You Make Me Smile

Last Sunday, (at 5 weeks old) Cambry smiled for the first time - when she was awake! It was a small smile, but she did it several times throughout the day. It was the sweetest thing! Now of course it is my mission to get her to do it again and capture it on camera. She doesn't do it much, usually only 1 or 2 small ones in the morning or when she is on her changing pad. These were all taken on my phone, so not the best quality. What would I do without the iphone camera though? Who has a real camera on hand and ready when the perfect moment strikes? Not me.

Monthly Photos: Month 1

Hi my name is Jana and I can't stop taking pictures of my baby. And then I can't stop staring at them. She is so scrumptious.

I wanted to have monthly photos of Cambry that were cute and fairly consistent. There are so many creative ideas out there for this. Greg found this idea online here and we both thought it was cute and creative. So I ran out the next day and bought a large desktop calendar from Target.

We are a little late on her one month pictures, but hopefully we will keep on top of it for future months. Greg took most of these pictures and once again did a great job. We are still playing around with the editing to see what we like best but will try to keep it consistent from month to month for our top choice.

Of course we couldn't narrow it down to just one, so here are some favorites.

One Month Old

Today Cambry is one month old! She is so precious and I am so in love with her. I love staying home with her. It is challenging and wonderful at the same time.

This is what is going on with her at 1 month...

Size: We don't go back to the doctor until she is two months old so I don't know her current weight or length, but I am guessing she is still pretty big. At her 2 week appointment she was 21 3/4 in. long (98th percentile), 9 lbs. 5 oz. (81st percentile) and head was 14 3/4 in. (83rd percentile). A few nights ago she was laying in her basket all swaddled up and she just looked so long! This measurement isn't very accurate but we thought it made a funny picture.

Her newborn clothes are getting too small so she wears a lot of 0-3 months clothes. Especially since I just started putting her in cloth diapers, which are bulky and take up more room in her clothes.

Likes: Baths, being read to out of the Jesus Storybook Bible, car rides (once we get going, walks (usually), being rocked and held, tight swaddles, being outside

Here she is after bath time. Her hair looks so blonde after it is washed.

Dislikes: Being put in her car seat, not being held, her swing, having a wet diaper on for any period of time

Working on: Tummy time, taking bottles (sometimes successful, sometimes a disaster), using the maya wrap ( I cannot seem to put her in correctly in a comfortable position)

Sleeping: Last night she went her longest stretch yet - 6 1/2 hours between feedings! It was glorious! Usually though her first night time stretch is 4 hours, then 3, then 2 1/2. I can't complain, she is really good at night. She doesn't cry, and goes to sleep fairly easily after feedings, you just have to rock her for a while.

Here is one of her sleepy smiles. Love them.

Eating: She eats about every 3 hours during the day. Sometimes I wonder if she has some sort of heartburn or reflux because during and after some feedings she will just scream and cry. But the majority of her feedings are fine.

I love this girl!

First Few Weeks

Our baby girl is 3 weeks old today! She is so precious and sweet. Here is what is going on with her right now...

She eats about every 3 hours, and she is a good eater.

After she eats she is awake for a bit but is usually fussy. I never really know what is wrong at this point. Gassy? I am not sure, but you can't really just put her down (in a bouncer, play mat, etc) and have her be content. She doesn't cry very long, but she just seems to need to be held or rocked or something until she falls asleep. Then she usually stays asleep until her next feeding.

She does well in the car and usually falls asleep in her car seat after a few minutes. She is like her momma :)

When she starts to dose off to sleep she smiles. It is the cutest thing. Her eyes will be shut and she will smile several times.

(Don't worry, she does not sleep in our bed like this)

She usually likes going on walks. We have gone on quite a few since we have had such nice weather. I can't believe the beginning of January has been so warm! Sometimes she cries when we put her in the car seat in the stroller but usually calms down once we start going.

She likes bath time! She is so cute how she will just lay there and look around while we pour the warm water on her.

After bath time her hair gets a little crazy.

Baby girl is not a fan of bottles. We started introducing a bottle at 1 1/2 weeks. We try to give her one every day or every other day. She fights it, and sometimes acts like we are gagging her, but I think she is starting to get a little better. We have tried several different kinds of bottles and so far the Playtex one seems to get the best results.

She will only take a paci sometimes, and only the soothie kind. She usually doesn't suck on it for very long.

We have gone on several outings and she has done well. Today I made a quick stop at Target and walked around with her in the Baby Bjorn. She fussed a little at first but then fell asleep. It was really nice to carry her around like that.

I love when babies lay frogger style.

So serious.

And that's what we have been up to lately.

Behind the Scenes

Here is the set up for our photo shoot. After doing this, I just kept wondering how do professional newborn photographers do it?? Do they just plan on booking a 4 hour session? There are small windows of opportunities between feedings and if you miss it you have to wait til the next round. At least that's how it was with Cambry.

Step one: Carefully undress sleeping baby in front of a heater without waking her up. Most critical and dangerous step.

If this is the reaction you get before you have gotten even one shot, you are in trouble.

Looking online at newborn photos makes it looks so easy. You just put sleeping baby in any position you want. Propped up hanging out of a bucket? No problem. Laying completely naked on a white blanket without pooping? No problem.

Um, Houston, we have a problem. Diaper removal causes baby to poop and pee on the props and head is too wobbly which wakes baby up.

Wouldn't this little box have been so cute?

Unfortunately, this was the reaction we got as soon as we put her in.

Session fail. No further attempts with this box were taken.

I think this one is precious, even though this face is a sign that our window of opportunity was closing soon.

And that's a wrap.

Newborn Photo Shoot

We did a newborn photo shoot with Cambry when she was 1 week old. Greg took these photos. He did such a wonderful job - I am so proud of his photography skills. And of course I think the subject matter is the cutest thing ever.

These photos did not come easy though. Getting a peacefully-sleeping perfectly posed newborn is no small task. I will have to do another post with some behind-the-scenes pictures and some of the outtakes. It took 4 different attempts over 2 days to get these, but I love how they turned out.

Cambry's Birth Story

I better write this down before I forget it. I still can't believe what a smooth, quick, and easy (relatively speaking) labor and delivery I had. God had a perfect plan for Cambry's arrival and I am so thankful for how it happened. I'll start with the day before her birth...

Greg had taken Thursday afternoon off work since he had some vacation days he needed to use by the end of the year. I was 41 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I was really hoping Cambry would come on her own and I would not have to wait until 42 weeks to be induced. When Greg got home from work around lunch time we decided to go for a long walk. We joked that we would not come back from the walk until I was in labor. We walked to the disc golf course and Greg played through the course while I walked along beside him. By the time we were done we tracked that we had gone 3.9 miles. I was exhausted by the end and barely shuffling along. That evening we rented a DVD and then went to bed around 11pm.

At 2am on Friday morning my water broke. It woke me up and I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I somehow managed not to get it on the bed, but my clothes were soaked when I got to the bathroom. Even though I was almost positive it was my water that broke, I wanted to make sure I hadn't just peed everywhere - ha! After determining that it was definitely not pee, I called out - "Greg...my water broke." I got no response so I repeated it a little louder. About half a second later he was in the bathroom wide-eyed and excited. I hopped in the shower and we both began getting ready to go and gathering last minute things for our hospital bags.

I started having contractions right away but I didn't realize they were real contractions at first because they just felt like Braxton Hicks and weren't painful. I was excited knowing that it was the day we would finally get to meet our baby girl, but my excitement was overshadowed with fear at first. I was so nervous anticipating the pain and the whole labor process that I was shaking the whole time in the shower.

I told Greg as I was getting ready that I didn't want them to give me pitocin right away in the hospital to bring on labor, I wanted to wait for it to start on its own. Little did I know it had already started and would go very quickly!

We called our parents to let them know we were leaving for the hospital soon. By the time we were ready to leave my contractions were coming regularly and were getting pretty uncomfortable. I had to stop what I was doing to get through them.

We arrived at the hospital at 3:40am. I'm sure I was a site to see as I was shuffling along in pain and holding a huge towel because my water was continuing to leak out everywhere. I could not believe how that much water could have been inside me as it continued to come out in gushes for the next couple of hours.

After signing a few papers they wheeled me to a room right away. I was in pain now and all I could think as I was signing the forms was "Seriously?? Now??"

We got in our room and this is where I started to get a little cranky. A nurse handed me the most confusing hospital gown ever and then left us alone for what seemed like forever. Neither of us could figure out the ridiculous gown that was just a flat piece of fabric with snaps everywhere and you have to make the sleeves yourself. The contractions were getting really painful and I started pleading with Greg to go get a nurse. She finally came and started to do all the normal stuff- IV, hooked me up to monitors, blood work, etc. She checked me and I was 4 cm dilated. Contractions were very intense and painful, and I was ready for the epidural. I felt like a baby wanting it so soon but I just wanted the pain to stop. It didn't take very long for the anesthesiologist to arrive and by 5:15am the epidural was in. It wasn't bad at all, and once it was in it was the best thing ever! I am so thankful for epidurals! They checked me again at that point and I was 6 cm.

They told me my doctor would arrive at 7:30am to come in and check on me. So for the next 2 hours I just relaxed and chatted with Greg and my parents. During that time Greg's parents arrived at the hospital - they had left Waco in the middle of the night. It was a good thing they got there when they did because Cambry came shortly after that.

Around 7:40am my doctor arrived. She checked me and calmly said - "Alright you are ready to push, her head is right there". What?? I could not believe it. I was prepared for an all day labor and was completely shocked I was already 10 cm.

The doctor and nurses got ready and I started pushing a few minutes before 8am. Greg and my mom were in the room with me, as well as my doctor and 2 nurses. I pushed for 30 minutes and then the doctor said "On this next push she will be out." It was so surreal. She was right though - on the next push Cambry was out. She was born at 8:24am. And the best part was I couldn't feel anything! They laid her on me as soon as she was born and they began cleaning her up. Greg got to cut the cord. After several minutes of her laying on me and just being in awe of her, they weighed her quickly and cleaned her off a little more. She was a healthy 8 lbs. 10 oz.

Greg held her briefly and then they laid her on me again for about an hour. I tried to nurse her but she wasn't too interested. Towards the end of our hour with her our parents got to come in and see her. Then they took her to the nursery for the next few hours. They wheeled me up to the recovery room where I spent the next two days.

I was in complete shock. None of it seemed real. I couldn't believe God's goodness in blessing us with such a sweet baby girl. She was perfect in every way. She was beautiful. She was ours.

Throughout the labor Greg was so wonderful. He was a great encourager and comforter during the painful contractions and was great at cheering me on as I pushed. It was such a special thing to experience together. I loved seeing him hold his daughter for the first time. And the next 2 days in the hospital with him were so special. They didn't even seem real.

Our stay at the hospital was so nice. All of the nurses were so friendly and helpful and are ready to get you anything you need. We had family and friends that came by to see us and meet our precious baby girl.

We are overwhelmed with thankfulness for God's sweet gift to us.