Who knew you had to help a baby go to sleep!?

Yes, I've learned a lot these past 7 weeks. When your baby gets tired you sometimes have to help them go to sleep. This means rocking, swaddling, shhhh'ing, white noise, walking, bouncing or a combination of all of the above. If they are tired, why don't they just go to sleep!? Then when you think they are finalllllly asleep, you walk away and 5 minutes later they start to cry. Then the process starts all over again. But once they are asleep, don't they look so precious??

Maya has been gaining a lot of weight, I've been weighing her at home and the last weigh in, she was 8 pounds, 13 ounces! She's getting so big. I've started to let her sleep longer at night (against my dr's orders...oops) but she seems to eat better when I let her wake up hungry. Plus she's eating a ton during the day. I read a good bit of advice that said "You are raising your baby, not your doctor... take them to the doctor when they are sick, etc..." Since I spend 24/7 with my baby, I think I can make the best decisions for her. So we will see how that goes.

Here's some pics of Maya playing on the rug in her nursery.

I've been trying to read her "The Night Before Christmas" but I guess I am not picking out the right times to read to her because she always starts to cry before Santa brings the presents!! Poor thing doesn't know about presents yet. :(

Maya had her first play date with her friends Baby Eason and Baby Bryn, whose mommies, Lorie and Kerie, are my college friends. They were all born within a week apart of each other, and I hope we can have some more play dates in the future. The mommies had a fun sleep over and drank wine. It was like a vacation for me!

Mommy thought she had good head control, so I set her in her Bumbo. She lasted about one minute. Hopefully when she's older she will enjoy it more. Here's a before and after shot.

Molly and Maya are getting along just fine.

Here's a pic of me and Maya on Thanksgiving.... I've been trying to get more pics of us together, as I seem to be the one always behind the lens.

And finally, I bought Maya a stocking (the biggest one in the center, so she better be good so it can get filled up!) and both the pets now have their own stocking, they used to share. Have you ever heard of a dog and cat sharing anything?

Three Weeks!

Wow. I can't believe it's been three weeks already. It's gone by fast. I think we're are settling into more of a routine now. There have been some tough times when both Maya and her mommy are crying at the same time, but there's been lots of good times too! I guess this is parenthood :) Maya and I have made many outings together... walks around the neighborhood, restaurants and shopping and she's been pretty calm so far! Getting out of the house feels wonderful.

First off, Maya is doing much better with her weight gain! She now weighs 7 pounds. She is still a very small baby, in the 5th percentile for height and weight. Maybe she'll catch up later or just be a petite child.

I think she is starting to pay more attention to things around her, or being able to see better, she stares at the mobile on her bouncer and swing very intently.

For some reason if she is crying and I lay her down to change her diaper, she stops!! Aren't most babies opposite?

Sometimes when she sneezes, it sounds like she is saying "thank you" afterwards.

I have to be careful not to get her overtired / overstimulated because then she is very hard to put to bed!

Tummy troubles

Some of you may know that little Maya has had trouble gaining weight. She spits up a large amount on occasion and seemed to be uncomfortable when eating. The pediatrician thought she might have reflux, so she prescribed her Zantac. I hate that she has to be on a medicine so young, so I hope she really needs it. She has a new formula that has a thickener that is supposed to keep her from spitting up as much. She was supposed to gain her birth weight in 2 weeks, but it took her almost 3. She had only gained 2 ounces in like a week and a half and once she started the new formula and Zantac, she gained 4 ounces in 3 days! She is making progress, but the doctor would still like her to gain more weight. She still continues to spit up and I am worried sometimes she is not getting enough :(  Mommy is working hard feeding her every 3 hours and keeping her awake to finish her bottle.


Weight check

All the things it takes to keep a baby fed and happy!!

Two weeks

Today Maya is already two weeks old! It's been a blur of diapers, bottles and burps. Most nights she lets me get about 6 hours of sleep (not straight through, but it's good enough!). She's been smiling more, especially when falling asleep. She's been through all kinds of torture the past week... she had to go back to the hospital to get her PKU test and she got her first bath. She liked the bath until we had to wash her back, then she cried harder than I have ever heard her cry...poor wee bit. She also had her first Whole Foods trip, yay! Also we celebrated her first Halloween, which meant her sleeping through all the trick or treaters, and she didn't even get any candy! :(

One week old :(

I can't believe little Maya is already a week old today! That means in three more weeks, she'll be a month old.


She likes to sleep a lot and pretty much only cries when she's hungry. She usually sleeps in her bouncer during the day and bassinet at night.

We've seen a few smiles out of her, but I'm thinking they are just gas and she's not smiling at her mommy and daddy yet.

Her grunts and baby sounds are adorable.

She had her first tummy time today. She was able to lift her head a little and also turn her head from side to side on her own.

We love when she has her big blue eyes open. I wonder what color they will end up to be. We are hoping they will stay the same color.... which is close to mommy's eye color.


Thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives little Maya! :)

Maya Elise's Birthday

Maya is here! She came early and surprised mom and dad. She is 1,000 more times amazing then we could have ever imagined. She is already 6 days old! :( She likes to sleep a lot so far and she is so tiny. She was 6 pounds, 8 ounces when she was born and 6 pounds when she came home. Mommy had not prepared for this, and all her clothes are way too big!



~Maya's Birth Story ~
October 19, 2011

I went to my doctor's appointment on Monday thinking it would just be a normal appointment. Well the doctor saw on the sonogram that Maya's tummy wasn't growing as large as it should. He decided at this point to induce and told me that I would be going into the hospital the next day. Needless to say, I was shocked but ready to meet her. We went into the hospital on Tuesday night and I started Cytotec to get my body ready to get this baby out. I started the Cytotec at 10 p.m. and then the contractions followed shortly after, they weren't too bad but kept me up most of the night. In the morning they started the Pitocin and I was on my way. Thankfully I decided to get my epidural early, so most of the labor was spent chatting with family. It was slow going at first, I went about 1 cm every hour or two. Well when I got to 5 cm the nurse decided to try and get things moving along and put me into a new position on my side with one leg up in the air. She said this helps the baby drop more into the birth canal. She got off on her shift at 7 and wanted to see me have this baby! After being in this position for about an hour, I started to feel a lot of pressure during the contractions and I called the nurse. She checked me and said I was at 10 cm and we were ready to have this baby. I couldn't believe it was already time!! A lot of people started coming into my room and bringing in all the supplies. They told me it was time to push (which I was the most nervous about). The nurse told me the average time was 2-4 hours and I was way too tired and weak from no food to even think about that long. Well it ended up being about 45 minutes that I had to push, and the baby was about to come out and my doctor wasn't even there yet, I thought the nurse was going to deliver my baby!! Maya was ready to meet the world. Well I had to wait 5 minutes for my doctor to get there where I could not push, and boy was that hard. The doctor finally arrived and it was time to meet you. They put you on my chest and you let out a big cry. You were so beautiful and your little fingers grabbed mine. It was an amazing experience!