LOVE

This smile can turn every frown upside down, love this little girl!!!

2 Months!

Raya has just celebrated her 2 month birthday on Sunday and has had quite an eventful month!

Some of the things she has been up to;
Enjoying social smiling
Sleeping GREAT and does 5-7 hour stretches at night
Enjoys bath time
Moved to size 1 diapers even though they are a little big
Newborn clothes are getting snug
Got her first diaper rash and is dealing with baby acne :(
Loves playtime on her playmat
Neck is getting stronger
Still gets hiccups a lot, gripe water helps calm them
Makes cooing noises and sounds like a dove
Took her first trip to the aquarium and SD Zoo

At her 2 month well baby appointment she measured in at;
9 pounds 3 ounces, 5th percentile for weight (a bit low but I think she's got daddy's metabolism..or like her doctor said she might be a little lazy when eating)
22" long, 27th percentile for height ( good old' #27 ;) she's on target here)
15" head, 44th percentile here, so that's great!

She did great with all the reflex tests the doctor did and she said to start keeping a close eye on her because it may not be long before she's really trying to roll, she's a mover and a shaker!

The shots she didn't love and screamed like I never heard before but she did great and they put cute pink camouflage bandaids over her booboos for being such a trooper. She slept alot yesterday after all the excitement, slept from 4-7 PM, 9 PM-4 AM, then 5-9 AM. I'm not complaining ;)

A Good Day!

It only took 8 weeks but we are starting to settle into a little groove, how long before it goes off course?? Probably not long so I want to remember the little normalcy I had :)

Everyday is a great day but Friday was fantastic and the beautiful sun was out in San Diego! Tim left for an event setup around 8 AM, after Rayas morning feeding she relaxed while I made the bed, then we got changed and took Zara to the dog park. On the way home from the dog park R fell asleep so I dropped Z off at the house and headed to the grocery store to get ingredients for some yummy recipes I found on Pinterest that I was going to attempt for dinner. As we were getting home R was waking up and it was feeding time, she patiently hung out in the Bjorn carrier (thank you Michelle for letting us borrow it and showing me how to use it!) while I put the groceries away. After she had her lunch we watched her 'my baby can read video' which she enjoyed, I think! She sat through the video and tracked with her eyes...such a good student already ;).

Then I sat her in her mammaroo chair ( we love that chair!) and she hung out while I started prepping some of dinner. It was time for naptime and she didn't resist being swaddled and set in her bassinet for some Zzzzzs. As she napped I was able to respond to some emails, finish prepping dinner and read a little...I think I even got a load of laundry in there too!

My favorite part of the day was around 4:00 PM Tim came home and I was able to actually go for a jog by MYSELF...woohoo first time in probably 10 months that had happened :) I got home and showered, we ate dinner, R had eaten just before I ran so she was content until just after we ate. She then had her dinner, had bath time, daddy read her a few books and she was down for the night and slept for 7.5 hours!

It felt so good to have a day that seemed to flow so well and feel just a little productive!

FIRSTS

As we approach Raya's second month of life she has experienced so many "firsts", I have captured most of them thankfully!

There is an ongoing pattern here that she is sleeping through most of her "firsts" :) she's an active little baby and gets tired...that OR she's camera shy!

This is just a partial list;
Diaper (daddy's first time putting a diaper on too!!)
Car ride
Meeting Zara
Walk around the block in stroller
Doctors appointment
Visit to Coin mart
First lunch out at BJs
Dog park with Zara
Tummy time
Mothers Day
Movies with mom (What to expect when expecting-bring your baby day)
Playmat playtime
Wedding industry party (Joes on the Nose bday party)
Daddy's baseball game (hit a home run for you!)
Trips to Birch Aquarium and SD Zoo
Dog beach with Zara
Lunch in Old Town
Watch dad win his race at Camp Pendelton
My FAVORITE...SMILES :)

*She has also already suffered through numerous trips to Target, Babies R Us, Walmart, and Ross... It's just the beginning sweet pea ;)

Looking forward to so many more firsts in life with you!! xo

Happy Father's Day

Raya and Zara had a great time with Daddy on Fathers Day...we celebrated by having a mellow day, for once! 



Raya had a special outfit to wear, thankfully it wasn't TOO big on her!



We went to the Hillcrest Farmers Market in the morning and picked up some food then headed down to Tim's moms house to relax by the pool.  Zara and Tim went swimming, I wish I grabbed a picture of that but I didn't :( She LOVES to swim and hopefully Raya will one day too.  We lounged by the pool for a little before heading home and getting dinner, Tim's choice - Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant.  I told him whatever he wanted and since I said NO to Chinese for 9+ months, I think it was only fair to give a GREAT new dad what he wanted for his first Fathers Day!



Daddy and his girls (and kisses from one)!



We got Tim an ID tag to wear on his running shoes so that should anything ever happen (KNOCK ON WOOD) we would be contacted.  They are on this site, http://www.roadid.com/.  It's a pretty cool concept!  We also got him a lemon tree in honor of our growing family :)  We've been wanting to plant a lemon tree in our backyard so hopefully now that we have it, we will me motivated to plant it!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TIM, we are lucky girls!!



Happy Mother's Day

I know I am a little delayed on these posts but my hands are usually filled holding a baby these days with little to no time to type but I want to keep up on posts to that I can share these stories as well as have them for me to remember.

This was an AMAZING Mothers Day, I felt so incredibly thankful and loved! Along with thoughtful cards from Tim, Raya AND Zara, Zara gave me a BEAUTIFUL floral arrangement and Raya gave me a nameplate necklace with her name on it.  I LOVE it and neither her or daddy knew I wanted one like it, good job!! :)  Tim made me breakfast in bed and we went to his moms for a Mother's Day dinner, it was fun to celebrate the day as a new mom!

Flower arrangement from Zara (via Tim)

First Mothers Day! (wearing necklace from Jen and Tim/Raya)

Raya (via grandma Schuster) gave me beautiful pink roses and my mom gave me a sweet picture of Raya that she had taken while she was out here in and "I Love Mom" frame and also gave me a "MOM" Tervis tumbler (LOVE Tervis tumblers and she didn't even know, woohoo!)

My sister Jen was visiting until just days before Mothers day and left me a little box under my pillow when she left.  It was an extremely thoughtful card and a beautiful "mom and daughter" necklace, with two hammered silver circles one bigger than the other, I LOVE it and I am so excited to have necklace options as before I was lacking in that department.

Thank you all for making me feel so special on my first Mothers Day, I am proud and honored to be a mom! :)

1 month!

I knew time was going fast but I cannot believe it's been (over) a month since Little Raya joined the world.  I have been taking an obnoxious amount of pictures and I am glad that I am because I know there are going to be so many things that I forget! 

I bought this newborn onesie at Target before she was born (before even knowing if we were going to have a boy or girl) knowing that the flower of April was sweet pea.  So far I have taken weekly pictures of her in it and she still fits in it.  I am going to continue to take weekly pics in it until she outgrows it (and I might just cry that day)!

Week 1 - It was more of a yawn than smile ;) Swimming in the onesie

Week 2 - Was having a fussy day :( Onesie is still big

Week 3 - Just waking from a nap...Onesie STILL big

Week 4 - A REAL smile :)  JUST starting to fit a little better in onesie

Raya's one month report card;

Her big sister is starting to like and understand her more.

She is starting to get more of an eating and sleeping pattern.
I am getting into a groove of pumping and she is taking to bottle and boob just the same ;)
She can focus on objects close to her face and track with her eyes.
She has smiled at us a few times (not consciously but its still SO cute, we can't wait until she has control over her smiles).
She is getting better at liking baths.
She is still wearing newborn clothes but they aren't as big as they were before.
She likes to do bicycle kicks with her long strong legs.
She is doing good holding her head up for a short period during tummy time.
She now weighs in at 7 pounds 10 ounces (up one pound from birth) and is almost 1.5 inches longer

My sister bought me these stickers to capture her growth month by month, I love them, they coordinate with Raya's room decor...Happy One Month Raya!

Another smile! :)

The boutique at Mary Birch has a scale that you can use to keep track of babies weight in between doctors appointments.  Since we don't visit our doctor again until the 2 month appt. we brought her over to see how much she had gained in a month.  She is up exactly a pound from her birth weight :) 

Family Dinner Date FAIL

We have attempted a few dinners, or i should say family dates, since Raya's birth and it's certainly not the same as it used to be (I know everybody said life would change but until you live it you never really know how things will change exactly). On our first "date" night out was the Saturday after our family visitors had left, Tm had the night off and I suggested going to dinner!! Raya was (is) still on a fairly unpredictable schedule and after she ate then fell asleep I said "ok let's go!" with the hopes that we'd have 2-3 hours of time to play with, plenty of time to have dinner and get back home. Tim needed new shoes so we stopped at DSW which ate into our time by about 30 minutes. tick-tock-tick-tock

After shoe shopping (which I may add I did not get any new shoes :(  I didn't even LOOK in the women's section while we were there - I guess I have new priorities like strolling a baby around so she doesn't get crabby!!) we went to The Tilted Kilt in Mission Valley.  Our drinks came right away and then food service was kinda slow...ughhhhh. It was kinda loud in the restaurant and Raya was a champ sleeping through it....until....the TV's got super loud and her hunger set in JUST as our food came - out came Little Miss FUSSY pants! Tim held her while I ate and then he started to eat and I took her, go figure his salmon was a bit undercooked, which he wanted heated a little longer, that took what felt like forever to reheat/ remake.

This was pre-pumping bottles so with no soothing Raya in sight and at the risk of getting bevil eyes from all tables around us, I left him inside and off to the car I went. I fed her in the car while he was working out his re-cooked salmon.  We realized next time we even attempt to do that we NEED a bottle. Family dinner date night FAIL!!

Lesson learned...so during the week, I worked on my pumping to save up some milk. Next date night was to the Brigantine a week later and she slept through 95% of it and when she woke we were prepared with a bottle...PHEW, family dinner date night SUCCESS!! :)