Working Mama

Well the last week and a half has been a blur. I am trying to get used to this whole schedule of dropping Ari off early, getting on the bus, working a full day, and coming back home pretty late to pick her up. I am gone at least 12 hours everyday. It's hard being away from her for so long. I try to get in my quality time in thr mornings when she wakes up, and at night before bed. The weekend will have to be my time that I devote to baby Brielle, but at the same time I have to remember to take time for me. Oh yeah, I also have to pump at work. It's kind of awkward. But luckily I found the "lactation room" and it happens to be a couple of doors down from my office. It sure beats a bathroom stall! Plus it has a fridge, freezer, table and sink and even a place to plug my laptop into the network if I needed to. Although I must say that I feel somewhat awkward going in and out of the lactation room and disappearing for periods of time. At least I dont carry the big pump bag back and forth when I go to pump now, because since I have found the lactation room, I just leave it in one of the cabinets in there. I am the only one using the room at this point, from what I can tell. This working mommy business is hard! I wish I could just stay home with her. Oh well I gotta do what I gotta do at this point.

This weekend we went back to CT. Uncle Alfred did Arden's dedication on Sunday. It was really nice. Avery had his "Chosen Day" party to celebrate the finalization of his adoption 3 years ago. He has the celebration every year. Its kind of like a 2nd birthday party. It was fun! Avery LOVES his baby cousin! He is so protective of her and I know he cant wait until she is big enough to play with! He's learning to be gentle though which is good. He needs the practice because soon he will have some little siblings to help "take care of." :)

Arden is really making strides in her development. She is 11 weeks now! She almost has complete control of her head and neck. Her back muscles are very strong. She is "talking" up a storm. (She even said "hi" to her Auntie C this morning... really she did!) She LOVES her musical play gym that speaks 5 different languages. It sings this "hello" song and I often find myself humming it. Arden sits under the gym kicking her legs, looking at the lights. She really gets into it. She also likes her musical aquarium bouncy seat. It plays classical music and bubbles making the fish inside move. As you will see in the pictures that follow, she is more and more smiley. She is so reactive when people talk to her. She smiles back at smiling faces. She still hates her belly so she hasnt really rolled yet. She tries to roll from back to front but she only makes it onto her side. It would be easier to roll from belly to back but she wont lay on her belly long enough. We will have to work on the "tummy time" thing! '

Arden is really getting big! She is so long and skinny. I think she has runner's legs! Maybe she will find herself on the track team just as I was. Volleyball would be a good sport for her too. (She has such long arms and hands!)

Her is what babycenter.com has to say about Arden's 3rd week of month 2:

Your baby is busy absorbing the sights and sounds around him. How? By looking, listening, and touching. You can help keep those brain cells multiplying by letting your baby handle a wide variety of objects such as soft teddy bears, hard plastic cookie molds, and rubber balls. Just make sure they're too big for him to choke on: Children under a year old shouldn't play with toys that have parts smaller than 1 1/4 inches around or 2 1/4 inches long.

Ok here are some pictures from the weekend:

Hitting the Road

Arden and I went on a road trip last weekend. We went to visit Auntie Akiba, Uncle Alfred and cousin Avery in Connecticut. Arden was really good in the car. She slept most of the way. We had a really nice time on our trip. Avery LOVES his "baby Arnen". He followed us around and was a big helper. He's so sweet but had never really been around a baby before to realize that they are different from him. (He only just turned 3). We had to point out that the baby couldnt chew because she doesnt have teeth after he shoved a Cheerio in her mouth! LOL. After a while he was a lot more gentle. Poor kid doesnt realize his own strength, he would pat poor Arden on the head a little harder than she liked. Although he was good for a nice solid pat on the back when Arden needed it to help put her to sleep. :) All in all it was a fun weekend.

Arden is 10 weeks this week!!! She is really growing. She is holding her head up very well. The doctor said that she has excellent neck control and is advanced for her age, in that regard. Arden was weighed at 9.5 weeks and she weighed 9 pounds 12 oz. She is still a little peanut but she is gaining weight well. She is almost 23 inches long. She is in the 80th percentile for height but is on the small side for her weight in reference to her length. I guess she is just going to be long and skinny like her mom.

Here is what babycenter.com had to say about her during the second week of month 2.

All the diapering, feeding, kissing, and cuddling you've been doing for the last two months will be rewarded now with a real beaming baby smile and when you see it, you'll know the meaning of pure joy! Her past smiles were probably involuntary or the result of passing gas. These are the true "I'm happy" signs. Take advantage of your baby's new ability to show joy by making her grin and giggle. Silly faces, funny noises, and blowing bubbles are surefire hits.

I start work this week. I really dont want to go but I know I must. Grammy is excited to have Arden while I am gone. I will let you know how my first week goes.

Here are pictures from our trip and from Arden's 9th week (If you'll notice there is a trend... I tend to fall asleep while putting her to sleep!!):

Where Did Two Months Go??

Arden is already 8 weeks old. I can't believe that my baby will be 2 months old on the 11th. Where has the time gone? Well now Arden is doing a lot of different things. I can tell that she is in fact growing up. She smiles at me a lot, but I can never seem to catch a grin on camera (although I do have one picture that I got the other day!) She is starting to be more aware of things around her. She notices when I come in and out of a room. She looks at bright colored objects. The other day she discovered the TV! Shes really growing. Her hair is getting longer and it is starting to curl which makes for a lot of bad hair days since it tends to go in all directions. :)

The newest development is that she has become a little more picky about things. She no longer will take her bottle which is problematic because I have to start work on the 22nd. I have to search for new nipples. She still wont take a pacifier. ARGH! And she also has begun to cry when I leave her. She cries for me when others are holding her. I guess it's a good thing that she has bonded with me but I want her to be content without me. I guess that will come in time. She is also having a harder time getting to sleep. She sometimes just screams no matter what I do until we both end up falling asleep out of exhaustion.

All in all, I can't complain because for the most part she is a great baby. She's so beautiful (I may be a bit biased). I think she's the best!!!

Here is what babycenter.com says we should expect this month:

From here on out Arden may gain as much as two pounds a month. She's probably staying awake longer too — some babies this age are awake for up to ten hours a day. Arden's also getting stronger. She still can't hold her head steady, but you might notice her keeping it up for a few seconds at a time. Other changes include the ability to focus on objects 7 to 8 inches away, and track them as you move them from side to side. She might glance at her own hand when you do this. Being able to "regard" her hand, as development experts call this activity, is the first stage in reaching out and grabbing things.

You can click here for more details on a two month old's development.

Here are some pictures from last week. She just keeps getting cuter!

Trying to Catch My Breath

I am sooooo busy these days with school ending and the baby being a bit more demanding than before. I skipped week 6 because I was so busy with school work. I am, however, taking the time to update this week (week 7) in order to appease the baby blog nazi! :) I have a paper to write by Wednesday and I have yet to really get into it. Arden doesnt like to let me do much. If I am around her she wants me to pay attention to her and nothing else. I swear she knows her mommy and she knows how to get her attention! I have had to leave her with my grammy so that I can do anything productive. The night before my antitrust exam I stayed at school. I literally had to stay up for 24 + hours to learn something (and I still feel really bad about that exam, but its over now...). So that was my 1st night away from her. I felt bad about it but I had to do it because I knew far too little to go home and be sucked up into Ari world.

Well Arden is growing so fast. She is becoming such a sweet little girl with her own personality. She smiles and laughs all of the time (especially during her naps). She LOVES music and singing. I find myself singing to her in the middle of the night to put her back to sleep. She doesnt seem to mind that my voice is particularly raspy at 3am.

She is also getting very strong. She is getting more control of those flailing arms and legs and she is holding her head and back more steady by the day.

She is settling into a pattern now. She sleeps at similar times each day and she is staying awake much longer. She still doesnt sleep through the night but she usually goes to sleep at 11 or 12 midnight and wakes up at about 3 am then she sleeps again until about 6:30 am. However there are some days that she wont go to sleep and she is up until 2am before she finally settles down. Nap time is getting harder for her. She isnt so easy to settle down all of the time. She tends to fight her sleep a lot and I have to help her get into sleepy mode.

Well here are some pictures of Arden at 6 and 7 weeks: