Shower Time

I'm so excited to be hosting a baby shower for Alia in September!  I've been planning in my head and perusing the internet for ideas for months.  I sent the invitations last week and I can't wait for it to come!  Lady bugs and daisies theme - hopefully the weather is beautiful and the wind is tame in our backyard.  Woohoo!

Week 5!

I feel like I can't blog fast enough and the weeks are passing me by!  Gemma turned 5 weeks old on Saturday.  She had her 4 week check up last week (at 4 weeks, 4 days) and she weighed in at 9lbs, 5oz and 22.5in.  She's in the 50th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for length!  We have a long one on our hands.  Otherwise, she had a healthy report from her doctor.

On Thursday, she rolled over from belly to back for the first time!  I didn't catch the action on camera (or camcorder) since I didn't expect it so soon, but I did snap a photo of her on her back after she rolled over.  Look how pleased she looks!

In an attempt to catch her rolling over on camera, we had lots of tummy time on Friday...no luck yet!  We did get our new camera lens and are having fun learning how to use it properly.  Here's a closeup of her sweet little face.  People who know me well know I gave my dog several nicknames from Day 1 (Chicken, Peachy King, Boy Chicken, Beauty King) and have asked what I'm calling this precious little girl besides Gemma.....well, I usually call her Ciucci (pronounced Chuchi)...which means to suck (or, conjugated, "you suck") in Italian...she's such a good little eater and is always making little sucking faces in her sleep and it stuck!  My little Ciucci is so cute!  Brian is not yet on the nickname bandwagon....

We had a barbecue on Saturday since our friends from Florida were in town and Gemma wore this adorable green and white checkered picnic dress!  She is growing so fast and we love her more and more each day!

At the bbq, Gemma was getting lots of loving!  Everyone held her and admired her :) We were proud parents to share our little girl.  She was so good, too - she had a great time, although she slept most of the evening.  This picture (above) is of Gemma with Lindsay and below is Gemma with Amy.

 Brian got to show off his new bbq to his friends and also spend some quality time with the dudes playing ladder ball on our lawn.

 Riley also had a great time (new lens at work again!).

I think this photo is hilarious because it's a crisp, great photo of Andra and Cat and there's creepy Todd, blurred out in the background in the photo.... 

 We realized we aren't getting many photos of the three of us so we're trying to get more!  Here we are at the end of the night on Saturday - it was so fun to share our new house and new baby with a handful of friends!

We also took lots of walks with the Gemster last week - she loves going on walks in the evening when she doesn't have to be covered by a blanket to avoid getting burned by the sun.  There she is now, crying for her next feeding :) gotta go....

Fixin' It Up...

Our house, that is!  Although we've been busy learning how to be parents to sweet baby Gemma, we still have been hard at work making our new house a home.  It's well past time I posted some more updated photos!  Today, Gemma is taking a nice nap and my house is clean, so I snapped up the opportunity to snap a few. 

Here is our entryway - I put up that round sconce all by myself.  Yes, we have hand sanitizer available as you walk through our door, we have a newborn.

 We got a cheapy curtain to provide some privacy on our big front window until we tear it out and put in double doors in the fall.  It does the job and I think it looks pretty nice. 

 Alia came to town so Gemma, Riley and I spent some time hanging a framed poster and some other pictures on the walls in our guest room.  Seriously, Riley laid on the ground and Gemma had some tummy time on a blanket next to him, all the while listening to some tunes, while I hammered picture hooks into the walls.  Brian also put up blinds in this room that look great!

 Remember our less than "crisp" looking upstairs bathroom?  If not, here's a refresher photo:

 Well, Tim was nice enough to come over and help me give it a mini-makeover.  He did most of the work, but I did help paint and spackle holes!  It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do!  We also put up matching hand towel and shower curtain, new blinds, a new light fixture, new towel and tp fixtures and a new mirror.  I also got a pretty candle and some hand soap to finish it off!

 Our living room has had some small changes.  Mostly, clutter has been put away and boxes unpacked.  Lots of baby gear (and baby!) can be found in here.

 The biggest recent improvements are the new painting we got at Cost Plus World Market (to add some color!) and our NEW PLANTATION SHUTTERS that I love!  They really "make" the room.

 We ordered these a long time ago but they were finally installed on Saturday.  I love them.  Thanks to Debbie for an awesome housewarming gift.

 We also ordered plantation shutters for Gemma's room and here they are.  I'm slowly, but surely, making her room girlier, as well.  So far, we have a pink lamp shade, a pink night light, a pink hamper liner....I also ordered wooden wall letters in her name in pink....they should arrive in a couple weeks!  I still need to paint the closet doors, put the new hardware on, hang up her photo/hand and foot prints frame and put some other frames and girly things on her bookshelf.

That's about it!  Brian has also been doing LOTS of yard work and our backyard looks so nice!  Brian is probably sick of his "list" of things to do around the house that I add to all the time, but all the work is paying off and we're loving our new house.

Week 4

This post is a tad overdue, but better late than never, right?  Gemma will be 5 weeks old tomorrow (sigh, sniff, sniff...time is going too fast!).  We had lots of good milestones in Week 4, though. 

Her belly button / cord situation was cleared by the doctor so she had her first submerged bath and she was a big fan!  She just hangs out and looks at you....wriggles around, hangs one leg over the baby-bath hammock like a true lounger.  There is nothing like the smell of a baby - especially a clean baby!

We took our regular weekly photo - I'm running out of different shapes and colors for the signs and blankets for the backgrounds, get ready for some repeats.  She's a pensive little gal in these photos!  She is growing so much - the "newborn" size outfit in the photo below is clearly too short.  This is the first time she'd worn it, too.  She's got some long limbs, that girl. 

 She also took her first bottle this week!  From her daddy, of course.  We're working on finding the perfect bottle/nipple combo so Brian can feed her a bottle of day.  I'm working on pumping often to build up my supply, too.

 Auntie Alia came to visit and meet Gemma this week, too!  She brought her camera and took some seriously amazing photos of Gemma (and Riley, too) on her 1 month birthday.  She inspired us to get a new lens for our camera so expect the quality of our photos to improve by the Week 5 update.

Here is one of the amazing photos by Alia.  Riley wanted in on the photo action and actually was pretty cute!  Gemma loves him (or at least doesn't mind him) and he loves her, too.  We are using one of the photos Alia took for her birth announcement - which we FINALLY ordered.  Hope to get them mailed next week.

 We also got our professional newborn photos (Gemma at 2 weeks) back from the photographer.  Here's one of our little family (sans Riley, sorry, pup...you didn't cooperate).

 And here's another of our naked baby on a bench!  She was such a good sleeper for her pictures!

 I am obsessed with Etsy these days and have ordered several hair flowers/bows for Gemma and also wooden letters (in her name) in pink for her nursery.  I'm excited for them to arrive and get them hung.  The nursery is coming along - getting appropriately girlified.  Tomorrow, our plantation shutters are being installed so I'll also post some more "after" pics of the house, soon.  Brian's been a working machine on the weekends taking care of house projects....pictures to come.

Time flies...

....when you're busy loving your baby girl!

Gemma turned 3 weeks on Saturday - we can't believe it.  She is growing up so quickly!  We had a doctor's appointment today to get her last silver nitrate treatment on her cord (Yeah, that sucker is still hanging around!  It just doesn't want to dry up and fall off!) and she weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, 10 oz.  She's growing, growing, growing because she loves eating, eating, eating (just like mommy!).  At least she's an efficient little nurser.

 We had a busy week with a few outings...the doctor said we could take her anywhere not crowded and advised we keep her covered up or close to us and not to let anyone touch her.  So, we went to Costco with her in the baby carrier (Freehand Baby Carrier - pictured below).  It was a success!  She was snug, sleeping against my chest and no one tried to touch her or get too close.  By the way, after lots of research and hemming and hawing, I decided on this particular baby carrier because it can be used from newborn (8 lbs) to toddler size.  Whereas, several other types/models of baby carriers are either for small babies or large babies/toddlers and they are pricey so I'm hoping this ONE carrier will do the job and save me from having to purchase multiple.  Our first experience was a good one.

We also went to the mall (during the middle of the day during the week to avoid crowds) and did some exchanging/baby clothes shopping.  Gemma is a naughty little shopper, doesn't know when to stop!  She got a bunch of cute dresses and outfits - at least she stuck to the clearance racks.

We had a bit of a "diapering episode" earlier this week.  I've been changing her on our bed during the middle of the night and when we're hanging in the bedroom and I had been just laying down a little receiving blanket underneath her to change her.  Well, on Tuesday, I did this and unfortunately little Gemma peed and pooped while I was changing her and of course it all soaked through the stupid receiving blanket and through my fitted sheet and onto our mattress pad which resulted in lots of laundry.  I knew I was risking it every time I changed her using only the thin receiving blanket...ugh, it was only a matter of time.  Alas, I went on Amazon and searched "waterproof change pad" and found this awesome new favorite baby item (pictured above) - Kushies Waterproof Change Pad.  It's flannel on one side (like a receiving blanket!), but waterproof on the other.  Perfect.  I love it.  And it was only $10, too. 

Although Gemma is sad to see the rest of her cord go (not really), she's super excited for a REAL submerged bath for the first time tomorrow.  She's been loving her sponge baths, but she totally digs having her hair washed so I know she's going to love bath time.  She was so alert and calm and peaceful looking after her sponge bath on Saturday so I took this photo to capture the moment.  Love my baby girl!

Baby Hickeys

Wow!  It is hard to find time to blog!  Baby Gemma is snoozing this evening so I have a few minutes to post some pics and what not (side note - I wrote that sentence over an hour ago, since then she woke up, needed a diaper change and a feed...).  We are still having so much fun with our little girl.  She is a doll and such a good baby still (still knocking on wood, too). 

The weather finally improved so we got to take her on her first walk...and her second...and her third.  Here's a snapshot of her in the stroller....it's bright out, even in the shade of her carseat cover.  We've also continued to have lots of visitors which is fun!

 We have had two FAILED attempts at getting newborn photos taken - on Monday, our appointment with our photographer was canceled because he has shingles (big no no to be around babies with shingles) and he referred us to a colleague who we scheduled a session with on Sunday....well, on Sunday, she called and had to cancel due to a family emergency!  Brian and I tried to get creative and hone in our photography skills....our photos are cute, but not professional!  Luckily, the photog rescheduled for tomorrow.  Here's a fun one of Gemma, in a tub, wrapped in a blanket, on the stone bench, under the passion fruit vine in our backyard....

 We went to my parents' yesterday for a small bbq with some family and Gemma got to meet more family!  Here's a super cute photo of her (in an adorable 4th of July outfit, compliments of the Gompert family) with cousins Caden and Haven.  They were so cute with her!

 Gemma is a little sucking machine and managed to give herself a little hickey today.  Take a close look at the photo below and her left arm.  Brian is worried someone is going to think we hurt her, but I just think it's funny she managed to give herself a hickey. 

 We hope we can keep up with the weekly photos; here's her "2 week" photo.  It's finally hot enough out for her to wear all of her cute little newborn rompers and dresses.  And I took her out in public on my own on Saturday for the first time - I needed a few quick grocery items and decided to test my mom-on-her-own abilities and take a quick trip to Nob Hill.  Although it's a lot of work to haul her around, it was a good little trip.  She slept the whole time and no one tried to touch her at the store.