8 weeks!

Miss Willa bean, little Wills, Willa pops, Bubbe, Smooshieface, Booger bean, little peanut...whatever you call her, she's 2 months old today! The last two weeks have been very challenging, week 6 involved pretty significant doses of inconsolable crying but we've come out of it knowing new things about our girl and ourselves, which is always a bonus. Willa has headed right into a new developmental stage having taken up smiling, burbling, reaching for things, tracking with her eyes, and mouthing objects (specifically stuffed animals).
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Things on the nursing front have improved since her tongue tie diagnosis and clip, so we are doggedly continuing!

Yesterday I met up with a few mamas from our prenatal class and attended an infant massage class (taught by the mother of one of my preschool friends - small city!), which was delightful! So much fun to be around babies of different ages and engage in such a calm and mindful way. Willa enjoyed it about 50% of the time, then got a little over-stimulated. I think we'll go back in a month or so.

Today was her 8 week check up and she's doing great! Almost 11 pounds and 24 inches. She's pretty long with a big ol' head, so I'm thinking she's taking after her dad :)

Tomorrow will be her first Hanukkah and we will celebrate with the Holt grandparents. We also got a Christmas tree and have decorated it in all of our spare time. Happy blended holiday household!

5 weeks! But who's counting?

Our baby girl is growing up. 5 weeks old and 9.5 pounds. She's starting to fill out some of her cute outfits nicely. We saw a specialist at Seattle Breastfeeding Medicine this week and she diagnosed Willa with a posterior tongue tie which we had clipped. Nursing is so much less painful! I'm hoping this was the root of our troubles and that things will only improve. Cj is diligent in giving Willa facial massages to help relieve the tension in her jaw and lips that built up from trying to compensate for limited range of motion with her little tongue. What a good dad. We have also started very laidback elimination communication, and Willa has peed in the potty a few times this week. Exciting stuff. We look forward to changing fewer diapers in the future. 

 Willa is rooting for Cathy's "Team Beaver" in her sleep: 

The following picture series cracks me up: 

 And then happy again:

Willa's first hike! We went to Rattlesnake Ledge with Megan and Sadie yesterday: 

Mama time after an olive oil massage from papa (which is why she's so shiny): 

Mugging in her little yellow sweater from Grandma Klocow: 

Love you all. 

One month and counting

 she sleeps...for 5 hours straight the other night! This has not yet proved to be a trend...

 We love her swaddle blankets even though we don't swaddle her because Cj worries that it's bad for her hip development. Speaking of development, Willa's holding her head up when placed on her tummy, and spending more time alert and awake during the day. She's fun :) We've been referred to a tongue tie specialist at Seattle Breastfeeding Medicine because there is a possibility that W has a sneaky posterior tongue tie that has been causing/contributing to our breastfeeding struggles. I'm trying not to be too hopeful. We're hitting a stride with feeding regardless, and generally feeling less homebound, which is lovely.

Willa's one piece of furniture so far - the swing seat! she has a bouncy chair from grandma Klocow to look forward to and we just got a cosleeper/bassinet in hopes this will facilitate Cj's upcoming transition back to work. We'll see!

Much love,
K, C, and Willa bean

3.5 Weeks - Election day!!

Life with Willa becomes more joyful every day. I cannot believe she is almost one month old! We are developing routines and breaking them, discovering patterns, and losing them. All the usual stuff, I'm sure. It has been so crucial to have Cj here and I am grateful he still has a few weeks off before returning to work. 

Naked time with papa (Naked time with mama always leads to me getting peed on)

 Kristina and Willa at 2.5 weeks

We started a new feeding plan this week after an intense lactation appointment last week, and have been supplementing Willa at the breast every feeding instead of using the bottle. This has a two-fold purpose of providing breast stimulation every time she needs to eat, hopefully increasing my milk production, and making her work a little harder for her food, which helps her hone her nursing chops. I hate the supplemental system (syringe and tube), but appreciate the progress we've seen. Also, now that i'm used to wrangling all this gear, just nursing her feels so much easier!

Megan and Christian hang with Willa

That said, Willa is gaining and growing, weighing in at 8 lbs 3 ounces when we last checked 2 days ago. I think it has all gone to her cheeks and her fingers - they are getting so chubby. In her carseat today, Cj and I noticed that she is developing jowls! At night, Willa will fall asleep on my chest and I just can't bear to put her down, so she sleeps sprawled across me with one little arm hooked up around my neck and the other clutching my side. These moments with her are being so astoundingly tender.

We have had 2 fun photoshoots this last week with my mom's friend Rachel who is developing her professional photography business and asked to take pictures of my family, including Bre, Brian and the girls. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures! Our little one can never complain that she wasn't adequately documented in her early days...This past week has also brought Willa's first Halloween, a trip to Red Mill for burgers, a walk around Greenlake with a new mama friend, a few coffee shop trips, Willa's first tub bath (generally positive experience!) some garden projects, visits from friends and neighbors, baby clothes organizing, tracking of presents and overdue thank yous, and today I baked chocolate chip banana muffins! Every little thing we do feels like such an accomplishment.

Pumpkin baby and Zombie parents Halloween 2012

The biggest news of the week is probably that my dear friend Liz had her baby Friday night - welcome to this beautiful world, Penelope! We can't wait to meet you.

Photo Dump!

2 Weeks

Two weeks and Willa is getting bigger and more aware. She is healthy and happy. Things have been very chaotic but are settling a bit. We have been taking Willa out for daily walks around the neighborhood and have been getting regular visits from friends and family. The continued support has been awesome and we are so thankful to all of you.

We went out for our first dining out experience at Portage Bay for breakfast with Sadie. Willa slept the whole time but she seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. We certainly savored the chance to chow pancakes and eggs out for a change. We then walked over to the Locks to look for Salmon (we only saw one!) and had our first experience changing her in a public bathroom. Keren is not a fan of public bathroom changing so that will get some getting used to.

My family Carmen, John, Kathy and Ian came out to visit yesterday. It was a whirlwind of gooey love and lots of picture taking. We went on a long walk to Greenlake and had a lot of good catch-up time. They brought enough new wardrobe for Willa to be appropriately fashionable for many months. Carmen mentioned multiple times that she wanted to take Willa home with her. They are so excited.

So that is all for now. Willa had her first tummy time yesterday, would post the video, except Keren spent the whole time chasing her around with a rag trying to clean out her tushie. This will be a good one to show her when she is 16.

8 Days

Milk face makes mama happy and proud!

The last 2 days have been lovely, as Willa and I are both feeling stronger and healthier. Little W's bilirubin has gone down, which is great, so she is moving the jaundice out of her body. Because of this, she has woken up! We're having many more periods of quiet alert time during the day, and she's better able to suckle, so she's eating more, which makes my heart happy. She was 1oz below her birthweight at one week of life, which the doc says is fantastic, as the goal is to be back at birthweight by 2 weeks old. She's a superstar in my eyes.

Besides going to the doctor, we took our first little family walk...yesterday? Just up to the library a few blocks away to replenish our book and cd supply. Cj also has his first 'new dad wearing brand new baby' experience at the coffee shop by the clinic. Just about every woman in the place came up to him, absolutely cooing over the baby and asking questions. It was so sweet to see his totally proud papa face.

I can't believe it has been a week already. The days and nights blend together in a dozy wash of milk, diapers, and cuddles. We've been getting pretty decent sleep, which seems to keep us coping well and even being able to socialize with our lovely visitors. Cj's keeping me up on the political 3-ring circus and we're now deep into a parenting book our friends recommended called "Nurtureshock," which makes for great reading aloud while pumping, which is otherwise extremely boring. Next pumping activity? Thank you cards! After that? Baby announcements! I'm hoping we can drum up some interest from our artsy friends to help with this...I don't even know, can you make them online?

Now it's the weekend for the working world and we are looking forward to taking Willa on more walks and getting out of the house a bit more while the weather is still so beautiful. We are going to the bookstore today in search of a baby book and ink pad and plan to take her footprints as we completely forgot to ask our midwife or her doctor about this!

Much love,
Keren, Cj and Willa