A few favorites: newborn photos

We have Genevieve's newborn photos taken when she was one and a half weeks new.  Here are a few of our favorites that were not posted to Facebook:

 

The photos were done by Sarah McConnell Photography and we loved working with her.  She provided the hats/hairbands, so I cannot take credit for those cute little additions.   The photos were exactly what we were looking for in terms of style, timing and variety.   It is going to be hard to pick a favorite for our 8x10 wall frame.  Good thing we have the CD so we can change it out when we want!

Someone does not like being naked

And that someone would be Genevieve.

5 on Friday

1. We meet with the landscaper last Friday and I think we have our plan for Phase 1 of the landscaping complete.  Now to get the lawn regraded so the work can begin!

2. We have a one month old baby now!  It is crazy how fast the time goes.

3. I started reading the book Baby Wise since Genevieve is not the stellar night-time sleeper Eleanor was and I am getting really worn down.   The idea of going back to work in a few weeks and being up as much at night as we currently are is not an option.   We either have to improve on the sleeping or I will need more time off for maternity leave.   I am hoping the book helps achieve the sleeping aspect.

4. Eleanor and I have colds.  On top of the lack of sleep it makes for a very worn out Mommy.

5. We loved the nice couple of days we had.   We got in a few walks and played at the park.   We continue to meet more neighbors and it just makes us love our house (and neighborhood) even more.

Bubbles and Baskets

Nick thought Ellie needed a basketball and basketball hoop.   Originally I was going to search for one when I went to garage sales in a couple of weeks, but then we found a really good deal on the at Toys
R Us, so we picked one up.   Ellie loves it.   

She also loves blowing bubbles, although she doesn't have enough force to blow the bubbles (good thing for a house windy location to help her out). 

One Month New!

I cannot believe we have had Genevieve as part of our family for an entire month already.  I also cannot believe that I am a month into my maternity leave and will head back to work in a few short weeks.  


Here is where Neve stands today. She:

- is rarely fussy.

- has strong neck muscles and loves to look around.

- loves the ceiling fan.

- sleeps in her crib (and has been since day 1).

- is very bottle and pacifier specific.

- is still working on the sleeping at night thing.  She can do it, she just doesn't always want to and I think she is too young for the cry it out approach.  We are working on a routine from the Baby Wise book and I hope that cuts down the number of times she is up at night.

- makes little kids want to hold her, which makes her sister jealous because Genevieve is HER baby sister.

- is going to be ticklish.   We can just tell.

- is still in 0-3 month outfits.  She has longer legs than Ellie did, and not as long of a torso.

- has already been to two birthday parties and Easter celebrations!  She is a party animal.

- loves to drink her milk fast, and then proceed to spit it up (about once a day or once every other day).

- must think Mommy lives to do laundry (see above comment).

- has a knack for dirtying her diaper within 15 minutes of being changed.   The girl goes through a ton of diapers!

- is adored by her big sister, Eleanor.    Eleanor must know where Genevieve is at all times, and the minute Ellie gets home from day-care she wants to play with her.

- continues to make her Mom and Dad the happiest people on earth by having her in their lives.


- makes our family complete.

One month new!

Playground Time

With the beautiful weather, we have made a few trips to the park.   Genevieve tends to sleep, while Daddy or Mommy and Eleanor play.   Our house is right behind Nick's head... very close to the playground!

Bowling

Ellie was invited to her friend Sophia's birthday party a few weeks ago. It was a bowling party. Ellie had never been bowling before... she loved it!

Complete with bumper guards and a little stand that the kids put the ball on to roll it down!

Check out those shoes!

Someone loves to hold her little sister

That someone would be Ellie.

5 on Friday

1. We had family day on Saturday. It was the first day we have had with just the four of us by ourselves. It was great and much needed.

2. Sunday we went to Ames for Easter with the Larson-Thorson crew. Ellie was very excited to have yet another Easter Egg Hunt.

3. I survived my first extended period with both girls by myself. Ellie was not happy that I could not lay with her after we read books, but she survived.

4. Genevieve took a pacifier for the first time since leaving the hospital! Since having a baby suck on a pacifier before falling asleep helps avoid SIDS I had been wanting her to take one since she was born (and nursing like a champ). She refused the ones we had so I picked up a couple other ones to try out (she was gagging on the ones we had so I thought they were too big for her mouth--- although they were the 0 month ones). I hope her like of the pacifier continues. I would rather break a paci habit than a thumb sucking one.

5. Our newborn photos are done! Keep an eye out for a few of our favorites (although we love all 56 of them I don't think we will post them all).

Welcome Home, Genevieve!

Neve arriving home, from Ellie's view:

"Is she here to stay, Daddy?"

"I think we can keep her."

"Hey look, we both have quilts made by Grandma!"

Time to Go Home

All ready to head home from the hospital!

So Peaceful

A couple of pictures of Genevieve at the hospital.

Just Born

I ordered these "monthly" stickers of Etsy and received a "Just Born" one with them. Of course Genevieve is not a fan of being in just a onsie at such a young age... I couldn't blame her.

Saturday Update: 5 hour stretch and more

Since I didn't get around to a 5 on Friday post, here is a Saturday Update:

Genevieve decided that she would go 5+ hours between feedings last night, from 10PM to 3:20AM. I went to bed shortly after she was done feeding at 10PM, so I was able to enjoy almost all of the long stretch. Of course when she got up at 3:20AM she was up for two hours straight (I am usually back in bed in 40-60 minutes). Between eating, dirty diapers and being fussy there was no break. 5 minutes after I got back to bed, Ellie woke up crying (which is not normal for her). Since I wasn't fully asleep yet, I went into take care of her. 30 minutes after that I got to enjoy my warm bed again. I think in total I actually LOST sleep on the whole deal with Genevieve since she woke up again at 7:20AM (excluding the time spent getting up with Ellie). Not sure which I prefer, the consecutive sleep or the longer amount... a combo of both would be perfect. Thanks to Nick who let me go back to sleep after Neve's 7:20AM feeding. He tended to Ellie and her early 6:30AM wake-up (she has been getting up between 7:15-7:30AM lately). She only came in to see me 5 or so times... at least I felt loved.

Ellie is really into helping with Neve. She really enjoys helping change the diapers. She brings her step stool and puts it right in the middle of Neve's changing table so she can get in on the action. While I love that Ellie wants to help, it is a little difficult trying to change a dirty diaper with a 2 year old in the way. I guess I will learn to change a diaper in a different fashion so Ellie can be in on the action.

Ellie started visiting the next room up at day-care. She officially starts in the new room on Monday. We are excited that she is moving up to the next level, but we will really miss her teachers in the current room. At night one of us lay in bed with her and sing songs. Last week she wanted to sing a song that neither of us knew... she told us to "Ask Alyssa tomorrow." Alyssa is one of her teachers and I guess Ellie thought Alyssa should teach us the song. Alyssa thought that was pretty funny. When Alyssa goes home early (before Ellie) Ellie says, "Alyssa go home. I sad." It is cute. The teachers have done a wonderful job teaching Ellie her numbers, colors and shapes. It is amazing how much she knows!

Nick goes back to work full time on Monday. He used the time off to get things done around the house (and bike) so that he was able to help out the entire night once Ellie was home. It will be different without that extra time, but we will get used to it. Genevieve and I are going to start his first day back on a positive note and visit him at work. We will also stop and see my department while we are in the building.

We had a great Easter at my Aunt Janet and Uncle Steve's! Genevieve ate every hour, but we still had a great time and people got to see the newest addition to the family.

Genevieve's Hospital Visitors

In yesterday's post I noted that Ellie was not all that interested in Genevieve... she was really excited when Cousin Liam arrived at the hospital!

It was great not having Genevieve be in the Special Care Nursery like Eleanor was. We got to spend lots of time with her AND she was able to have visitors at the hospital! Here are a few pictures of her first visitors:

Grandma and Grandpa Greving with Genevieve, Liam and Eleanor

Cousin Liam (8 months older than Genevieve), Uncle Mike, Aunt Megan, Genevieve, Eleanor and Daddy

One set of Genevieve's Godparents, Brad and LuCinda, and Genevieve

Grandpa Thorson and Genevieve

Grandma Thorson and Genevieve

Sue and Genevieve

Ellie Meet Neve

The girls first meeting at the hospital the day Genevieve was born.

About 5 minutes into the visit, Ellie was asking Grandma and Grandpa to go to their house. Although she likes her baby sister, she wasn't all the interested at their first meeting. I think she was too excited from her sleepover at her friend, Sophia's, the night before and her next trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house that would happen once they left the hospital.

2-week Stats

We had Genevieve's 2-week Well Baby visit today. As the Dr. put it, "she is a perfect baby." She has great color, is growing like a champ, and is very easy. Here are her stats compared with Ellie's:

Neve's 2-week stats

Weight: 9 pounds 10 ounces
Height: 22 inches
Head circumfrance: 14 1/2 inches

Ellie's 2-week stats

Weight: 9 pounds 2.5 ounces (95 percentile)
Height: 20 1/2 inches (85 percentile)
Head circumfrance: 14 1/2 inches (89 percentile)

Unfortunately, our regular Dr. was on rounds this week and the Dr. we saw didn't give us the percentile rank. But you can see from Ellie's stats that Neve should be scoring pretty high since she weighs more and is longer than Ellie was. I am sad that Neve's longest period between feedings is 4 hours and not the 5.5 hours Ellie was doing at this point. I guess it is a trade-off that Neve rarely cries and Ellie had a fussy period from 7-10pm each night. They are each their own person.

Newborn Photos

On Thursday we had newborn photos taken of Genevieve, along with a couple of the two girls and a family shot. The pictures were done by Sarah McConnell Photography and we could not have been happier with the result. They were exactly what we wanted! Here is our sneak peak from her website:

http://sarahmcconnellphotography.net/2012/04/06/introducing-genevieve/

We should have the remaining 40-60 photos in a week or two, so I am sure there will be more posts to come.

If you know someone in the Des Moines area that is looking to have newborn photos done, we would highly recommend Sarah.

5 on Friday

No, I did not forget... just a little behind.

1. Nick went back to work half days this week. It is a nice transition to him being back full-time in a couple weeks.

2. Thus far, Genevieve has been really easy with minimal fussing. When I say minimal, I mean she fusses when hungry and if she needs to go #2. That is about it. Seriously, we are that lucky. (I do realize this will change, but I am enjoying it while I can.) She gets up more at night than Ellie did, but it isn't that bad.

3. Eleanor is still loving having a little sister. She has received a few gifts for being a Big Sister and thinks that when she gets one it is her birthday. We have to say that Genevieve is getting the birthday gifts and Ellie gets one for being such a great Big Sister.

4. Ellie still tells everyone she meets that she has a Baby Sister. It is super cute.

5. Yesterday we had newborn photos done with Sarah McConnell Photography. Our normal photographer was due with a baby 3 days before our due date, so they were unavailable. I must say, Sarah is an AMAZING newborn photographer (she did great with Ellie as well)! She is a part-time labor/delivery nurse and has three little girls, so she has a way with babies. She had the room really warm so Genevieve would be comfortable without clothes on and had really cute props. We love the pictures we have seen and cannot wait to see the entire CD full of them.

Bonus: On Saturday Ellie went to her friend Sophia's birthday party and went bowling for the first time. She loved it.

*I have over 200 pictures to pull of the camera (from the past week and a half)... so more picture posts to come.

Footprints

Instead of the traditional ink on the foot for footprints, the hospital now does them so the ink never gets on the baby's feet. Much cleaner process! Here is Genevieve getting her first footprints made... and her second... and third... and fourth... we have lots of extras for scrapbooking.

First Few Minutes

A couple pictures from the early morning hours of March 25th, 2012:

Genevieve Marie's Birth Day!

Daddy and Genevieve making sad faces.
Genevieve's lower lip cry looks exactly like Ellie's!

Mommy and Genevieve meeting for the first time.

Genevieve decided to arrive so quickly that Aunt Megan was a few minutes late to the actual birth. We did not want to make Aunt Megan hang around the hospital all night and the next morning, so we waited to call until we were further than 5cm dilated--- the next check was when we were ready to push! Less than 20 minutes from when we called Megan, Genevieve was born. Megan still got to enjoy the first few minutes of Genevieve's life... at 2AM! That is one dedicated aunt!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Ellie and Daddy on his birthday. I promise that next year Daddy's "Happy Birthday" post will be far more exciting. I hope we made up for it in love and a new bike work stand.