Long time, no blog... Catching up

I've (obviously) had a hard time keeping up with the blog lately. I was getting a lot of help from the 'rents early on as I recovered from the whole birth ordeal (I still have to post the birth story... running just a tad behind... ;)) but going it alone has meant there is very little time for doing things other than baby care.  In fact, Antonia is sleeping on my lap as I try to write this :).  There have been so many great moments in the last several weeks though! At 10 weeks yesterday, Antonia is becoming more and more playful, interactive- just a lot of fun!  Being a parent is still incredibly exhausting, but it's so nice to have that back and forth interaction and get to know just who our little Antonia is as her own person.

Here are some fast facts/new developments:

*Antonia started copying me when I'd sing long vowel sounds (for example, I sing her the chorus of Bruno Mars' new song and she likes to make an "Ooooo" sound. Between Antonia and Zu, I have become the woman that speaks to those without human language... ;))

*We're finally getting a handle on the "gosh darn" cradle cap that's been plaguing us for weeks.  A note to anyone dealing with this- use mineral (NOT olive) oil to loosen the crusts (ewww... I know).   You can thank me later. :)

*We've been enjoying story hour in the glider daily.  I'm already looking to get some more books as we've pretty much gone through our (what I thought was plentiful) library multiple times over.

Here are some pics of our baby girl over the past couple weeks:

Playing with toys

Loves to read her crinkly jungle book

Lap nappin': a favorite pastime

"Sleep when baby sleeps..." :)

Story time!

Zuzu takes her babysitting duties very seriously ;)

Hangin' in the Rock n' Play...

...and in the cosleeper with pal "Ducky Fera"

Smilin' in the Mamaroo

...And another nap on momma :)

Visit with the Brunto-Nelso's

I am way behind on posts here.  Seems taking care of a wee one requires a lot of time and energy... Who knew? ;)  Our friends Jen, Rodney and their adorable son Rowan came for a visit with Auntie Carrie a couple of weeks ago.  Rodney is an architect by day, but could definitely drop that career in favor of taking photos for a living so I asked him to bring his camera along. Poor Antonia was rocking some male pattern baldness and skin problems (infant issues that continue to plague us to this day, curse them! :)) but Rodney managed to get some great photos.  Here is a sampling of Antonia at about 1 month old:

Our Antonia :)

A cruising Rowan rocking the heart pacifier

I think we'll use this one on the wedding 'Save the Dates' ;)

Everyone was hungry, even Raggedy Ann!

Antonia looking awfully comfortable on Auntie Jen...

...and on Uncie Rodney :)

Little feet

Little hands

Someone in this photo looks like they're having much more fun than the other one is...

Love

Go Antonia

Antonia and I have taken to listening to some rap and R&B in the nursery lately.  We both love getting down to a good jammy jam.  A few nights ago, I managed to capture some of Antonia's moves on film.  Methinks she is on track to be a fly girl...

Smiles! Caught on tape :)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Antonia started smiling last week!  I've been trying to get a smile on film since then but, as she keeps reminding me, she's not a trained seal... ;)  Well, this morning we finally captured it!  Here is our Antonia in all her smiling glory :).

Money well spent

You may recall from an earlier post that we splurged on a fancy baby rocker contraption called the Mamaroo. Andy was very excited about this man toy...er...baby soothing device ;)...in all it's high tech glory. I insisted we keep the tags on it in case Antonia didn't like it. Well, we tried it several times since she was born and got the same reaction- the loud, bloody murder cry- each time. Each time that is, until earlier this week when in a bold move, we decided to put Antonia down in the Mamaroo while she was crying. We turned on the "ocean wave" rocking motion with some cricket noises and what do you know, she stopped crying! This morning I put her down happy but tired and got the following picture of the results. It turns out this was money well spent after all! :)

Smiles

The big news is that Antonia started smiling (outside of fits of gassiness...) yesterday! While she still makes you work pretty hard for it, it's really cool to see her making eye contact and connecting like that. Plus, her smile is adorable if I don't say so myself :). I haven't caught a photo of her smiling yet, but here are a few pics of our Antonia at just about 1 month old!

Taking a walk

Antonia and I haven't been out of the house much since we got out of the hospital. In fact, we've only really made it out for doctor's appointments (hers and mine) so really her outings to this point have been no fun at all. Today the sun was shining and I had a little extra energy, so Antonia, Zu, my dad and I decided to take our first walk around the neighborhood. Antonia seemed to love it and was content as could be in her Chicco "Keyfit Caddy" stroller (which performed great in the snow and uneven pavement in case anyone is in the market! Thanks Auntie Tera! :)). She didn't even seem to mind putting her snowsuit on for the first time! Zu was in heaven getting a long walk with my dad. And it felt nice for me to be out and about in the sun finally (although sadly, I have a bit of thigh-burn now...). Here are a couple pics from our great journey around the block: