Happy Easter!

Lucy admiring herself in the mirror
Asleep in the swing
Lucy's First Easter!

Wow, can't believe I've already been back to work for 2 weeks! It is definitely very hard being back to work. I hate being away from Lucy for the whole day! I feel like I'm missing so much. This week was especially tough because one of the dentists in the practice was out this week and they asked me to cover Wednesday and Thursday, my usual days off. So I worked a 5 day week this week and feel like I didn't get to see Lucy much at all.

Lucy is doing some fun new things...we signed her up for Gymboree so we go there now on Thursday evenings and she really likes it! We do all kinds of things there, sing songs, tummy time, use fun props like parachutes. And yesterday, Lucy rolled over completely from her back to her tummy. She's been rolling over halfway for a couple of weeks now...she'll swing her legs over and go from her back to her side, but yesterday, she was lying on her back in her Baby Einstein gym playing and looking up at the musical star and then all of a sudden, Chris heard her grunting a little bit. He went over and she was on her tummy! So she had completely rolled over. Unfortunately nobody saw the actual "roll", but I'm hoping she'll do it again this weekend!

Sleep has still been a struggle...we were working on transitioning her to her crib, but that didn't go so well...she was waking much more frequently, so after a few days of really trying, we decided to keep doing the bassinet in our room for one more month and trying again at 4 months old. We've started doing a really good bedtime routine at the same time every night, so we usually start around 7:30 giving her a bath, then doing PJ's and a little massage, the we read a couple of stories and then I feed her. Usually after all of that, she's pretty sleepy and we put her down in her bassinet. Usually she'll cry a little bit at first or wake up in that first hour we put her down, but we are trying to let her cry it out a little bit when we first put her down, but we go in every few minutes to reassure her. This has been working reasonably well, and she seems to be going down much easier now and doesn't cry for long at all. We're hoping that pretty soon we'll be able to just put her down and she'll just go to sleep without any crying! The hard part about her sleeping is that she does wake still 1-3 times every night but will usually go back to sleep easily after I feed her. But I am also trying to get her to go longer at night between feedings, definitely not feeding her more than every 3 hours, and she'll often go 4-5 hours, so some things are definitely getting a little better! We're also going to buy a sound machine this weekend and try that out...a few moms I've talked to swear by that. Sleep and babies is just one of those issues that is tough...I've been reading different books and talking to lots of moms about what they're doing, but every baby is so different, I think we just need to tough it out! Some babies are sleeping great at Lucy's age, but there are many who are still waking quite a bit just like Lucy.

I am back on Weight Watchers to try to lose those last few pesky pounds left over from the pregnancy (and maybe a few more that were there before the pregnancy)...this was my first week back on Weight watchers...it was rough, but it'll get easier. I'm also thinking about joining a gym so I can do aerobics a few times every week, but not sure yet...I want to make sure I'll actually have time to use my gym membership! One thing I plan on doing with Lucy is Baby Boot Camp, which is working out with your baby in their stroller...it's on Wednesday nights, so I think we might check it out next week.

We're looking forward to Easter...I have an adorable dress for Lucy's first Easter! I'll have to post a picture of her in it next time I write the blog. Tonight we're going over to Chris' Aunt Helen's house to dye Easter eggs and eat pizza!

The picture above is happy Lucy in her swing...she has a bunny next to her that her Grandma Marian sent that says Baby's First Easter!

Chris' dad, Grandpa Bob and Peggy are coming to visit next week and we're very excited for them to meet Lucy!

3 Months Old!

Nap Time with Dad & Daisy Dog

Lucy turned 3 months old Friday. And she's definitely into her 3-6 month clothing now. It's really fun to pull out some new outfits! Lucy has the funniest personality. She loves to squeal and laugh. We had heard little giggles quite some time ago, but she gave her first true laugh last Sunday before I left for Dallas. I was giving her zerbers on the bottoms of her feet and she was laughing so hard. It was the cutest thing ever! And I've noticed she can see me from quite a distance now, so her eye sight must really be developing. She's also becoming increasingly more content and can amuse herself for long periods of time just staring at her hands or lying on our bed staring up at the ceiling fan (she loves that thing!). Bedtime is also going a bit better. Many nights, we're able to put her down in her bassinet awake, but sleepy, and she'll fall to sleep. And she's going longer periods at night now without waking...usually at least one 5 hour block before she wakes up hungry, which is a big improvement!

This week was a busy week. I flew to Dallas Monday to take my board exam Tuesday. It was difficult. The exam is an oral exam, 8 cases, 15 min. per case. I was pretty nervous when I first started the exam and I feel like I kind of bumbled through the first couple of cases. I feel like the second half went much better, but I'm nervous about the outcome because the first half I could've done much better. We don't find out our results for 4-6 weeks, so I'll try to put it out of my mind until I get the results in the mail some time in April. The other really difficult part of the whole thing was being away from Lucy for so long! We are still breastfeeding, which meant that I had to take my pump with me and try to pump every few hours. Since my travel time was about 8 hours, that was a challenge. I managed, but it wasn't very much fun! The highlight of the trip was seeing a friend from residency who I haven't seen since I left Connecticut. We had dinner Tuesday night after the exam which was a lot of fun. And the hotel was amazing. It was the Hyatt suites, and we got a really good group rate. The room was huge with a full kitchen, walk in closet etc. I was excited to get back Wednesday and smother Lucy, Chris & Daisy with a million hugs & kisses!

Then we left for Sunriver, OR Thursday for a conference. We had a great time. We stayed in a beautiful house with a couple other people from my work. The house was decked out with a hot tub, pool & ping pong tables, a huge kitchen and lots of other stuff. It was great. Lucy did amazingly well in the car (she usually hasn't tolerated being in the car for very long)...it was a 3 hour trip...we did have to stop one time to feed her, but other than that, she was perfect! This was Lucy's first overnight trip away from home. I couldn't believe how difficult it is to pack everything you need to travel with a baby. It's insane...her stroller, her pack & play, her swing, her papasan, all the bottles, the breastfeeding pillow, plenty of clothing because you never know when she's going to spit up or have a little blow-out, tons of diapers & wipes, a few toys...the car was loaded down! A friend from work has a 4-week old baby girl and it was amazing to see the difference between her & Lucy. It really made me realize how Lucy has grown!We made it back this afternoon and now I'm just getting ready for work tomorrow. Back to my regular work schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Friday. Chris unfortunately came down with a sinus cold last night and really isn't feeling well. Hopefully he'll feel better soon.Time to go organize Lucy's closet a little bit and pack up some of her newborn clothes and dig out some of her big girl things!

Off to Dallas tomorrow

I can't believe it's March 2nd and I leave tomorrow by myself :( for Dallas to take my board exam. I really feel stressed, not so much about the exam (although I am nervous), but guilty about leaving Lucy. She's been so happy & playful this week...I don't want to be away for 2 days! It seems like it'll be forever although I know it will go by fast. My exam is Tuesday from 3-5 central time, so please keep me in your thoughts during that time if you think about it.

Bethany will be with Lucy during the day while Chris is at work and Chris will take care of Lucy at night. She goes back and forth really easily now between the bottle and breastfeeding, so that's a relief. I know she won't starve while I'm gone!

Last night Chris & I got to go to a dinner & auction that was a fundraiser for a local elementary school that our dental office sponsors. It was really fun! We bid on a 2-night stay at a cabin up on Mt. Hood this summer as well as a day trip fishing that Chris is excited about and we won! It was really exciting.

I'm so excited to have this exam over with and be back home Wednesday. Then we have a fun weekend planned down in Sun River, Oregon where we'll get to play in the snow a little bit. We're sharing a big house with a few other families from work. The dental conference is just for a few hours Friday and Saturday morning so we'll have most of the weekend to play and relax. We're really looking forward to it! And then it's back to work on Monday...

An exciting thing about Lucy...she's definitely outgrowing her 0-3 month clothes and we've put her in a few 3-6 months things and they actually fit pretty well!