Anna is doing very well – she is over three weeks old now, and Maria and I are starting to settle into a little bit of a rhythm. We can both count on getting at least a few hours of sleep per night now, and I’ve gone back to work, so the house has a small sense of normalcy coming back.

Anna continues to grow – at her two week checkup she weighed in at 8 lbs even, and just two days later she weighted 8 lbs, 3 ozs. We haven’t had her weighed in almost a week now, but I feel like she’s looking bigger every day. We’re starting to learn about her, too.

Things Anna Likes

Her pacifier

Music

Laying on her back on your legs

The box fan

She seems to be coming around on the baby carrier – she likes it once she falls asleep

Pooping immediately after you change her

Falling asleep on Maria’s chest

Things Anna Does Not Like

Her swinging chair

Being put down in her crib (the bassinet in the bedroom or living room is okay, though)

Even the slightest sense of being hungry.

As Anna gets more established, we’re starting to see her awake and calm more often, and she’s slowly coming around on her baby carrier, and maybe the swinging chair. The baby carrier in particular is a great tool, and we’re looking forward to her feeling okay in there. Maria successfully took her to the grocery store in the carrier earlier this week!

Many exciting visits this weekend with friends and family, so we’ll get some new pictures up after that, I promise.

This morning, Maria and I had our first moment where we couldn’t believe how old Anna has gotten. I wanted to look back on these first few crazy days with our new daughter and savor them.

Anna is 13 days old today, and is doing great. She’s had good nights and bad nights, great feedings and awful feedings, but we are grateful today to look back and realize we have much more to be thankful for than not. She is still eating like a champ, and she typically sleeps pretty well (though not so much last night…). I think she’s starting to grow, and her head is definitely head-shaped now. She’s doing some pretty intense stretching as I write this, and we’re really starting to see more movement. It’s all still random movement, of course, but she occasionally gets her hand in her mouth or moves herself a little, and I get excited. I just can’t wait to have this little girl start to grow a bit and show us who she is. It will be fun to see her smile and respond to us, and to hear her start to babble.

The fact that she’ll be two weeks old tomorrow is somewhat startling – despite the long nights and busy days it somehow doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Maria and I are trying to savor this time, reminding ourselves that these moments are special even when Anna is screaming or won’t go to sleep. (To this end we have decided to remind ourselves that when Anna won’t fall asleep at 3am it’s because she is busy building new brain cells.)

In addition to Anna’s general well-being, I am just as grateful that Anna and Maria are bonding more closely every day. Every single morning it strikes me how they seem even more comfortable sitting together. Next week I’ll be going back to work, and it is such a relief to see that mother and daughter will get along just fine.

I would say the house is starting to have a ‘family’ vibe to it. We’re all getting used to each other and calming down, and perhaps we’re starting to get the hang of some of the basics. Anna has been a grand adventure thus far – one that is bringing Maria and I closer together, and opening our lives to new horizons. We were laughing this morning about how our lives used to be so simple and laid back; while sometimes Anna can be a lot to handle, she is certainly livening up the place!

Anna slept like a log last night and fed really well when she did wake up. Maria and I both ended up getting about eight hours of sleep! I feel so rested, it’s amazing what one good night can do. I will write a nice long update while my brain is working.

I’ve uploaded a few more pictures to the two albums I posted earlier this week. Several to Anna’s First Days, and also one with Maria’s friend Helen to Anna and Friends. The new pictures get added to the bottom of the album, so just scroll down to see them!

Oh, also, I realized that video of Anna didn’t show up last time, so I re-uploaded it and it is there now. Look for it in the Anna’s First Days album.

In general, Anna has been doing really well. She’s eating well and sometimes sleeps well at night (we’re just starting to see the hint of some patterns – it’s mostly random). We’re trying to get into what the nurses called “Tummy Time,” which just means having Anna hang out on her belly when she is awake. This takes weight off of her head for a while, and also encourages her to use her neck, arm and leg muscles. She seems alright with it, but it’s definitely hard work for her sometimes. (I posted some pictures of Tummy Time on Grandma Ryan’s beautiful quilt.)

We’ve fashioned a temporary living room bassinet for Anna out of a laundry basket and some pillows. It’s really nice, as we have a place out here to put her down and have her safe and warm. Sometimes Anna and I come out here at night if Maria needs some quiet time to catch up on some sleep, so Anna sleeps there and I nap on the couch.

Anna has also given me the special treat of making me the first to experience her projectile pooping and spitting up. She caught me by surprise while changing her and managed to get poop halfway across her nursery. Since then we’ve become much more savvy, and have avoided a couple more similar events thanks to our quicker reflexes. Her spit up came while in my arms, and pretty much covered me head to toe. She also managed to spit up into her own hat somehow, which I think is really something special. Immediately afterwards she looked so content, it was kind of hilarious. She’s actually spit up like that again since, but she was in her bassinet so it was well contained.

We’re excited to see Anna’s grandparents again this weekend, and next week I think we’ll try to introduce her to some more friends from around Madison. Anna met our friends Dan and Bailey last night, but I forgot to take pictures. Next time. It’s really fun introducing her to people, but we don’t want to over do it, so we’re taking our time.