Merry Christmas!

Wow - time is flying! Arden turns 6 months on January 1. She isn't crawling yet, but seems to be getting close. She can support her weight while on her hands and knees, but seems most comfortable sliding back down onto her tummy. She's experimenting with "muh" sounds and loves the color green right now.

Near the beginning of the month, Amber's sister Lauren came out for a visit. Arden LOVES her auntie! They had a great time playing together. Yesterday, Amber's Aunt Joanie, Uncle Alan, and Cousin Lindsay came for a visit too - they brought some very fun books for Arden! Amber's parents will be coming out for New Year's Eve - I'm sure we wont see Arden for that whole visit (being kidnapped by Grandma). In January, Kyle's mom will be coming out! Baby's are grandma and auntie magnets!

Merry Christmas!

5 Months!

Arden turned 5 months yesterday! She's getting better at balancing while sitting up, and has started making a more diverse assortment of sounds - including some very loud ones!

She has also started practicing eating solid foods (which we will start in a month). The attached picture explains how she has started to do this. Could she become a vegetarian, or is she just expressing her desire for leafy greens?

Tooth X2

Well, guess what showed up this evening? Tooth number two! They travel in two's ya' know. We had two rough nights last week as tooth number one made it's final break through. We may be in store for another couple of rough nights! What is it about Thursdays?

Tooth!

I was letting Arden bite on my finger today when I noticed something sharp biting back! Upon inspection, I have confirmed that her lower right front tooth has broken through the gums - Arden's first tooth is here at 4.5 months!

Arms!

Arden is starting to be able to support herself with her arms! She sat up a bit - holding herself up with her arms. She also is able to push her upper body upwards pretty far while on her tummy - far enough that she has rolled herself back onto her back.

She also seems to be connecting more with us. She tries everyday to talk or mimic what we say and loves making all sorts of different sounds.

Our expressive girl....

The weather is getting colder and Arden is getting bigger! We've ditched the infant insert for the carrier that we use to tote her around. Thankfully, we've been receiving bigger warmer clothes from Grandma and Grammie!

Attached is a facial expression "study" inspired by the three pics I posted earlier. Enjoy!

how long has it been?

Wow - it's already October 26th!

Arden is almost 4 months old - time for more vaccinations :s

Arden now can roll onto her belly, and is experimenting with rolling back onto her back (harder). She loves our animals now - see the video. Her world is really expanding - looking all around and not needing to see us every moment.

She even stands with support! Wow. And her eyes are still blue :)

I have hands!

Quick update for Arden.

On Friday, Arden discovered her hands! She held them up to her face and studied them, and then was able to coordinate her movements enough to grab a colorful ring that I held in front of her face!

She is becoming much more aware of her surroundings, holding her head up for longer, and able to roll from her side to belly!

3 Months on Thursday!

Arden is almost 3 months, and it's starting to show! We've had a busy couple of weeks, starting to get onto a schedule that has her eating less frequently, taking a trip to Fire Island for a weekend, Arden starting to hold her head up much more frequently, and just today we caught her new trick on film....giggling!

Arden is now 12 pounds and can now follow objects across the room - including mommy and daddy. Here comes the fall, and bigger clothes as she doesn't fit in her newborn clothes anymore!

The Swing Works

So I have to concede that the swing helps! I think the best strategy to pacifying Arden is having a wide range of methods to do so. (swing, crib, sling, ergo, me)

We are adjusting to the first week of Amber being at work full time. It's difficult! Amber misses Arden very much.

I forgot to mention that Arden weighed in at around 11.5 lbs at her two month visit. She's close to 12 lbs. by now!

She still hasn't lost her hair or her blue eyes :) She is also seeming to get into a recognizable sleeping pattern during the day; Two mini naps at 10 and 1, and one larger one around 3 or 4. These are times when I "rest" by practicing and cleaning up.

My iPhone has been very helpful as I can check my e-mail as I walk around with Arden to get her sleepy!

Arden at two months

Last Wednesday Arden turned 8 weeks! That's not quite two months. Two months will officially be this coming Tuesday.

To celebrate, we went to the pediatrician, Dr. Ward, and had her 1st set of vaccinations administered! It was fun, it was exciting, it was....no. Arden did great. She had to have three different needles in her thighs, and take one vaccination orally. She was really fussy for about an hour when we got home, but baby Tylenol is wonderful thing.

We discovered that Arden is struggling with indigestion. It hits her at random times after random feedings. We think it's brought on by what ever Amber has been eating. Amber has been cutting out dairy (the most common cause), but we are suspecting that the true culprit is tomato sauce. Either of those options are a blow to us since we love italian food.

To combat the indigestion, Dr. Ward prescribed Zantak for babies. It should calm her stomach. We're also trying Gripe Water (a natural alternative that helps with gas).

We also purchased a swing that is currently pacifying Arden as I write this entry. It takes up a large amount of space in our apartment....we'll see if it ends up being worth it!

Two weeks ago, Arden got to meet her Uncle Kevin who came into town for his vacation! Arden liked Kevin and I think they'll have many fun times together in the future.

Arden is almost 6 weeks old!

We've had a VERY full last couple of weeks. We've had Amber's Great Aunt Janet , Aunt Joanie and Uncle Alan Benjamin, Cousin Lindsey, and Uncle Alan's mother Flo visit.

Arden has been spending more time holding her head up, occasionally propping it against Amber's for balance.

Kyle has had his first experience with being peed on.....all down his shorts...while on the way to give Arden a bath. Guess who also took a shower!

We believe that Arden has started losing some short 1 inch hairs from her head. Thankfully, her long birth hair seems to be hanging in there still! Hopefully more hair will start growing in to fill in her doo.

Arden has started to focus on us and smile from time to time! (her smiling is no longer just a simple reflex). Her smiles make all the hard work worth it :)

Second Pediatrician Visit

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician for Arden's 3 week old checkup! We saw a female doctor this time named Dr. Ward who was very nice and helpful.

When Arden was born, she was 8 lbs 13 oz. By her week 1 checkup, she had lost a bit and was 8 lbs. 8oz. When they weighed her yesterday, she topped off at 10 lbs. 3 oz! The doctor was very happy with that, attributed it to her being breast-fed, and remarked that she would have been happy if Arden had been gaining 1 oz. per day but seemed to be gaining just under 2 oz. a day instead! She was given a clean bill of health. We head back in to see the pediatrician again at 2 months to start her vaccinations.

Arden has started the curious habit of smiling and giggling a little just as she starts to fall asleep! She doesn't really smile otherwise, but this particular habit happens like clockwork. We'll try to catch in on video soon. She seems to be sleeping a bit longer through the night and getting into a bit of a routine which helps us out immensely. Her hair continues to grow, and she is starting to look around alot more.

Just us three...

Well, two weeks of family visiting has come and passed. Amber, Arden, and now left to ourselves for a while. Can anyone say "dirty dishes"?

Arden has been making some big strides over the last couple of days! She can track objects with her eyes, hold her head up for periods of about half a minute, and is now sleeping better at night thanks for the advice we found on a nifty DVD called "The Happiest Baby". The advice boiled down to swaddling, laying her on her side to comfort her, and rocking her until she falls asleep. We have been able to sleep at night for longer periods of time as a result!

On the "gross" side of things, we experienced our first "Exorcist" moment yesterday morning. Projectile spit up :p ....Had to wash the couch!

Update

Kyle's Mom came out to visit from the 7th through the 12th. She cleaned up a storm! She was very helpful and excited to meet Arden. Arden got her hair washed for the second time! Amber continues to heal quickly.

Arden had her 1st run in with colic due to (what we believe was) tomatoes. So we are now planning meals without tomatoes and possibly pineapple.

Arden is still nursing well and gaining weight!

Kyle is having fun using his gdiapers on her (flushable), and Arden seems to be having fun being doted on, and has several alert periods during the day.

On the 12th, Amber's sister, Lauren, came into town and is visiting through the end of the week. Help is wonderful!

Weekend Review

On Friday, Arden got her 1st bath. We just washed her hair, but since we didn't have her bathed at the hospital we wanted to clean her hair.

On Sunday, Arden's umbilical chord fell off! The nurses had said it would take up to two weeks. Arden still has a little scab on her naval so we wont bathe her until that totally heals, but it's nice to not have to fold diapers to circumnavigate her naval anymore.

Today we started using our earth friendly diapers (g diaper). They work great! You just flush the inside of them.

We made it home!

The hospital released us yesterday at 8pm because Arden was doing so well. We had a great nurse from Thailand named Emon. We figured Amber would rest better at home. She now has gotten a whole 5 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours! I've gotten slightly more.

We laughed today when we found out that a mass email that I had sent out announcing Arden's birth had included the date June 1st instead of July 1st. I guess having a baby does make some things harder to do correctly! Today I got up and thought it was Saturday instead of Friday.

Arden is doing great - nursing - sleeping - and looking around with her big blue eyes.

Our dog gets excited when Arden cries. Our cat seems a bit interested, but not impressed.

6/30

Tomorrow we head to the hospital to have Arden! She's been late checking out and we need to induce. In the mean time, Kyle composed a small brass quintet piece for her. The title is AS (her initials). Check it out! Can you guess who's playing?

Waiting

Today is the 25th of June...three days after Amber's due date. We can't wait for her to check out of hotel Amber!