Tummy Time

Esme's doing great with the tummy time. We just have to make sure it's been awhile after nursing since she's prone to spitting up. And morning time is best since she has more tolerance for being on her tummy then. She's rolled over from her front to her back and she's really working on rolling from her back to her front. I think it helps that she's always trying to look over her right shoulder when you hold her and she even tries to do it when she's lying on her back.

Morning tummy-time

Guilt and Parenthood

That was the topic in our parent-baby class yesterday. I would never have fully understand it had I not had a child myself. We each got to share what we were feeling guilty about that day and it brought up some interesting conversations. Some examples were going back to work, not doing as much around the house, not spending enough time with baby, giving them shots, putting them in daycare, etc. Then we discussed how to change our ways of thinking so that we don't have to feel guilty about all these things. Of course it doesn't mean the guilt will go away completely (or ever for that matter) but it made us feel better for the moment :)

2 Month Check-Up

Esme had her 2 month check up yesterday and she's right on target - tracking, making eye contact, smiling, cooing, sleeping up to 6 hours at night, holding her head up, etc. She's even rolled over from her front to her back already! She was 12 pounds 15 ounces and 23 1/4 inches long which puts her in the 95th and 75 percentiles respectively. A nice, healthy baby :) Then she had her shots, 3 total. She cried out but I was the one with the flowing tears because it was so hard to watch. She did fine through the afternoon but became unconsolable in the evening. Allen was watching her and he went through his checklist of things to look for when she's crying and nothing made her stop. Finally we gave her some Tylenol and I put her in the Moby and walked her around the house and she finally calmed down. Then she slept from 9pm to 5am again so apparently she was worn out. Next check-up is at 4 months old.

Best friends

Esme has a new best friend and roommate thanks to her Aunty LeAnne! The purple hippo hitched a ride home with us today and they hung out all afternoon getting acquainted :) Maybe hippo will keep her company in her room and she'll start continuously sleeping through the night now. Last night she actually went for a 7 hour stretch so I don't have much to complain about in the grand scheme of things. Esme's an awesome baby!

Happy Easter

Esme's first holiday! We hosted an Easter lunch at our house today and you know what Esme did - slept again! She woke up just as everyone was leaving and got to take a peak at the eggs I colored for her though. Maybe she just didn't want to be seen in all the bunny eared outfits we had for her :)

Sleep tight

Esme's done well with the transition to sleeping in her crib in her own room. I think it was harder on me the first night cause I missed having her so close by. And at first she seemed so far away that as soon as I heard her peep on the baby monitor I bolted out of bed and ran down the hall to her room but now I've gotten used to it :) She hasn't slept through the night since we've been back so she's waking up just once still, anywhere from 1-3am. Thankfully it hasn't been that bad and I'm able to fall right back asleep, after I nurse her, which would not have been normal for me pre-Esme.

More cousins!

After being gone for a week Allen's really noticed the changes in Esme - her eyes are now mostly brown, she's grown a ton, and she smiles more, even for him. We got back into the swing of things and went to our parent-baby class yesterday and talked about honoring our children. Even in our day to day lives/routines we're honoring our infants needs and teaching them how to love and trust us. It was a nice confirmation for all the hard work that stay at home parents do. Esme also had a nice visit with Allen's cousin Andy and Mei in the afternoon. She was on her best behavior and slept most of their visit. Ha ha!

Not only does she have chipmunk cheeks, but a double chin too!

Cousins Mei and Andy visit

Brrr...back to Seattle

I've never seen Esme smile so much as she has on the days that we've travelled. I think she likes all the attention when people would stop and talk/help us through the airports. Esme did great again and slept or played most of the flights. We got in super late last night and she went straight to bed in her crib in her own room. It's a start!

We had an amazing time in North Carolina with my sister and her family. We shared some unforgettable moments and made some precious memories, not only between Hannah and I but also with our daughters. I'm so glad we went and here's some more of those memories:

Esme's photo shoot

We always caught the picture right before she rolled over

So many pictures of the cousins!

Esme aka Esmer and Pan-Da

Capri "the schemer"

Unloading out loot from the car to the house. Sooo much stuff!

the most stressful pedicure we've ever gotten

carting around the carseats wherever we went

hanging out in her diaper, trying to cool off in the heat

9 to 5

In all the excitement I forgot to mention that Esme slept through the night just 2 nights ago! She had a rough time falling asleep but finally did at 9pm and didn't wake up until right before 5pm. I, of course, woke up early because I was ready to burst and jumped at the first sound of Esme's voice. Then last night she slept from 9pm to 4am. I'm thinking that I'll just transition her to her crib when we get back to Seattle tonight since she's out of her routine anyways. It'll be nice not to have to do hurdles over the pack-n-play everytime I get out of bed now :) We leave Jacksonville at 6pm tonight and don't get back to Seattle til well after midnight and I hope these next flights go as well as the ones here did. I'll post more pics when I get home. Tootles!

Strawberry Fields

The weather is even warmer today so we hit the strawberry fields as early as possible (which ended up being around 10am after trying to get out of the house with all the kiddos in tow :) Hannah and I filled our buckets but Makena was a different story. Ha ha! We're thinking we'll make some strawberry shortcake with all our loot tonight.

Makena calls me Ampy (her version of auntie) Zoe but she has a hard time saying Esme so she often just calls her Bean. It's pretty cute. Makena also has been great at pacifier patrol in the back seat when we're on long car rides. Her seat is next to Esme so she pops it back in when it falls out however she even tries to squeeze it in even after Esme has fallen asleep. Oh well!

Makena doesn't want to share her strawberries

Mmm...strawberries

This is all Makena had in her bucket after an hour in the field :)

And this is what Capri and Esme did while we were picking

Sunday outing

You'd hardly know there were storms and tornadoes in NC yesterday because the weather today has been beautiful - sunny, clear blue skies and in the 70's. We went to the Airlie Botanical Gardens for a picnic with Josh's mom, Sally. Makena got to run around and play in all the fountains and we got to stroll through the tulips, azaleas, daffodils, oak trees, etc. It was the perfect day for a picnic there.

Over 400 year old Majestic Aerlie Oak tree.

Makena's standing off to the right of it.

Esme was tired of riding in the double stroller finally so I carried her

Makena was listening for Elmo in the glass house

There's nothing like bonding with your sister while breastfeeding together

Esme's awake!

The storm's brewing

Esme's still trying to adjust to the warm weather and humidity in NC. I keep her dressed as lightly as possible but she's still usually warm and sometimes clammy. Because of this I've also been bathing her more than normal and she's happy about that because she loves her baths. All the little rolls she's grown on her body trap all kinds of dirt and stuff :) And thankfully her skin isn't so dry here so I don't have to worry as much about frequent baths. The weather has been strange today with the brewing tornados north of us but we should be safe where we are.

Easter's around the corner

Yesterday we went to a family Easter Egg event on the Marine base and Makena got to participate in most of the activities while Capri and Esme just cruised in the stroller. There were animal rides, a petting zoo, bounce houses, face painting, cookie decorating and an entire field filled with Easter eggs to hunt. Esme slept through the entire event but what's new :) She did get dressed up for the occassion as you can see below.

All dressed up for Easter

Makena's first pony ride

Capri's ready for Easter

2 months old

Happy 2 months old Esme! We're celebrating in North Carolina today and we'll have her check up and shots on April 26 once we're back in Washington. I'm curious how much she weighs cause she's starting to feel heavier and heavier. And those cheeks keep getting bigger! Here's some pics from the beach yesterday. Later today we'll go to the Marine base for an Easter celebration.

My little sleeper-bean

Uncle Josh and cousin Makena

Playing in the water

The Moby wrap twins

Double duty

We headed to Wilmington today to take Makena to pre-school and so Hannah, the babes, and I hung out in town until she was done. We busted out Hannah's double stroller and set it up for twins so that Esme and Capri could cruise together with us. Tons of people stopped us to look at the girls cause they were obviously not twins so they wanted to know their story. It was pretty funny. But driving that thing was like driving a tank! After being out all day we had some pretty in pink blanket time when we got home and now it's nap time all around. It's such a beautiful day that we're thinking we'll go for a walk on the beach later this afternoon. We can pack Capri and Esme in our Moby wraps and let Makena roam the beach.

Cruising in the double stroller

Sorry, I can't figure out how to flip this right now :)

Capri & Esme having some blanket time

Esme misses her daddy

Esme had a hard time getting to sleep last night and I think all the travel, the time change, and the new surroundings were a little hard to adjust to. She was missing her cuddling time with daddy that she usually has before bed. That always works to put her to bed. Today she got to enjoy lots of time with her cousins. And I was just happy that the weather is soooooooooooo much warmer here. We hung out on the porch in the warm sun and Esme seemed to like it too (even if she was a little shaded from the sun :) I'm thinking this means she'll enjoy our next trip to Hawaii also. It was strange to have her dressed so lightly since I'm used to bundling her up all the time. Later in the afternoon we went for an adventure to Lowe's and Hannah tried out the racecar cart which made Makena's day. Then we drove through some of the little beach towns in the area. And you can guess what Esme did - she slept!

Esme and Capri hanging out in the awesome rockasan chair

Race car driving at Lowe's

fly, fly, fly

changing diapers in the back of the car

cousin Makena

hangin in the moby wrap

sleepin on the plane

Sneads Ferry , NC

We made it in one piece...even though it felt like I was carting around multiple pieces all day :) Esme and I got an empty seat next to us on both planes from Seattle to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Jacksonville, NC which made things a lot easier for me. Esme slept and ate and played with no problems. She also decided to start smiling all the time so all the passengers liked that. The Moby wrap really saved me too so I could have two hands to deal with the carseat, the stroller frame, diaper bag and my carry-on. Overall she was a great travel companion! It's nice to have the day behind us though and to finally be at my sister's house. We've already gotten some great pics of the little girl cousins that I'll post later. The best was the three carseats in the backseat of Hannah's car. Talk about a tight fit!

Passport to poop

We've recovered from our most recent weekend getaway and now Esme and I are preparing for a loooooooooooooong trip to North Carolina tomorrow to see my sister Hannah, her husband Josh, and their 2 daughters - Makena, 2 years old, and Capri, 3 months old. We had a few errands to run this morning and then came home to do some laundry and now I'm trying to pack. Thankfully my sister has everything I'd need for Esme so it shouldn't be too bad if I forget something. I'm having a little anxiety though thinking about getting through the airport tomorrow alone with Esme but not much I can do about it except be as prepared as possible.

While we were at Costco today I had Esme's passport photo taken. It was a bit of a challenge because she had to have her eyes open so that meant waking her up and she usually sleeps whenever she gets in her car seat and we're out and about. Once I got her up though it took her awhile till we could get a photo worthy face. First she scrunched up her face and got all red while stretching, then she started to cry, then she spit up, and lastly she made her pooping face. Funny thing is that her pooping face came out the best and so that's the pic we got. I'm sure she'll love that story later :)

I love babies in overalls...even if they are a little big!

Whirlwind Weekend on Whidbey

Esme, Allen and I spent the weekend on Whidbey Island but mostly indoors due to the weather. It was windy and cold out so we enjoyed a lot of the scenery from inside the car but thankfully it didn't rain like it was predicted. Esme especially didn't have any complaints :) Then Allen ran the half marathon this morning and did really well, his personal best, and only came away with a few blisters on the bottom of his feet. Prior to getting to the island we drove the Tulip Festival field route and saw mostly daffodils because the tulips weren't quite ready yet. So that means we also didn't get out of the car to take any pictures. Sorry!

We also had our carseat inspected at a free clinic this weekend and I was impressed at how much we learned. The lady/inspector spent about 45 minutes with us and gave us a whole tutorial on our carseat and base, showed us how to install it in all possible ways and also told us the guidelines that our specific car has for carseats. I was so glad we did it and highly recommend everybody with kids get this done because apparently 9 out of 10 carseats are installed incorrectly and therefore not safe.

Allen's pre-race game face :)

Batting Practice

Look, our little girl is growing up so fast! While we were getting ready to go out, we notice something a bit different about our Esme bean.  She was staring intently at a toy hanging off her bouncer, then... she hit it! Then she hit it again. Check it out:

Feeding frenzy

Esme has been waking up early from her naps to eat and last night she still seemed ravenous even after draining me before bed. We ended up giving her a bottle of pumped milk and I was sure she'd puke some up but she kept it all down. Then I thought it'd make her sleep longer through the night but she ended up waking up at 2am to eat which was strange. This weekend we'll be away from home again so her sleeping will probably get all out of whack. Allen's running the Whidbey Island half marathon on Sunday so we'll head up that way tomorrow. We're hoping to stop at the tulip festival on the way up so I hope they're in bloom already so we can get some good pics.

No flat heads!

With no interventions, Esme's baby acne and cradle cap are starting to resolve on their own. About 2 weeks ago she had it pretty good on her forehead. She continues to have dry skin so we're stretching out her baths longer and longer which is a bummer cause she really likes her bath tub and getting warm water poured over her. I've also noticed that her hair is thinning out a little but so far she hasn't rubbed it off on the side that she likes to turn to the most - her right side. To help prevent a flat head on that side though I'm constantly trying to entertain her on her left side so she evens it all out. Sleep update: Last night she slept till 3:50am. Of course I was aleady up and waiting for her cause I felt like I was going to burst if I didn't feed her soon :)

Look at those healthy cheeks :)

Year of the Rabbit

Esme's finally outgrown her two newborn outdoor suits. It's the last of the many layers that I put her in when we go walking outside in the cold weather. So now we've upgraded to the bunny suit below, perfect for her since she's the year of the rabbit. She kept falling over when I was taking the picture but I think I got at least one good one :)

Sleep update: last night she didn't wake up till 3:30am so it seems she's starting to stretch out her nighttime feed. The only problem was that I woke up at 2am out of habit and just laid there and waited for her to get up. Sheesh!

8 hour of sleep

After a diaper blow out and warm bath last night, Esme was so nice and cozy that she just slept through her 9pm feeding. We really tried to wake her up since this is her last feeding before she goes to bed for the night but she wouldn't budge. I figured she'd wake up on her own shortly after since her last feeding was at 6pm so we just put her to bed. Well turns out she didn't end up waking up till her normal 2am feeding. That means she went for a full 8 hours without eating. Now if we could just shift those 8 hours to be during the middle of the night then we'd be golden! I'll keep you posted on how that goes for us :)

Esme's room

So I finally got some pics of Esme's room to share with you guys! I've been meaning to take some for ages but it first meant cleaning up a little bit :) And now that I've cleaned and straightened up, the room looks a little bare. Ha ha! I've actually still got some things to hang on the wall but I need to get to the hardware store for the right hooks, etc. Esme has been enjoying nap in her crib during the day and then she sleeps in our room at night. She's still waking up once at night, usually around 2am, but once that stops then she'll transition to the crib at nighttime too. We often use the glider in her room also for feeding. Otherwise we're usually camped out in the family room when it's time for her to eat.

Lazy days

It's been a nice and relaxing weekend at the Shih house. Allen caught up on the "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series and even read out loud to Esme which put her to sleep most of the time. He also got in a long run in preparation for his half-marathon next weekend. We've started having Allen give Esme a bottle of pumped milk in the evenings which gives me a break, keeps Esme used to the bottle, and gives the two of them some bonding time. I did attempt to clean the house this weekend so I put her in the Ergo Carrier but she fell asleep as soon as I started sweeping the floor. Apparently cleaning doesn't interest her too much :)