The Incredible Growing Baby....

13 lbs 24 1/2 inches

Behold the Power of the Blue Light!

Chatting it Up

One day I will remember to turn the camera right side up so you don't have to tilt her head to watch our videos. One day....

A Chat with a Two Month Old! from Shannan on Vimeo.

Daddy Post

Hey Aria,

Its me your dad. How are YOU doing? So you are two months old and you still do a lot of crying and pooping. But I'm looking forward to you doing cool things. Everybody asks about you and I tell them you are a cool and are going to be a cool kid and a cool teenager and a cool adult and a cool old lady. Right now, I enjoy singing your favorite song to you - the safety fart song.

Love it when:
You give me smoochies
You let me play with you and softimus prime and chimchim
You raise one eyebrow at me like you are intrigued
I yank out your pacifier like a pin out of a grenade

Dislike it when:
You make mean faces
Cleaning up your diapers
You freak out

That's all I got right now. Love you

This week in pictures...

(If you click on the pictures, they enlarge to fill up the whole screen)

Only a few days have passed but so much has happened

So you officially turned two months yesterday and you FINALLY became alert. Sleeping for 20+ hours a day was beginning to really freak me out. Yes, I know I should just be quiet and enjoy it but 20 hours a day. It was a bit much. For the past few days, you have been sleeping like 16 hours a day. In that awake time, you are starting to really "SEE" things and you will actually move your head to follow me and Daddy. You smile ALL the time now - it is beyond adorable. Today when Daddy came home from work and came to get you, you smiled right at him. It was one of the cutest things you have done. I put you on the floor today on a blanket and for like a good 20 minutes you just looked at everything around you while kicking your legs. I can't wait till you find your feet. That is just too cute. Oh, and you have started to coo! I love it!

I wonder what babies pray for

Dear Aria,

Tomorrow you are 8 weeks old! It is inconceivable to me that you were born eight weeks ago. Time flies! Back then, you didn't do much but sleep, eat, and poop. There was ALOT of the last one - I'm talking like 10 dirty diapers a day. A DAY Aria. Thankfully, that is all behind us now. You are averaging one or two a day now. You still sleep most of the day and eat every 3 hours. Boring stuff aside, you are becoming more awake and more entertaining everyday.

-You found your hands a few days ago! Nothing brings you more joy then chewing on your little fingers.
-That is besides, getting a death grip on Mommy's hair and seriously not letting go. Daddy and I are always finding my hair stuck in between your fingers.
-You have found your voice now and are not afraid to use it. (I would post a video of this but I can't bare to hear you cry - so just trust me.)
-Over the last two days, your swing is your best friend. You refuse to sleep in your crib (we were making such good progress - key word here is : were! ) and sleep only the swing. Good thing you look so cute sleeping in it.

I LOVE YOU!

Mommy

Someone LOVES Her Baths

Bath Fun from Shannan on Vimeo.

First El Trip Downtown

Heading to the Harold Washington Library

My First On Camera Giggle (and Poop) - 48 seconds in to it

Untitled from Shannan on Vimeo.

All the photos wouldn't fit in one post

Five Weeks Old
Six weeks old



Seven Weeks Old - Her first on camera smile

Where Did the Time Go?

One Week Old
Your First Bath
Two Weeks Old
Three Weeks Old
Four Weeks Old

Highlights from Weeks One Through Seven

Everything you LOVE thus far:

Your pacifier
Being swaddled
Falling asleep on Daddy's chest
Sleeping
Eating -thus at this moment you are 12 pounds and 21 inches
At times your swing
Laying on your belly
The baby bjorn
Softimus Prime and Apeface
Spending time with Grandma and Papop
Daddy's You Can Fart If You Want To song
When Mommy sings to you and reads to you
Any light you can stare at
Pink (okay that's mommy at this point)
Of course Mommy and Daddy

You Dislike
Your cradle (thus the night sleeping with Mommy)
Your fur brothers
At times your carseat (but you are getting better)
When Daddy goes to work - a necessity but still we miss him
And that's really it at this point

You smiled without having gas last week for the first time (It was adorable!)

You are more awake every day and slowly developing a feisty little personality. Oh and you sleep in your crib now during the day!

Coming Home

The hours after you were born were filled with a visit from Uncle Jake and then sleep. Since Mommy felt pretty good after some time, we all went home the next day. I must admit it was kind of a surreal experience. The day before you were safely in my belly and then all of sudden you were here and they just let us take you home - no questions asked. We put you in your cute little carseat and drove home to meet your fur brothers.

Aria's First Meeting Her Fur Brothers from Shannan on Vimeo.

Fresh from the Womb

Untitled from Shannan on Vimeo.

Mommy's favorite pictures from that day

One of your many cute little faces about two hours after you were born
Two Grandmas and a baby
You and Papop
Daddy actually cut your umbilical cord without fainting!
Look how wide awake you were!

Your Arrival

You were placed on my chest at 12:05pm (thankfully I took everyone's advice on that decision) and you were quite mad about leaving the womb. See enclosed pics.

As you know by the time you are reading this, we named you Aria Lois-Mae. Your stats were:

7lbs 2 oz
20 in
12:05 pm

Daddy and I instantly loved you more than words can express!

And now for the photo montage:

My Pretty Uneventful Labor

March 23rd - Other than some contractions it was a pretty usual uncomfortable day. That night Mommy felt super.... weird.

March 24th - 9am - Mommy was sure that her water had broken and you were on your way here stat so she had Daddy take her to the hospital but the doctors said walk around for two hours. After two hours that felt like twelve, the doctors said Ummm... Nope your water didn't break. Go home.

But Mommy knew something was going on so she went to her doctor and bam right there in the doctor's office Mommy's water broke.... See remember to always listen to Mommy.

So Daddy came home from work and off to the hospital we went. What started off as a very exciting venture became 27 hours of labor which thanks an epidural consisted of sleeping and watching tv.

Fastforward to 11ish on the morning of March 25th. By then both Grandmas and Papop were there and they were ready for something to happen. OH BOY was Mommy ready for something to happen. She was QUITE the grumpster. So when it got time to push, Mommy was ecstatic! The first half an hour of pushing wasn't too rough (thanks to the lingering epidural). BUT then the epidural wore off and it felt like you were trying to claw your way out. It was the worst pain Mommy has ever felt in her whole life. No joke.

BUT I would do it over and over again because then you were born! And it was the best thing that has EVER happened in my whole life.

Mommy and Daddy a few hours before you were born:

Let's give it a sporting try

So I was going to accept my defeat in the realm of blogging and simply update everyone with emailing videos and constant phone calls BUT I decided that my memory is just to flakey. Plus, Blurb.com will let me print the whole blog in a cute little memory book for her. Bonus! So here we go from the beginning...