Welcome to the Tad Show!: Two weeks old!

Little Lucy is two weeks old and she is still just fabulous! We had our two week doctor's appointment and I am thrilled with how well she is doing! She weighs 6 pounds, 11 ounces, so in 9 days she packed on a whole pound! I am so proud of her :) It could be because all the little porker does is eat... but I'll take it. Our pediatrician said Lucy looked perfect and even complimented us on being such relaxed parents. It is kind of strange... I am generally extremely uptight and neurotic about everything, but with Lucy, I am just trusting my instincts and feeling much more relaxed than I thought I would. Of course, I still get stressed out and I hate to see her cry, but for the most part, kudos to me :) It helps that Lucy is a pretty easy-going, happy baby!

Lucy's canine brother and sister are so curious about her and are so good with her! Even Murphey, who can be a *little* high-maintenance, is being great with her! They don't like it when she cries and they follow me up and down the stairs all day long! Daisy has pretty much learned not to lick her face (we let her lick her hands because Daisy loves to lick!) and Murphey likes to walk up and smell her head. I imagine in about 6 months or so they are all going to have lots of fun together!

She is growing and changing so much already! She has started having more awake time during the day, going for about 2 hours before crashing for a nap! Her naps are getting shorter, but are still pretty frequent throughout the day. She loves to look at lights and to play with her hands... but more than anything, she loves to suck! I think she might be a thumb sucker when she figures it out. For now, she puts her whole fist up to her mouth and makes the cutest little smacking noises as she goes to town. When she is fussy, Andrew can soothe her by letting her suck on his pinky! We have tried using the soothie pacifier, but she isn't too interested in it yet!

Lucy is starting to figure out day and night I think. At the very least, it is getting better. We are making an effort to be very quiet and still at night and to keep the lights up all day, as I've read that can help the most. I think it is also helping Lucy that we are starting to get out a little more during the day (two trips to the mall, a Target trip, a Swoozies trip, a grocery store run, and her trips to the pediatrician) so she is getting a little more stimulation. She still is not a fan at all of sleeping lying down! Every other night around 9:00, Lucy gets a bath. Then every night, we do lotion and massage, jammies, swaddle, and one last feed. She will go to sleep between 9:30 and 10:00 and we can usually get her in the Snuggle Nest in her Pack 'n Play for this first stretch of sleep. Between 11:30 and midnight she is up again for a diaper change and to eat, and at this point it is hit or miss as to where she will sleep. Sometimes I can get her to sleep in her swing (which she sleeps in FINE all day long!) but usually she just wants to snuggle and be held. Then every twoish hours all night long we repeat until around 7:30 or 8:00. At that point, Lucy has some awake play time, and the whole process starts again! Mommy and Daddy are tired, but we are really super thankful that even though Lucy wants to be held and cuddled all night long, she is really such a happy baby. She will get so excited when we change her diaper and look up at us with her big eyes... makes it worthwhile to be up for 4 hours straight in the middle of the night! :)

It is almost Lucy's first Christmas! She doesn't need anything, but I am still excited to take pictures of her beside her presents and to share her with all of the relatives coming to visit! She is going to get spoiled this week :)