Newborn Pictures by Stephanie Ryan

Stephanie Ryan took Harlow's newborn pictures a little while ago. They turned out so cute. I love them! I can't believe how much she has changed already.

Stephanieryanphotography.blogspot.com

My First Mothers Day

MOTHERS DAY!

The only picture of me and baby on mothers day. Me changing her diaper, I guess a mothers job never ends.

This year I got to experience my very FIRST mothers day. I know I've been a mom for a little over a month but I didnt really feel like a mom to other people. I only felt like a mom to myself and my baby. BUT all of the great e-mails, texts and calls from everyone really made it seem REAL. So thank you for the well wishes. I had a great day spending it with Pete and baby Harlow.

We slept in a little in the morning, and took it slow getting ready. We let baby hang out in her PJ's for awhile while I took a long shower, gave myself a manicure and watched some TV. When we were finally dressed and ready to go we packed everything up (and theres a lot of stuff now-a-days) and got in the car to head to Seattle.

We walked all over the place, did some shopping and sight-seeing and explored Pike's Market. Pete did a little shopping at Nike Town (that guy is obsessed with shoes) and I got some really cute baby clothes for Harlow at Baby Gap (On sale of course, otherwise their prices are ridiculous, but still my favorite place to shop) and we bought some bright and beautiful flowers from the Market. We at lunch in a Bistro and walked by the water.

The baby slept most of the day in her stroller. By the time we headed home she was ready to get out of that thing. She did good for us being out and about for so long.

It was such a beautiful day in Washington, the sun was out the whole day and it was almost 70 degrees. And then it rained the next day. haha.

Can't wait for many more Mothers Days to come!

1 MONTH OLD!

1 MONTH OLD!

On Monday, my baby turned 1 month old! How did time fly by so fast?

I am so in love with her little face its ridiculous!

She smiles now! (and its not gas anymore!)

She is the cutest in the morning when she is just waking up. And man does she work hard to stretch and wake up. There is a lot of grunting going on during this time and wild arm and leg movements.

She is sleeping for about 5 hours straight during the night. Much better than I ever could have expected.

When she went to the Dr. last she had gained 1lb and 1 oz. and grown an inch!

My baby is getting so big!

Her little finger nails grow like weeds, I've been cutting them every week.

She still LOVES bath time. BUT... we had a our first little issue... she peed in it one night. And the next time she pooped in it... TWICE! haha.

She has been eating more in quantity each feeding and if you interrupt her feeding she cries so hard, and its an angry cry! This little girl likes to eat!

And we found out that Harlow loves Gwen Stephani. She was crying so hard one morning so I turned on my iPhone and picked the first song I saw, which was Gwen's "Rich Girl". She stopped immediately. And does everytime we play it now. (She has no interest in any other Gwen Stephani song by the way.)

Daddy has been back at work full time for the last week, and sometimes Baby gives mommy a hard time but as soon as he gets home shes a perfect little angel... hmmm...

She still loves shopping with me (or loves sleeping while I shop haha.)

I still can't believe that I'm a mom and I can't figure out what I did to be so blessed with such an amazing baby.

I LOVE YOU BABY!

Baby Milestones

This is my bright eyed baby girl! (she might look a little crossed eyed in this picture but i love her anyway!)

Playing with my first toy (this only lasted about 7 minutes before she was fully over it and upset no one was picking her up.)

Baby's first real bath! Amazingly, she LOVED it, at night if shes really fussy and crying and we just cant settle her, we put her in the bath and she is quiet right away. she loves it and just lays there so still and looking around. works everytime!

Baby's first picnic in the park with family. Notice Amelia's face... I dont think she was thrilled she had to share the attention with another baby. Not to mention the fact that in this picture, Jessi is the one who is holding the baby.

Cousins

Baby's bellybutton stump fell off when grandma and grandpa were over.

Newborn Baby 0 months old!

I bought these little stick on numbers that go from 0-12 to mark milestones for baby or just to document what she looked like each month of her first year. I didnt mean to take these with Gus Gus in them but she jumped up there and tried to steal the spotlight. But when I went back and looked at them, I decided I would try to do all of them with Gus to show how big Harlow gets compared to Gus each month.

Mommyhood

Who knew I'd love being a mommy so much. Sure there are times when I just cant wait for Pete to get home from work so he can quiet her fussyness so that I can take a bathroom break, shower break, food break, sanity break, whatever. But then when I do, I feel guilty. and when I sit and eat and watch him hold her, I want to be holding her. I'm a crazy mess.

TODAY MY BABY IS 3 WEEKS OLD!
That was probably the fastest 3 weeks of my life. And she has already changed SO much!
First she lost her little bellybutton stump.
That meant she got to take her first real bath (so cute! she loves bathtime)
and she went through her first little growth spurt. she was eating like every hour for a few days.
Her eyes are open more
she makes cute little noises now instead of just cries.
she can follow our face with her eyes.
she opens her eyes when she hears our voices.
and she has finally decided that its ok to keep the pacifier in her mouth. (yes, i am a pacifier mom. dont hate me. i only give it to her when shes really fussy or screaming, it seems to comfort her)
shes taken her first shopping outing with me to Forever 21 and Baby Gap. she loved it, she really must be my kid. by loved, i mean she slept the whole time. haha. better than crying though right?
she loves to sleep in her car seat. the car puts her to sleep. but i think she has a 6th sense for when we pull into the garage, she wakes right up!
but she doesnt love being put in her carseat.
she is a peeing and pooping machine! no sooner have I cleaned a pee diaper, 5 minutes later I'm cleaning a poopie diaper. I guess I should embrace it and look at it this way, it must means shes getting enough to eat and shes healthy.


I came across a few things that I read online through friends and I thought I'd share them because I loved them so much.

"I traded eyeliner for dark circles, salon haircuts for ponytails, designer jeans for sweat pants, long showers for hairy legs, late nights out for early mornings, designer purses for diaper bags, and I wouldnt change a thing back because I LOVE MY BABY!"

and...

I came across this while i was pregnant and really loved reading it, but today a friend sent it to me and i re-read it. This time i saw it in a totally different light. Thank you Gina for the great reminder!
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2010/01/im-gonna-miss-this.html

In a week, we are packing up and moving to Washington for the summer. Pete's job is taking us to the Tacoma/Seattle area. Usually I stay behind and work but with a new baby this summer, we thought it was better that I came too. Before baby was born it seemed like it would be a piece of cake to take a baby on a 14 hour road trip to washington. NOW! FREAKING OUT! There is seriously so much stuff to pack and no time to do it. I made Pete promise to stay home on Sunday so he could watch her while I packed up and much as I could in one afternoon. At least its not a permanent move but still, i'm not a light traveler and neither is baby! I think we are a little crazy for thinking we could do this. its not going to be a piece of cake!

uh oh, baby is awake! I'll upload pictures later.

StephanieRyanPhotography.blogspot.com

Today we went to re-try Baby Harlow's newborn pictures with Stephanie Ryan. And today was a success! So much better than our last attempt. Stephanie is great and so patient. I recommend her to everyone! Check out a picture she posted today. Can't wait to see the rest!

more pictures... sorry!

On Saturday we had Stephanie Ryan come over to take some newborn pictures of Harlow, except baby wasnt really cooperating. Instead of sleeping the whole time like we wanted, she was wide awake and fussy for 2 hours! Stephanie was great though and offered to try another day. Hopefully this Thursday goes much smoother. Dont let this picture fool you, she must have just blinked. haha.

stephanieryanphotography.blogspot.com

Terra came over and met baby Harlow too. We had to spend some time trying to talk her into holding the baby but she finally did it, and she did good too.

And Whitney was home visiting from Virginia, yeah! good timing Whitney.

Tuesday through Sunday, Pete's Dad, Brent, and stepmom, Rhonda, came to stay with us. I'm so mad at myself, these are the only 2 pictures i got of them with the baby the whole time they were here. They were both a HUGE help. Rhonda was awesome and offered to stay downstairs with the baby at night so that Pete and I could get some sleep. She just brought the baby to us when she needed to nurse. And we got it down to where she would go to bed at about midnight and feed at about 5am and not again until about 7-7:30am. It was so nice to have them here and all of their help. Not to mention, Brent and Nick drove Buddah all the way to Sacramento to see and eye specialist. I'm sad they are gone. But I think Pete and I feel way more comfortable taking care of baby now.

I Can't Stop Taking Pictures of Her!

My Brother came home this weekend to meet the baby

watching TV together
THANK YOU BRIANNA FOR TAKING THESE CUTE PICTURES OF HARLOW!