Has it been 6 weeks already??

I can't believe Lynsey will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. I'm sure most people would say the time just flew by, and at times it has felt like that, but there have also been times when it hasn't. She's cried a lot at times, making the time sort of stand still, but she always seems to make up for it with a smile or other cute moment. Apparently crying peaks at 6 weeks, so I'm hoping that her happy times will increase over the next while and that we've seen the worst. I know she's not as bad as a lot of babies and for that I am very thankful - just remind me of that when she's screaming her head off and I don't know what's wrong with her! I was watching Oprah the other day and she had a lady on her show that claimed to be able to understand baby language - very interesting. I have tried to listen to Lynsey's cries to find out what sound she's making (thus telling me what is wrong with her) and I'd say I've had some success, but not really the breakthrough I was hoping for. I do think she's on to something, but it's just hard for me to hear the different sounds like she can. We're leaving Lynsey with a babysitter for the first time tomorrow night while we go to the BDR Christmas party so we'll see how that goes! Speaking of BDR, a few of my old coworkers came by on Wednesday to visit - Lynsey is pretty special to them because they were there with me from the very start to finish of my pregnancy and heard daily about how things were going with her.

Saying goodbye to baby Ty

It's been a while since I've posted, and there is a good reason for that. We've had another family tragedy, another funeral. Joyce's wee boy Ty was born on Saturday, November 24, and passed away a few hours later. His lungs just weren't developed enough to survive. We've known that this was the likely outcome for some time, but I did not face the reality of that until last week. I kept thinking that this would turn out differently, that God would choose to heal this precious little boy and spare Joyce and John the heartache of losing him. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. It was a really sad week, but I was amazed at how strong Joyce is - this is my little sister, and I can't imagine that I would have been as strong as her if this had happened to me. God never makes us go through anything we can't endure, and I guess He knew that I would not have been able to handle it. I'm sorry that Lynsey will never have a chance to play with her cousin, but I thank God for Joyce and John's faith and what a testament it has been to me.

Time with Lynsey has at times been really fun and rewarding, and at times been very frustrating. She did really well on the drive to La Crete, which was great, but she certainly had her fussy times while we were there. Luckily she has lots of aunts that know how to deal with fussy babies and I learned a lot this trip! I'm still such a rookie and can use all the help I can get! She started smiling "on purpose" while we were there - my mom in particular seemed to be able to get her grinning away:). She's definitely become more aware of us and looks at us for long periods of time sometimes - it's like she's sizing us up or something. She is growing up so fast - she's not even considered a newborn anymore! Sometimes I think she thinks she's older than she is - she is NOT too old to have naps but try telling her that some days!

Here are some pictures we've taken over the last few weeks.

Our growing girl!

If I had posted on Wednesday night or even Thursday morning, I would have gone on and on about how much more fun this week has been than last week! She was so good at the beginning of the week - hardly any crying, sleeping so well, etc. Yesterday she kind of reverted back to more crying, although she still had a very decent night which has helped keep me sane. I just hardly know how to deal with her when she's crying and crying and I know I've fed her and changed her and done everything I can to make her happy! She must be going through a growth spurt of some kind because she is eating a ridiculous amount - sometimes I feel like my whole life these days is just feeding her. I wonder if the intense amount of food is making her stomach unsettled or something. Anyway, even at her worst she's still pretty good so I really shouldn't complain. I guess God knew I would never be able to handle a colicky baby so he had mercy on me (and the child!). I got her weighed yesterday (at 2 weeks 5 days) and she weighed 8 lbs 12 oz. That means that in the last two weeks, she has gained 1 lb 3 ozs. I think that's a pretty good pace - as you might be able to see from the pictures, her face is really filling out:).












We took some professional pics at my friend Aileen's last week Tuesday so here are a few of them - they turned out really well!

End of week #2

So tomorrow at 10:01am Lynsey will officially be two weeks old - and I'm still alive and reasonably sane! Since my last post, we've had good days and bad days. She had her first bath at home last Friday - she really liked it! She was so cute - she was pretty sleepy when we put her in the water, but it was clear after Brian squeezed water over her head a few times that she was quite comfortable in the water:).












The last few days have been a bit rough. Wednesday was rough for three reasons: #1: Brian's first day back at work #2: I had several flu symptoms (not sure if it was actually the flu or just a fever) and #3: Lynsey had her first really fussy period that lasted longer than just a few minutes. It was a bad morning, but I think it's because I was sick and making her sick right along with me. I don't know for sure that she wasn't feeling well, but it's the only explanation I had for her crying in the morning. She slept most of the afternoon and evening (must have been worn out) and Thursday was much better. I wasn't really feeling well Thursday again - I'm kind of choked because I never get sick and this is the first year I got the flu shot . . . is it a coincidence?? I tried to decline the shot but my doctor insisted I get it because I was pregnant. A lot of good it did me! I'm no conspiracy theorist, but it's a bit suspicious that someone that never gets sick gets sick after this "vaccination". Anyway, it seems as though I've gotten over it now so I'm doing much better. She normally sleeps quite well at night, although last night when she woke up to eat I had a really hard time getting her back to sleep - she was awake for like two hours and very fidgety and fussy. I suppose I've been spoiled by her good behaviour the first week and now she's just being a normal baby! She really likes the car and going for walks, so I'm really hoping for a lot of chinooks this winter so I can take her out in the stroller lots. Anyway, I'm glad it's the weekend so Brian will be around to help me again - I really missed him the last few days! He actually worked from home today, but since he was working I was trying really hard not to distract him. Tomorrow he's fair game! I've attached some pictures we've taken over the last week.













As you can see, Brian is already trying to turn our little girl into a computer nerd:).

Life with Lynsey!

So Lynsey is now 5 days old and we are just loving her more than ever! She wasn't eating very well for the first few days, and had the medical professionals that followed up with us quite concerned because of it. She didn't want to eat every two to three hours, and apparently there are no exceptions - all babies must eat this often or there's something wrong! She didn't have jaundice (they checked that out), she was pooping and peeing at an acceptable rate (if you never thought you would ever have to closely examine poop you just wait until you have a baby!), she was gaining weight and not being fussy . . . and yet every professional I talked to could not accept the fact that she was only eating every 4 to 5 hours sometimes. I've come to the conclusion at this point that she knows when she wants to eat and knows what to do for that to be offered to her, and I am not going to try and force her to eat when she doesn't want or need to. We found out at the doctor today that she is back up to her birth weight already, which is apparently a very rapid weight gain pace! I think we might have a little chubbers on our hands soon! Anyway, she is eating well now, and I will not be waking her up to eat more often than she needs to just because some public health nurses and doctors think there are no exceptions to the rule. She has slept really well the last few nights, only waking up to eat and then going back to sleep almost right after. She has at least one or two fussy times per day, which is always hard to take because of course we would rather she didn't have any, but all in all I think she is a very good baby. She is so cute when she's all alert and looking at us, checking us out - she has smiled a few times (accidentally I'm sure!) and I'm looking forward to watching her do new things and become more and more aware of her surroundings. Brian and I are actually getting a reasonable amount of sleep considering - obviously I'm not as well rested as I would like to be, but what new mom is! We've had a lot of encouraging phone calls from family and friends and things are going really well. I am recovering very nicely - still a bit sore, but really it's not much considering what my body has gone through! The human body really is an amazing thing! I've posted a few pictures of some cute moments over the last few days - she seems to really like sleeping with her arms above her head, which is kind of funny because her ultrasound showed her like that AND she came out with her arm beside her shoulder, which was the reason for the tearing that I experienced! So we don't swaddle her arms anymore - she needs to be free to flail them about:).