Happy Birthday Derek

I'm so far behind with blog posts. It's difficult to find a spare minute for entries. But this one is needed.

Derek's birthday was on Thursday, March 26th. Happy 32nd B-day baby! He worked from home and spent the day preparing our backyard for a BBQ we held on Saturday. And on Thursday night we went out for a great dinner at a local restaurant that we love. Sara watched Maren and it was really nice for the two of us to get out of the house and spend some time with one another. Thank you Sara.

--On the back yard front, we had turf installed. It is fantastic and looks great. I highly recommend it. It requires no maintenance and has a 25 year life span. It's a little pricey, but if your yard isn't gigantic, I encourage you to look into it. And we purchased patio furniture. Derek found this little local company online and it turns out the owners live in our neighborhood and have connected us with a baby-sitting coop that has been around for 40 yrs in our little community. Yeah!!--

As for the BBQ, I think everyone had a great time. I was in charge of taking pictures and typical to my usual picture taking approach, I took zero photos. It's really sad. I've got to start being better about that. My excuse though is that I had the baby in my arms and when I didn't I was either eating or getting things for people. Thankfully Derek realized I had failed with my task and he snapped a few shots. We took on the task of supplying all the food, which is how we usually handle things, but we've decided now that we have Maren, it's potluck time. Derek did the vast majority of the work and thankfully my dad and Jody were here to help him.

And today is Jody's final day in Oakland. We'll be sad to no longer have him close by, but he's doing what is right for him and will enhance to career. Good luck Jody!

Here are a few photos of the BBQ and updated shots of Maren. (I'm posting this without the photos because the battery on my camera has been dead for a few days and I keep forgetting to charge this. I wrote the blog post on Sunday and it keeps sitting here waiting for photos. I'll add the photos shortly. The battery is now charging.)

Maren's Firsts

Maren's First Day Home Alone With Mom (Mar 9th)

Maren's First Bath (Mar. 7th)

Pre- First Bath (Mar 7th)

Maren's First Doc Appt. (Feb 20th)

These are a few shots of Maren's first experiences. We're having a lot of fun getting to know one another and experiencing all of these new exciting things together. We were at the pediatrician yesterday and she's finally gaining weight like she needs to. She's up to 9 lbs. I'm starting to see the beginnings of a little fat roll on her leg. Too cute.

Hungry Baby

Today marks my final day of having Derek at home with me to help with Maren. A week ago, I wasn't sure I was prepared to handle it on my own, but today I'm feeling much more confident. Maren has had unusual infant behavior the past few weeks. She has only been sleeping about 10 hours a day. Yesterday, between the hours of 7:00 am and 9:00 pm, she slept for two hours. And she has been a bit fussy throughout the day. She hasn't lasted for more than 15 minutes in her bassinet, swing or bouncy chair, which means she has been spending most of her time in my arms. Today things are different. . . thank goodness. And what we discovered is she just hasn't been getting enough to eat.

It was a struggle getting my milk to come in after all the trauma of the labor. And now that it is in, I'm just not producing enough. The lactation consultants told me to try and keep her at my breast during the day and just supplement with formula at night. So, that's what we have been doing. But it just hasn't worked. She hasn't been gaining enough wait and she's not sleeping. I've been upset about my milk situation, but I've finally come to terms with the fact she is going to primarily be a formula baby. So, the formula has been flowing today. She was able to spend about 45 minutes in her swing and she actually asleep right now. . .few.

Thankfully she has been a good night sleeper. I think that's because she's so exhausted from not sleeping during the day. So, we'll see how she does tonight.

And I seriously need to get much better about taking pictures. I think I'm going to set a goal to take a picture a day beginning next week. I need a good one for the birth announcements.