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 :)