The Shih family arrives

Well they're not here yet but Allen's sister arrives from Ithaca, NY tonight and his parents arrive from Sandy, UT tomorrow morning. No plans yet but I'm sure it will include a lot of Esme time :) She's the second grandchild and first grand daughter in the Shih family.

Last nights sleeper experiment went okay but she would startle easier cause her hands were out and she just had the loose sleep sack on. Tonight we might revert back to swaddling with her hands out and see how that goes. And maybe this all means nothing. Ha ha! Based on how much she's been feeding this afternoon and tonight she'll also grow about 1 inch tonight. My little bean is growing!

Mommy and Esme alone at last

Strangely enough today is the first time that I've had Esme all to myself. Allen's been home alone with her many times already. When my mom was here, her and I would get out of the house for short little errands or trips and leave Allen and Esme. And then Allen's been watching her the past 2 days while I had that conference to go to. Now Allen's working a per diem shift at Albertson's pharmacy this afternoon/evening so it's just Esme-Bean and me! I think we'll work on getting a bath today since her head, neck and hands smell like breastmilk :) Then we might do some laundry. Surprise, surprise! It's amazing how often we're doing it now. Ha ha! And then tonight we're going to try a new sleeper when she goes to bed. We've been swaddling her but she seems to like to sleep with her hands up by her face so I think that's why she fusses sometimes when she's swaddled. We'll see though...

Day 2 daddy and esme, alone in the wilderness of Renton

Esme and I are on day 2 without mama. I've only been pooped on once today which is cool (wow how are perspectives change). Really though, she's just slept most the time today. I gave her a bunch of tummy time while I ate my lunch. Then I took this video of her while I was waking her up for a feeding.

She's currently sleeping on my legs, so this blog being written on my phone.

Hope I don't miss anything. She's taking bottles like a champ and being an all around good girl.  She even slept through my P90X plyo session (jumping around like crazy).

And finally, she really loves her baths. She just kinda stares at us... and she's starting to get chubby!

Daddy Daycare

Allen got to fly solo with Esme today cause I had an all day conference in north Seattle. I think I was more worried than him about how today would go. Yesterday I pumped like crazy so the fridge was stocked with bottles. Then I got up super early this morning to get ready in case Esme woke up in the meantime and wanted to eat. Turns out she didn't but she must have known I was leaving her cause after her 2:30am feed she wouldn't go back to sleep and every time I tried to put her down she fussed. She just wanted to lie in bed and stare at me with all her cute faces. So needless to say I didn't get good sleep. During all my breaks today I was calling home to check in but of course things were fine. I'm so glad I'm home now but unfortunately I have another conference tomorrow. I just have to get through that one and then I'll be back home with her. Allen's been enjoying the father- daughter bonding though and he's great with her. Plus she's not overly fussy and takes a bottle well so there's not much to worry about. I wondered how feeding would go once I got home but she latched right on like I hadn't even left. Phew!

The walnut is busting out of her shell!

Last week I could still look at Esme and picture how she fit inside my belly but this week there's no way! Her tummy is starting to fill out, she's a little longer and her cone head is gone. Now she fills out her newborn clothes and diapers too. Even her sounds are louder so she doesn't squeek anymore. She's having more awake and alert times and she really likes to be right next to our bodies. I've gotten used to carrying her in the sling and Allen has been experimenting with the Ergo Carrier.

Aloha Nana

Today was a sad day cause Nana left. Many tears were shed and it's times like these that make being away from my family sooooooooooooo hard. Nana missed Esme being born but then that gave us the entire two weeks of her trip to bond, just mother, daughter and grand-daughter, which was also very special. The next time we're all together Esme will be a completely different baby. I'm thinking Esme and I will make a trip back to Hilo before my maternity leave is up at the end of May.

Now all the guests are gone and the visitors are dwindling so it feels like the vacation is over. I did get out and exercise today which was first in over 2 months. It felt so good to get my legs moving, my heart really pumping and to breath in all that fresh air. I had to stop all exercise except yoga after Christmas of last year due to some back pain that was related to the pregnancy and also my old back surgery. Luckily with the help of an osteopath it resolved before Esme was born but I didn't want to push my luck so I just kept doing my prenatal yoga, which in hindsight really helped with the delivery. Today I also got a pedicure which I meant to do the weekend before Esme's due date but since she came early that got cancelled. My toes feel sooooooooo much better. Next on my list is to finish up my Belly Book (a fun pregnancy journal) and start on Esme's baby book.

Esme's tiny little hand!

Esme loves Korean food

Today we went to the Korean restaurant where Allen and I ate lunch on the day that Esme was born. Maybe that's what sent me into labor early. Ha ha! We also joked that we'll celebrate all her birthdays with Korean food. She hasn't rejected all the spiciness via my breastmilk yet! Then tonight we celebrated Esme being born with some pink champagne. Yum! Our little Esme-Bean is really starting to fill out and plump up. It's amazing how she changes day to day. I still love hanging out with her in the middle of the night during feeding time and just watching all the cute faces she makes. It makes all the sleep deprivation worth it :)

Happy Girls Day!

The feeding frenzy continues so maybe that's just her norm for now. We seem to have our night time routine down and she wakes up twice, feeds, and goes right back to sleep. If she doesn't sleep right away, she'll just lay in the pack-n-play at my bedside without any fuss. Sometimes she likes to be swaddled and other times she likes to have her hands out and up by her face which is very similar to one of the ultrasounds pics we saw at 20 weeks.

Learning to do chores one handed

Today Esme met her great-great-Uncle Richard (my late grandfather's brother) and his friend Millie who drove up from Vancouver, WA. She also got to meet my cousins Russ & Jen and their son Colton who's almost 8 months old. It's amazing to think that Esme will be that big and active someday :) Allen introduced Esme to the vacuum earlier today and amazingly she just slept in his arms the whole time. And he even got his own "daddy's diaper toolbelt" for the blowouts that our little Esme-Bean has :)

All our visitors today... except Jen

Young man meet young woman

Great Great Uncle Richard meets Esme for the first time

Butterfly butt

Daddy's Diaper Toolbelt - Daddy needs help with poop!

Bring on the visitors!

Esme got to meet her great grandparents, Berta and Jim, today and also her great auntie Trina, who all drove up from Oregon to see her. Turns out she's great grandchild #14 for my grandma! We just hung out at home and got to visit with everyone and Esme was on her best behavior. She was so quiet you could easily forget there was a baby in the room. And tomorrow will bring a whole new group of family to visit :) I think she might be going through a growth spurt as she's been on a feeding frenzy since last night. Her normal 5-10 minute feeds are turning into 15-30 minute feeds. Luckily there's no shortage of milk and I've even been able to freeze a lot for later. Once in awhile Allen or Nana will give her a bottle of breastmilk and she has no problem taking it either.

Two weeks old!

Yesterday we visited daddy's work place and got to tour the new tower of the hospital where he works. And today we got to visit mommy's workplace for Esme's two week check-up. It's amazing how fast time flies! She was back to her birth weight, 7 pounds 2 ounces, which puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and she grew a quarter of an inch so now she's 20 3/4 inches long which puts her in the 75th percentile for height. Everything else looked good so her next physical isn't until 2 months old.