Lilah is 2 Months!

Lilah turned 2 months on July 11th. Yah! She is such a good little peanut. She is sleeping so well (if you can believe it - 6 to 9 hours at night!), although I'm so nervous that at any time she'll start waking up every 3 hours again. :) Lilah loves to be around her mommy and daddy! As long as we're around, she's happy and smiling. We can put her down on a blanket, or in her vibrating seat or in a Baby Einstein mat, as long as we sit and show her some attention, she's good for awhile. She is making so many noises and thinks she's telling us a whole lot. Our lives have changed, but we've figured out how to have time for ourselves (after we put her to bed) and have went on quite a few date nights. We're even getting brave enough to go out to eat with her, and she does really good (we come equipped with plenty of milk for her though). We think she's the most beautiful baby we've ever seen, and really, I don't think it's just our bias. She honestly is the cutest! Here are our most recent pictures of our princess!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Life at the Wiley House

Things with our little family have gotten a lot easier and we're having even more fun being parents as we figure out (sort of) what we're doing. :) Lilah and I stay very busy during the week - we go and visit friends and sit in the sun (so far though she does NOT like the sunshine like her mama does), we go on walks (she is starting to like her stroller a little more and she doesn't love the carseat, but will deal with it usually), and we have the occasional visitors. Lilah gets to see her granny and Aunt Mandi a lot because they come during the week to watch her so that I can workout, take a shower, fold laundry, and eat without being super rushed. Lance and I have been out on some date nights while granny or Uncle Kurt and Aunt Gayle babysit. She always does really well for them and they love her! On the 4th of July, Lilah came with us to downtown Kirkland since our community group from church volunteered as "crowd control" in the parade. Luckily for Lilah and I, we just got to be daddy's "accessories" and didn't have to wear the orange vests. She did really good though and lasted the entire four hour stretch with the loud noises and warm weather.

We're loving this fun stage with Lilah right now. She is "cooing" a lot and talking to us...Lance says it just "melts him" when she does that. I told him to just wait until she can actually talk! She'll have him wrapped around her little finger! She's definitely growing and now is out of all of her newborn clothes, which is fun because now I get to put her in some of her cute dresses and summer outfits. She's still a petite little peanut, but at least she's not swimming in everything. We love that she is also doing so much better sleeping at night. For the last week, she sleeps from about 10/10:30 to between 3:00 and 5:00! It's wonderful! And, Lance or myself gives her a bottle at that time at the night since I seemed to be up with her for at least an hour nursing her and trying to get her to wake up or stay awake. I'm happy to say too that her poop blowouts have calmed down, although Lance and I videotaped a good one the other day. She makes the funniest face when she's pooping (she gets very red, her nostrils flare, her eyes get big and she shrugs her shoulders). So, we had to get it on tape...but the joke was on her poor mama as we taped, I got a lap full of runny, smelly poop. Some day she'll be very proud of herself. :)

Enjoy our newest pictures from the end of June until just recently. She really is so sweet and so cute...we just love her to pieces!

Skinny Mini

Lilah turned a month old on June 11th! Oh my gosh, it's gone by so fast...I know all parents say that, but even with our hard nights and trials, I still can't believe that a little over a month ago she was not even out in this world yet! Before we know it she'll be 5 and going to Kindergarten and I'll be saying the same thing. :)

Last week I decided to take Lilah to Evergreen to get her weighed as Lance and I had been worried about how small she still was and that after a month she was still only fitting into her newborn clothes. So, she weighed in at only 7 pounds, 13 ounces - a lot less than some babies are born at! After feeding her with a lactation nurse, I found that I wasn't supplying enough milk for her and so we have been on a strict feeding plan all week. This includes breastfeeding, then feeding her with formula to make up what she's not gettin from me, and then I pump. Doesn't sound so bad? Well, this procedure takes 45 minutes to an hour. My little angel will fall asleep during the feeding, or think she hates the formula and refuse to drink it, get distracted, spit it out, which all adds to the feeding regiment. I told the nurse though I would do anything to get her closer to where she should be, which is around 9 pounds. The poor thing has been hungry for a few weeks at least, so she seems to be a little more mellow and lasts longer between feedings (although she still hates the carseat and is not a big fan still of car rides - darn!).

I apologize to all of my Husky friends and I debated not to put the picture of Lilah in the Cougar onesie, but that is part of her daddy's Father's day gift. I put this onesie on her and took pictures to put in a frame for daddy. Do I think she'll be a "Future Cougar" really? No way. But, it'll make Lance smile and she still looked pretty cute in it. Sidenote: I think she really didn't like having it on because as soon as I put it on her, she peed right through her diaper and on the onesie. So, a future Dawg she will be....

Kate Gosselin or Mullet?

It's a little difficult to tell from these photos, but we have decided that little Lilah is going for one of two looks. Lance thought that her spiky hair in the back and flat-lying hair in the front was a lot like Kate Gosselin's look. I always knew I'd have a girl that was very hip and stylish, because apparently Kate Gosselin's hairdo is the new Jennifer Anniston 'do from the 90s! However, as her beautiful locks from birth have grown, I've wondered if she was going more for the "business in the front, party in the back/mullet look"...maybe she's trying to start a new trend and bring the mullet back. The main character from the Twilight movies is sporting that look now, so maybe Lilah's going to be the second to bring it to the 2000s.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We Would Describe The Last Two Weeks As...

A lot of things, but to start us off:

Blowouts - If you don't have a baby or don't remember the good old days of having these, this happens when you are about to leave for an appointment, or just changed a diaper, heading out the door to do something fun, or when you are out in public. It sounds like an explosion and usually is. Their poop is so powerful at times that it shoots out the sides (yes, one morning as I was holding Lilah in bed, hoping for one more measly hour of sleep, her blowout did go out the sides, onto my tank top, shorts and our sheets), up her tummy and/or back, and then most the time ends up in a change of clothes. This happens nearly every day for us, and definitely at least once every two days. Sleepless Nights - The good news is that she seems happier and is crying less and less, so I just think her tummy needed to get used to the breast milk. However, Lilah must have her days and nights confused, because lately she likes to stay up most of the night, wide-eyed and ready to play, while her parents take shifts at trying desperately to get her to sleep. Right now she's fast asleep because she is confused that this is her time to go to sleep (it's 2:45 in the afternoon). Bouncing and White Noise - So, we finally figured out the magical key to calming down an upset Lilah. Jackie brought over their exercise ball, which is much nicer to your arms than walking around while bouncing her up and down in your hands. If Lilah gets really mad, then we just turn on my hairdryer (which now lives in our living room) and bounce on the ball, and most of the time this soothes her (along with that wonderful binky in her mouth). It's not too much fun at 2:00 in the morning (ask Lance, since he's usually the one to do it at this time of the night), but at least it works! Friends - We have had a lot of visitors (Lilah's grandparents have all come to see us a lot!) and now that things have kind of calmed down, it's been tons of fun for Lilah and her mom and dad especially! We got to meet Sadie (my friend Sarah's little girl, who was born the day before Lilah). They've been over twice, and both times Sarah's brought over lunch and Kjell came over too to see Lilah again. We had a good time, although their first visit Lilah screamed her head off towards the end of the visit, while little Sadie laid quietly asleep. :) We've also been on some walks - our first walk was with Julie, and after 5 minutes of screaming bloody murder, Lilah fell fast asleep. Daddy and mommy got out with her once too, which was nice to be out of the house and in the sunshine. My friend Dana and I met in downtown Kirkland for a walk too one sunny afternoon. The walk started off very promising, but ended with the biggest poop blowout yet (it was all over the carseat) and Lilah screaming all the way home since she had pants full of poop and an empty belly. I've learned my lesson though - always bring extra clothes and change diapers anywhere necessary. Last week we also had our very good friends, Shane and Kelli, visit from Spokane. It was so great to have them with us, we love them and really enjoyed their visit (though always way too short). Kelli is the definition of "mom" and loved holding Lilah and every little face and movement that she did. :) Shane is Lance's greatest friend and a wonderful daddy that Lance hopes to be like. This week I also got out to Spiritridge to show Lilah off to the kids and to my friends and families I ran into. It was fun and I think the kids loved seeing us...and I loved seeing them too! Lilah did great and only got upset towards the end of our visit, probably because it was a sauna in the building. We can't believe that tomorrow she'll be 4 WEEKS OLD! The time has gone by so fast already, and although challenging at times, it's been quite the adventure and of course we love her with all of our hearts.