while we were there. She seems to have increased her fussiness level over the past week or so - but I think that's all natural for a 3 week old who is just getting used to the world. 

One of my favorite things about Lucy (so far) is the faces she makes - here is a shot on her changing table, just looking around and taking things in. She's definitely making more eye contact now, and you can start to see her recognize people when she looks at them. Which makes it difficult when she thinks she's hungry and I enter the room...but that's ok. 

In any case we are going to start going out on the town today, me and Lucy, whether its just for a walk or down to Beverly or just to the grocery store - now that I'm allowed to drive it will be really good for us to start getting out of the house once a day. 

More soon...

B.

P.S. I have posted some of the better shots on kodak gallery - I have to send the link to you rather than post it though, so if you want to purchase any shots and I haven't emailed you the link - post a comment with your email address or send me an email to schaeffer.becky@gmail.com and I'll send you the album. 

Rainy day in Maine

Tomorrow morning we head home - John came up to the house in Maine last night, arriving around 9pm. We are a little tired today, Lucy appears to be entering some sort of fussy phase, whether its eating or just existing. She didn't sleep as much last night as she has in the past and she was awake for a very long time today. We are hoping things go slightly better tonight, or it might be a long one. But we still have a weekend left to nap at least. I haven't gotten that many more photos to be honest, its been a bit cold to be on the beach and today its been raining - but I'm putting up a few of Lucy in her sweatshirt (which is priceless on her) and one with her preference politically....she just wanted to make that known to everyone. 

Right now John is trying to get Lucy to sleep, pretty unsuccessful so far. Wish us luck! More from home this weekend. 

B. 

In Maine with LaLa and Peaches

Lucy and I were picked up by Dad this morning and driven to the rental house in Maine, just north of Kennebunkport. Although its supposed to be about 40 degrees tonight and we are prepared to freeze, we are having a lovely time so far. Lucy had some good awake time with both of her grandparents today, and we took a walk on the beach with the baby bjorn. Some photos here - Lucy, you'll notice, has a nice new sun hat thanks to Peaches - lovely and pink. More tomorrow...

B.

to Maine!

Hi all, 

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. This morning Lucy and I (and what looks like all of our belongings) are off to Maine to see my parents. I'm sure I will have photos and postings from there so until then, hope all is well!

B.

Bathtime!

Since Lucy's umbilical stump fell off, she can officially have baths in a tub instead of sponge baths. We were prepared for the first bath to be a really traumatic experience for all three of us - apparently babies usually scream and HATE the bath until they are a few months old. Lucy, however, seems to LOVE the bath (which computes because normal babies love the car and she seems to like to scream in the car), kept her eyes open and looked around the whole time. We have a great bathtub that Sook gave us, with a little barrier in the middle so the baby doesn't slip around. 

After her bath, Lucy got put in her zip-up towel from LaLa, had some food, and is downstairs with her dad right now trying to go to sleep. 

That was our exciting morning - more later!

B.

Fun in Beverly

Yesterday we were at my parents'  house in Beverly for the day - Mom and Lucy and I had a relaxing time of it and then Francis joined us for dinner when John got home from work. Below are some shots of Lucy sleeping with various family members, including John during dinner (the only way we could get her to stop crying long enough so we could eat). 

Also yesterday were some appointments with the doctor and lactation consultant - and Lucy has gained close to a whole pound since last week, which means she's eating great and is extremely healthy. Everyone was very happy. 

Today and tomorrow are going to be lazy weekend days, I may not post quite so much. Wednesday Lucy and I go up to Maine and Thursday John joins us there. 

More soon!

B.

Pictures from Friday

Clothing!

Lucy's umbilical stump (I know, gross) has officially fallen off and that means one thing - she can officially wear clothing that covers her belly button! Here she is in one of her onesies that Laura gave her - the two pieces of clothing that are going to fit for the least amount of time - so I wanted to get her in one asap. I will try to get a full body shot later, and later we will have a new outfit on because we are going to have a bath this afternoon. I know, the excitement never, never ends. 

Tonight we are going to Beverly so I will try to update again before we go - I'm not bringing the computer so if I don't there will be no updates until tomorrow. Tragedy for you all, I know. In any case I will be having a hard time not dressing Lucy up in all of her outfits because I've been dying to see how they look....I don't think she'd enjoy that too much though. 

Until later, 

B.

First day on our own

So Lucy and I were on our own today. Unless you count the hours she spent downstairs with her grandparents so I could take a shower, clean up the room, etc. We had a pretty good day of it, I think. For the next week or two our routine will pretty much consist of waking up, feeding, napping, feeding, napping. Wash, rinse, repeat. Of course there will be some scenery changes. I believe we will be heading down to Beverly this Friday to do all of that (interspersed with some doctor and lactation consultant visits), and then Wednesday of next week we will head up to Maine to be with my family (that's right - LaLa and Peaches) for a few days. In any case I think it will allow Lucy and me to get into more of a routine with each other, which makes me feel more confident and I think makes her feel better as well. 

In any case, tomorrow is another day. I have some exciting dishes to wash and some more of my book to read. So I'm off to sleeping in order to prepare for all of that stress - I'll write more tomorrow! 

I'm posting just a couple of cute pictures I took of Luce after we finished feeding this afternoon. The second one is a little blurry but its one of her favorite faces to make so I figured I'd put it up anyway. 

B.

Last day before Dad goes back to work...

Lucy has had a busy day today so far, first Grandpa David (excuse me, Peaches) and Uncle Alex came to visit on their way to the airport, then Lucy got a visit from Jessie and Sadie - her first play date, if you will. Since Lucy sleeps in the basket that Sadie slept in for the first 6 months of her life, Sadie was very interested in the basket and its contents. Lucy slept through the visit so her memories of it will be hazy at best, but there will be other visits with Sadie in the future I'm sure. 

John goes back to work tomorrow so my life will (hopefully) involve sleeping much more on Lucy's schedule, napping during the day when we aren't feeding, trying to have some good awake time without crying. Posts may come fewer and farther between because I will be on duty 24 hours instead of just half on duty, but we'll see what happens. 

More later....

B.

P.S. I'm working on the kodakgallery photos but the upload speed here is glacial, so it may have to wait until I'm in a place with a better signal. I'll let everyone know when they're there - in the meantime there have been more photos added to picasa and you can actually order prints from them so if you want to figure out how to do that - be my guest. 

Pictures!

Meeting Grandpa

So Lucy has met her Grandpa Frank - they spent some time together briefly last night when he returned from the airport and they have spent a lot of time together today. Already Frank is enamored (obviously) and Lucy seems to love all her family that has come to see her. 

I think what I am going to do later on today is post some photos on kodakgallery.com for family members (and friends, of course) that would like to buy some prints of the photos we've got - I've had some requests. I'll put the link up here and send an email to some people. I think I will just weed out the better images so the slideshow isn't huge. I realize you can buy prints from picasa but I'm more familiar with the kodakgallery so we are just going to do that. More later...

B.

Photos from today