Happy Halloween

Wow, our baby girl is 3 months old. She weighs about 14 pounds (double her birth weight)! Her head is getting so strong and she can sit up, with help (leaning against something or propped up with pillows). Giada is sleeping so well, 9-10 hours a night. I'm hoping Giada realizes that she can get an "extra hour" of sleep this weekend when daylight savings time ends.  LOL She has also transitioned to now having 6 feedings a day with more time between each feeding (for the most part). Giada LOVES her Daddy. She lights up when he comes home from work and just smiles and laughs when he talks to her. It melts my heart. 

Tonight is Halloween, of course, and we plan on spending the night at home passing out candy to all our neighborhood trick-or-treaters. Tomorrow is my mom's retirement party so we'll be having a delicious dinner at Log Inn to celebrate with her co-workers. This weekend my cousin is having his annual "Arnold Fest" so we are hoping Giada will get to finally meet some of her cousins and great-aunts & great-uncles.

Mommy's little pumpkin!

3 month photo shoot

Love this face. Of course Wrigley wants to be in every picture.

Giada loves to look at (and talk to) ceiling fans!

Tummy time, even this bow can't hold her down.

Boo!

You talking to me?

Trick or Treat!!!

Road Trip

Last weekend, we went on our first family of 3 road trip to visit our friend Nick or as he is now called, Giada's Uncle Obie. Giada did pretty good. She didn't eat well when we stopped on our way to Greensburgh. I think the bright lights at the gas station were too distracting. She slept for the first stretch, then Mommy rode in the back with Giada after we stopped to feed & change her. Mommy was able to keep Giada entertained with minimal fussiness until she fell asleep yet again. We made it in 4 hours. Of course Giada was slightly off her "normal" routine being out of town, but she (and I) still managed okay.
Giada is still sleeping through the night - 8 1/2 to 9 hours. Mommy and Daddy are so thankful and feel so blessed that we have such a good baby.
Next week Giada will be 3 months old - OH MY! We are all starting to do a bit more both during the day and at night. I am a huge germ-a-phobe because I hate the thought of my baby being sick (yes, I know, I will have to get over this because she will eventually, inevitably get sick, but I want to put that off as long as possible). Plus it helps that she is on a predictable feeding/napping schedule. Last night we went back to our lifegroup. We had a shower for my sister and it was so good to see everyone. We saw my cousins' baby girl (who we hadn't seen since May) who is 7 months older than Giada. WOW! It was crazy to see what we are in store for in such a short amount of time. Wren is eating solid food (pizza, oranges, yogurt) and is mobile. It makes me want to soak up every minute of my little baby and excited for all that the future holds.

Coo-ing & talking all the time

One of 3 times this girl has taken a paci - she could care less.

Getting so big - had to move her car seat straps up!

A bib is Giada's new must-have accessory - for drool & spit up. Love this serious face.

Tummy Time

So I have left Giada a total of 3 times. First time was for Meet the Teacher Night at work and Giada stayed with Brian. Second time was for a quick trip to the grocery and Giada again stayed with Brian. Third time was to get my haircut and Giada stayed at Nana & Papaw's work (conveniently across the street from my salon). Each time was for about an hour. It was hard for me each time! Easy for Giada, Brian, Nana & Papaw, but this first time Mommy just isn't ready to be away from my daughter too long. I wanted to me a mom for a long time and I just want to soak up every minute! Tomorrow Brian made dinner reservations for us for our anniversary. It will be the longest that I've been away from Giada (she will stay with Mamaw). I know Brian and I need this time together, just the two of us, but I'm sure all we will do is talk about Giada the whole time. :-) And I will want to rush back to her. I'm also hoping I don't spring a leak while eating dinner.
Our baby girl is quickly out growing her 3 month clothes. She already fits into some of her 6 month outfits!
Giada loves to play on her back. She likes to spread out and look at her toys and listen to Mommy read books. We have also worked on tummy time to strengthen her neck, shoulders, and arms. She prefers tummy time with her boppy and she is getting so strong!

                            

So big!

Let me start by correcting something in my last post. Giada's long stretches of night time sleep are about 6-7 hours. It is heavenly. On average she goes to sleep for the night about 9:30 or 10, sleeps til 4 or 4:30, eats then goes back to bed til 6:30 or 7. My what a difference a good night sleep makes for everyone!
Giada had her 2 month well visit this week. She weights 12 pounds 4.8 ounces and is 23 3/4 inches long. That puts her in the 70th percentile for weight and 90th percentile in length/height. Giada also got 3 shots - which she HATED. I knew she would cry, but I was shocked at her reaction. I've never seen my baby girl scream and get so red. It was her first pain cry. She calmed down once I got to pick her up and hold her when the nurse was done. I will say I was very impressed with her nurse. She was so fast! Then poor Giada slept the rest of the day. Only waking up to eat. Although, she woke up screaming in pain about 1:00 in the afternoon. I felt so helpless; hated knowing her legs were hurting and there was nothing I could do. I gave her some Tylenol and after about 40 minutes she stopped crying and fell back to sleep. Her leg was pretty red from the Tetnis shot - babies get the same dose as adults and I know it hurts me so I can't imagine! The next day she woke up her normal happy self - thank goodness!
Giada has moved into her own room. She is doing so good sleeping in her crib. She is also napping in her crib. She is sleeping flat, a change from her early weeks of life when she wanted to be slightly elevated. We are swaddling her again. She never wanted her arms pinned down, but I read how some parents swaddle with arms out - genius! So that is what we are doing. It helps her sleep so much better!
This week is the Fall Festival. We went down to Franklin Street for dinner last night and it was crazy! I under estimated how crazy it would be to navigate the crowd of 10,000 people with a stroller. It was very stressful for me. I had to body block some classic Fall Fest people who wanted to not just look at our pretty girl, but I thought one person was gonna crawl in the stroller with her. This momma doesn't let strangers that close to my baby girl! If you don't know me don't touch my kid! I'm amazed that people pay no attention to where they are going and expect the crowd to part for them to walk through (among other things that amaze me about people at Fall Fest - I really wonder where some of these people are every other week of the year).
I will leave you with a video of our sweet, growing girl. She knows when we get the camera out and usually stops. But we managed to capture a few smiling moments.

2 months old

We have reached a magnificent milestone!! Giada is 2 months old and is sleeping anywhere from 6-9 hours at night! Our baby is getting so big. We will find out how big at her 2 month well visit at the doctor Wednesday. Mommy is preparing herself for Giada's first vaccines. She will get 4 shots. I know it will be harder on me than on Giada.
As I knew they would, Giada & Wrigley LOVE each other. He is always looking over her and wanting to give her kisses. She is always finding him with her eyes and smiling at him. It is precious! Giada also LOVES bath time!
I'm trying not to think too far ahead, because I honestly can't imagine leaving this sweet girl to go back to work. I do love teaching, and I know Giada will have wonderful days with Mamaw while I'm at work, but I will miss her so very much. Our days are filled with so much fun!! I have 3 more months and they are going to fly by.

Laughing! :-)

being silly

playing

Giada hanging out with Carlos.  :-)

Outside with our fall decorations

2 months old

Ready for the Monday night Bears game!