A Sleeper, Missing Cristina and Chillaxin' in the Back Yard

The past few days have been good.  I believe (said very quietly as to not jinx it) we have traction in the sleep department. Meaning this little girl has actually been sleeping through the night. She'll be 10 weeks on Friday. Of course, now that I say this she'll be raising hell all hours of the night tonight and until she's 18...but I'm celebrating the little successes here, people. The past three evenings her last feeding has been at 11 pm and the first night she slept until 5:20 am (WOO HOO!)...the second night she was fed at the same time and woke up at 4:20 am (no, we ARE NOT going backwards, Miss Cristina...I forbid it!), and then last night she did about the same (so we are ok in that department for now). The most important thing is that there isn't an overnight feeding, per se. Of course, your definition of "overnight feeding" could be different than mine, but mostly I feel that if she's not up at 1, 2 or 3 am then we're good.  I think the first night it happened Bill and I looked at each other when she started her her hungry cry at 5:20 and said "did you get up to feed her after 11????"  When we both realized she slept so long we were so proud. "She's learning!"...now let's hope she accepts this continuing education thing. It's a journey, not a destination, Cristina. Keep hittin' the books and reach for that 8-10 hour limit. And hurry. Daddy and Papa can only have so many bags under their eyes...

Of course there's always a down-side to more sleeping. For the past 9 weeks I've been getting up at 6 am to get ready for work and at this time, I've been squeezing in a feeding and some snuggle Cristina time, and then head off to work. Now that she is sleeping more and feeds some times an hour before I get up, I don't get to hang with my favorite girl before work, as Bill does that feeding.  And I don't want to go in and kiss her goodbye for fear of the evil eyes I will get from Bill if I wake her and then leave (I'm smart like that, after nearly 17 years). I guess we could juggle the feeding so I go to bed earlier and get up for the 4 or 5 am feeding but the jury is still out on that. The night owl in me is resisting...

In other news we had a wonderful Sunday in the back yard. The weather was beautiful and we all just laid around and clocked in some down time. Some photos of the day...

"I sleep anywhere. Anywhere. Even on the pokey grass in my madras flower dress."

such cute hands. couldn't resist.

Chloe the Protector

First Swings on the Hammock (didn't go so well, but eventually she loved it!)

Beautiful Chloe

Bill thinks I'm his Cabana Boy...NOT.

Sleepy doe-eyed girl

Me getting artsy with the new Snapseed App

Farmer Bill with his Beets (ok, not everyone was relaxing...But for Bill this is relaxing. Not for me)

"Yes, my eyes are blue, but that could change...so don't go telling everyone I've got blue eyes, ok?"

(PAPA:  "Shhhhh.....but I think she's gonna have blue eyes!")

Uncle Scott and Cristina and her ham hock leg

9 Weeks Old Today

Cristina is smiling so much these days it's tough to leave her for even a second in case she happens to bless us with another one.  I just can't stand it.  I could post a whole slew of smiling photos but it's come down to these three as my absolute favorites.

She's still drinking just about 5 ounces or so per feeding. We are starting to cluster feed in the evening and she's gone almost 5 hours without waking up so we are happy with that. Bill and I are still working out the "does the babbling mean she's going to wake up and cry or is she going to go back to sleep?" issue.  I'm more comfortable with her being awake or sleep talking and then going back to sleep than Bill is...which is funny since I thought FOR SURE I'd be right there every time she seemed like she was waking up to make sure she doesn't cry. But it's still early and we are discussing how we are going to progress to longer stints of sleep.  And she IS still pretty young but I think not too young for some sleep training.  "Training" sounds so harsh for 9-week old baby but if dogs love structure so do babies, right???  :-)

Speaking of dogs, Chloe is still being just the most lovely sister ever.  I find it hard to believe I was ever worried about this sweet dog ever being aggressive with Cristina. Her diaper-sniffing is getting really good for seeking out the dirty diapers and every once in a while she goes in for a little kiss on the face (which I try to discourage), but she's been a sweetheart with her little sister.

Fetch anyone??

Maybe not.

Overall Cristina is, from what I'm gathering from conversations with other parents, a pretty mellow baby. She takes a pacifier if she wants it, but doesn't need it all the time, cries only when she needs something, and likes to chill out and watch us cook dinner at the end of the day.  Once she starts sleeping more (and she will, she will!), we'll be all set...

...and then she'll change it up on us! But it doesn't matter because she has us wrapped around her finger, anyway.

And finally, a huge congrats to all the babies being born out here on blogland...just awesome!

A New View

Our wonderful friend, neighbor and godmother to Cristina gave us the gift of a photo shoot for our little girl and they came out very nice.  Thanks to Joss for doing such a great job with Cristina.  As many of you know, it takes a lot of patience to work with a newborn!

I've included some of the photos in our new header...look at our little angel!! We think she's just perfect.

Our Little Tree Hugger Finds Her Voice

She sighs, and coos, and let's out cute little screams (who knew screams could be so enjoyable????).

In other news, she's tracking us a lot and likes to stare for several minutes at our ceiling fans...doesn't matter if they are running or not.  After a long gaze in to our eyes the edges of her mouth will turn up and she'll coyly smile...and sometimes she'll even blink once or twice (she's winking at us, of course).

Pooping volume has gone down but man, has the frequency gone up. We're flying through diapers like there's not tomorrow.

The newborn look has started to fade and out has come our little infant girl, Cristina.

Just this past weekend she showed off her "look, everyone....I can stand up while holding my daddy's hands!" at my brother's house.  It was quite unbelievable when she started this about 10 days ago. I don't know what is considered normal but this girl has some strong legs and neck and back on her. 

Yay for sturdy babies!

We're taking her around with us a lot, to the beach, to friends' houses, to restaurants, a walk through Waikiki...she's such a mobile little girl and we're loving it. So it's nice she's not slowing us down...too much!

Hatchback diaper change at the beach

Daddy and Cristina enjoying a day at our friends' beach house

The view from the deck...not bad!

Feeding on the fly at Kailua Beach

This video was too cute for me not to post. 

Enjoy!

Tomorrow: 2 MONTHS OLD! 

WOW!