It All Started with a Little Skittle...

My sister-in-law had four pregnant bridesmaids, who now have four babies no more than a month and a half apart.  In the top picture they are lined up from youngest to oldest.  The babies basically slept the entire time, but I think all of the mommies enjoyed visiting with other adults and talking about their experiences.  I hope that we all get together often.  It is fun to watch the babies grow and to spend time with girls who went through the pregnancy experience with me.

This onsie is appropriate! For the last week Gabby has woken up every two hours at night, which exhausts me!  Then she was fussy each day, but I couldn't figure out why, my guess was a tummy ache?  Waking up so often caused me to be tired all day because for some reason I am unable to nap during the day. Finally we figured out that she was simply hungry! I am breastfeeding so it's hard to know how much she is drinking, but I supplemented with an ounce of stored milk (after Mike astutely observed her sucking on her hand) and voila she was a content baby again!  Another thing that was frustrating was Gabby wakes up every time I put her in her bassinet. I can wait 30 minutes or an hour of holding her after she falls asleep before placing her in it and without a doubt she will wake up every time I lay her in the bassinet. I could lay her other places and she sleeps but not her bassinet.  This is obviously very frustrating and causes me to stay awake fo...

Since the moment Gabrielle was swaddled and brought to us we began calling her Houdini, because even with the nurses wrapping her tightly she somehow always managed to get her arms out of the blanket. Then we started to put mitts on her hands (which we quickly changed to socks) to prevent her from scratching her face. Of course the moment we wrapped her in a blanket she had the mitts off again. The nickname quickly stuck and has been very appropriate since day one. A few new moms advised me to invest in a Miracle Blanket. They told me it is a "miracle" how helpful the blanket is in calming an upset baby. Luckily I was given a Miracle Blanket as a baby shower gift. As soon as we got home from the hospital we began using the blanket. The Miracle Blanket basically ties each arm down with a piece of fabric, then place the baby's legs in a pocket, and finally wrap the blanket tightly around the baby. After demonstrating how the blanket works Michael informed me that Miracle...

So far having Gabby around has changed my life significantly (although it's still impossible to believe I am a parent even at the 2 a.m. feedings). Most of my life consists of feeding her, changing her diapers, rocking her, and holding her. I am not complaining, those are just things that come with being a new mom and I love it, but I thought I would take a moment to talk about my favorite things about the newest edition to our little family. I love when Michael holds Gabby and they "play" (meaning she is awake and usually kicking), it is just so sweet to see the bonding between them. My favorite time of the day is our first feeding in the morning, it's usually just Gabrielle and me, so I feed her and then she is a happy baby with a full tummy so I lay her on the bed next to me and she makes little noises and kicks, this can go on for an hour or two sometimes. It's the sweetest thing even though it sounds so simple. My favorite facial expression she makes is whe...

Anyone who has met my little delicate angel, knows there is one thing that is not too delicate about her and that would be her bodily functions. This little 8 pound baby flatulates as loud as a grown man, and I am not exaggerating. When she was one week old, my friend Chelsea was visiting and holding her and she vibrated poor Chelsea's hand! Chelsea told us that no one will ever believe that such a tiny baby could rumble a house that loudly! She is not exaggerating either. The funny thing is that people get a disgusted look and check their clothes after one of her explosions making sure nothing leaked out of the diaper and onto them, when in reality her diaper is probably just as clean as it was before. However this is not always the case... For instance, last week Michael was changing her diaper midway through one of her morning feedings to help me out by waking her up. I gave Michael a piddle pad (as my sister-in-law calls it) and told him to place it under her before laying...

The Happy Family Great Great Aunt Lou made her Easter outfit! One of her 2 Easter Eggs we pocked. Gabby had an eventful three day weekend. Friday she attended her first crab boil and Saturday she had her first crawfish boil (although she slept through both of them). Although asleep, she still soaked in a little of her Cajun heritage, because her papa played zydeco music while we ate. She also met two of her second cousins on Saturday. Her five year old second cousin, Katie, held her and did a wonderful job! Sunday was a very busy first Easter for Gabby! She was held by all of her second cousins (on my side of the family) who came to visit (except Carly because she is about 11 months), great aunts, grandparents, great grandma, and her aunt. Gabby slept the entire day even though she is usually awake for five hours a day. Of course, she stayed up all night after an entire day of sleep! I think Gabrielle enjoyed her first Easter.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!! Gabby sure will...