6 weeks

Lily turned 6 weeks old on Friday. We took our weekly pictures on Friday, but I'm just getting them posted. Lily is doing fine, but I had a rough week. I'm not sure what I came down with, but starting on Wednesday I had a 99 degree fever and just felt yucky all over. I got some medicine on Thursday and finally started feeling better Saturday night. I'm so glad it was me that was sick and not Lily. But it's TOUGH being a Mom and being sick. There's no such thing as 'taking a sick day' from this job.

This week we started 'play time' with Lily. We put her on a blanket on the floor and put a stuffed animal next to her. She can see the animal very well and makes noises and goofy faces at it. We're also trying to do more tummy time and she's doing great with pushing herself up and kicking her feet. Her neck is SO strong.

In this picture we've got 3 of my favorite things represented: a PURDUE blanket, a ZETA strawberry outfit, and a MICKEY MOUSE hat.

Sorry Jamie, but it appears that Lily doesn't like the Mickey ears. It looks like she's going to punch me in this picture and is saying, "Get this thing off me!"
After taking off the hat you can see how bald Lily is on the top of her head. The hair on the back of her head is still growing strong, but she lost all the hair on the top. There some growing back in, but it's very light and fine.

Losing it

If anyone was paying attention last night, you saw in my last post I said Lily was 6 weeks old. Last week must have felt twice as long because she's only 5 weeks. I think the lack of sleep is finally getting to my brain. I have fixed the post so it's correct now.

Last week I tried to alter Lily's sleep schedule because I thought she was going to bed too late and wanted her to fall asleep earlier. Before she was falling asleep around 10 or 11 pm. With several 1 hr feedings in between, we weren't starting our day until 10 or 11 am. But the good thing was that her first night time feeding was usually 4-5 hours after she fell asleep. She was often taking a nap around 5-7 pm which I thought was the cause for the late bed time. So last week when she started getting sleepy around 5 I gave her a bath to keep her awake. 2 out of 3 nights she fell asleep around 7 pm, which was what I was hoping for. However, what I didn't plan on was the fact that we lost our 5 hour stretch of sleep and she went back to waking every 3 hours. It's amazing what a difference it makes only getting 3 hrs of sleep in a row vs. 5 hrs in a row.

So last night, I skipped the bath to see what would happen. She napped at 5 pm, she had several feedings between 7 and 10 pm, she fell asleep around 11pm and our next feeding wasn't until 4 am!! So it's official... no more baths at 5 pm! Mommy needs her sleep more than she needs an earlier bed time. The books say Lily won't really get a good schedule until she's older. So until then, as long as she gives me those long stretches of sleep, I'll let her sleep whatever time she wants to. I never thought I'd be so happy to get 5 hours of sleep! Oh, the joys of motherhood.

Week 5 Lily Update

Time for my weekly pictures...

5 weeks old!

One day Matt came home to find Lily and I taking a snooze together on the couch.

Chips and Salsa are adjusting well to the new arrangement. (Being bottom on the totem pole) They stick together and play with each other since Matt and I don't have much time to play with them. They spend most of the day like this: on their pillows, in the sun, on the guest bed.

I brought Lily in on her pillow to join them but I guess it disturbed Chips because he got up and left.

Salsa didn't mind hanging out with Lily

Lily has recently discovered light. In any room, she focuses on the window or light fixture. I would love to know what she's thinking and what the world looks like through her eyes.

Lily was more interested in staring out the window than looking at the camera. Oh well :)

We've noticed that the cats are very protective of Lily. They are usually a close distance away from Lily: either in the nursery or right outside the door. Maybe they just want to be close to me, but I think they are looking out for Lily. One time Lily let out a big cry and Chips raced into the room to see what was going on. When the grandparents have watched Lily for us, the cats stayed close to make sure Lily was ok. It was a big deal for our cats to come out for visitors because they usually hide far under the bed. Maybe we're looking too far into it and the cats will take attention any way they can get it. :)

1 Month Old!

On Monday, Lily turned 1 month! She went to the doctor and everything checked out great. She now weighs 10 pounds (yikes!) and is 22.25 inches long. She did pretty well with her first vaccine - only cried a little bit. This visit was the first time I took Lily out by myself. It was a little overwhelming, but I'm proud to say it was a success and we were only 5 min late to the appointment. I'm still keeping Lily locked inside -- so that was only her 3rd trip outside the house. Hopefully in March we can start doing some outings. I'm waiting for the weather to get warmer, her immune system to get stronger, and for less sick people.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This weekend Grandma and Papa came to visit. On Saturday night they babysat so Matt and I could have our first "date night". I had sushi and wine for the first time in 10 months. yum! They brought Lily the cutest Vday outfit - so of course, we had to do a photo shoot today. She is such a trooper for putting up with her crazy Mommy and Grandma. :)

Big girl!

Lily is 4 weeks old today and will be one month on Monday. I feel like she is "so old" because she's changed so much in the last month. But then I have to remind myself that 4 weeks is such a short time to be alive. I'm still protecting Lily from the elements and we've only been outside the house to go to the doctor. It's nice not to have to battle the roads in the snow, but at the same it would be nice to get out. I can't wait for it to get warm enough for us to go on a stroller ride. Here's some pictures from the past week.

Rich and Jane came over for a visit last Saturday.

Chillin' with Mom on the couch

Lily has her own Mii. I got the new Wii Fit Plus for Christmas and it has Baby Stats so I can track Lily's growth. She's at 9.5 pounds already, which means she gained a pound an a half in 2 weeks. Hopefully that was just a growth spurt and she won't keep growing at that rate. We'll see what the doctor says on Monday.

On Thursday Lily had her first tub bath! She didn't cry. Instead she was very quiet, wide-eyed, and had a "what is going on?!?" look on her face.


The rest of the pictures are from today (our weekly Friday photo shoot).

Since the dress is Purdue colors I thought it was fitting to use the Purdue quilt my Mom made as the backdrop.

4 weeks old! Much more alert and keeping her head up better.

I love this outfit! Especially the boots. (Thanks Cassie!)

It looks like she's ready to hit the slopes!

3 weeks old

Every Friday when Lily reaches another milestone we do a little photo shoot. She is starting to get too long for some of her newborn sleepers so I wanted to get her in this pretty dress while it still fit. After our pictures I put her in comfy clothes, because after all, she's a Cianciarulo and we live in comfy clothes. :)

Before now, this onesie didn't seem appropriate because it's been really easy to get Lily to bed. But this week we had some "challenges" with bed time (and I again, I wanted her to wear all her newborn clothes before she grows out of them). Even though it takes a while to get Lily to bed, once she is asleep, she's out for around 5 hours! Then after a feeding she usually sleeps for another 3-4 hours straight. I can't complain about that!

New Lily pictures

On Saturday, Kelly & Jeff stopped by to see Lily. They brought her a Cubs bib and socks so she'll be ready for the upcoming season.

On Sunday, Nikki, Adam, and their son Aaron paid Lily a visit. Aaron is 10 months and this was his first time seeing a baby. He got a little jealous when Mom was holding Lily. I guess he's not ready to share Mom & Dad's attention with another little one.

Daddy and Lily

Tummy time! When Lily is awake she is very alert. Plus she is gaining great control of her neck. She's starting to play with her hands more, but I don't think she knows what they are yet.