8 Weeks: Routine

Ok, I am a few days late on posting for week 8 of baby Millie's life, but nonetheless here it goes.

This week we found routine!  It was glorious!  I worked at the family farm painting pumpkins Monday-Thursday so it forced us to get a morning routine in place.  While it worked great, I found that on my day off Millie wanted to be up at the same time as the days I was working, hmmm.... 

She has been starting her bedtime routine around 8:30 which includes bath, bottle, and books.  Let me tell you my little girl loves to take a bath, must get that from her Mommy!  She could be screaming for no apparent reason and plop her in a tub of nice warm water and it is like magic!  :)  The bottle of course is also one of her most enjoyed past times, my little girl loves to eat!  There is no doubt about that!  :)  And books, now of course I read to my baby girl every night it's the teacher in me, but she actually pays attention and looks at the pages! Now no I'm not starting her on any kind of reading program yet, but I am amazed and how alert she is while I read to her.  Back to the routine.... after the 3B's (bath, bottle, and books)  we talk about everything she did for the day and Daddy comes up to say goodnight and he puts her in her crib (still awake).  Then in about 5 or 10 minutes we hear the deep breathing of a sleeping baby over the monitor in our room!  :)  We usually don't hear another peep until about 6:30 or 7 the next morning!  I'm very thankful for such a good baby and I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  :)

Millie spent a lot of time with her Ba and cousin Callen this week and I'm so proud at how they are both adjusting to having a little baby in their routine.  Ba is like the champion babysitter, handling almost 2-year old Callen and almost 2-month old Millie.  :)  Even on her cranky days, I know Millie is well taken care of and I'm so thankful that she is able to spend the time with her family and not in organized child care.  Callen is also growing fond of his cousin Millie.  Each morning he is happy to see her there and in the afternoon, after I have picked her up, he wonders where she went.  He is Ann's helper throughout the day, often carrying Millie's things and even helping to burp her.  I'm sure Millie will learn all about trucks, playing in the sand, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, as she continues to spend time with her cousin.  It puts a big smile on my face to know that they have this time together, even though Millie is so young, I hope that her and Callen will be close and become good friends as they grow up.  I cherished my time with my cousin Maria when I was growing up, and still do!  :)

Millie also had another first this week!  We went to Bloomsburg to see Aunt Lauren and to go to the Bloomsburg fair!  She was such a trooper and slept through most of the fair.  We had a good time and it was fun to spend the day with family.  When she was awake she was very alert and was looking around at all the rides, games, and animals.  I'm sure she was overly stimulated!!!  :)

7 Weeks: Mother's Mind

My brain has slowly come around to normal again, meaning I no longer try to put the milk in the pantry and the cereal in the frig!  I no longer put my turning signal on while pulling out the driveway and don't check the mailbox on a Sunday.  I guess this return of common sense is due to the fact that my baby sleeps through the night and I have begun to find a routine for her during the day.  However, my mind now thinks about other things, some might consider more important things, but they have become my new normal.  For example: getting excited about poop, cheering over burps, worrying about too much spit up, stressing about not being in bed by nine, and wincing over fireworks after baby is asleep. I guess this is all part of being a mom and developing a Mother's Mind.

Took some fall pictures this week:

This week was pretty busy, I continued to paint pumpkins and Josiah picked up a few night shifts at the greenhouse to help out.  We didn't see much of each other this week which was contrasted to the last 6 weeks where we were both home everyday!  Great news and answered prayers, Josiah got the job that I blogged about last week and he is starting tomorrow!  He will be working as a project manager for a local builder that happened to go to high school with Josiah's mom! What a blessing, again as I have said before, everything happens for a reason, we just need to have patience and trust that God will show us those reasons. :)

Other great news this week is that Grammy is out of the hospital and in Good Shepard rehab facility.  Last weekend she went into the hospital because her knee was really bothering her.  Keep in mind she has had this knee replaced 2 or 3 times.  In the ER they treated her for a knee infection and she was taken into surgery the next day.  They were able to flush the infection out but she was still in a lot of pain.  She remained the hospital for the rest of the week so they could treat her for the pain and some kidney issues she was having.  She was released yesterday to go the inpatient rehab center.  She still has some pain in her knee but as it continues to heal it should get better. Keep her in your prayers.

We had family over last night for dinner and let me tell you it was exhausting.  Hosting when you have a baby is a lot harder then when you are pregnant! We started the afternoon off with a trip to the local corn maze.  We a had a lot of fun and enjoyed getting lost in the corn.  Millie rode in front the whole time.

6 Weeks: Grades

I am again amazed at how quickly the time passes each week!  My baby girl is 6 weeks old today, that is so hard for me to believe!  6 weeks! If I were still in the teaching world that would mean time for report cards already!  I would be stressing out about finishing my grades, entering them into report cards, and beginning to write comment for each of my 60 some students.  Instead, I only have one report card to write... for Millie Raine Schieck.  Here is how her grades measure up this grading period:
 
Smiles: B +
Eating: A+
Snuggling: A+
Sleeping: B
Filling Diapers: A++
Giggling: Incomplete
Holding Head Up: B+

Comment:  Millie is a very bright little girl and is a pleasure to have around the house.  She is eating like champ and is wonderful at snuggling.  She is a role model when it comes to filling diapers and everyone loves to be around her.  She is working hard at smiling when asked to but has not yet learned to giggle out loud.  She continues to develop neck muscles in order to hold her head up and I'm so proud of all her progress.  Millie's sleep schedule continues to fluctuate as her eating schedule changes.  I know that as she continues to get older this will fall into place nicely. 

I'm sure all my teacher friends will like that one!  :)

For real now:  Millie is doing great! She continues to amaze me as I watch her grow.  She is really gaining weight and stretching out, getting to be such a big girl.  She has spent a lot of time at home with Daddy this week, while Mommy went to paint pumpkins.  (It's part of our family business and keeps me busy for the month of September.)  It has been bitter sweet being away from her during the day for a few days, but it's nice to get out of the house and to make some money.   It looks like Daddy has a good lead for a new job that is like 5 minutes away from home.  It is a guy that his mom went to high school with that owns a construction company.  Josiah went to talk to him on Friday and the guy was pretty enthusiastic about what he has to offer his company.  They met Saturday morning to look at the buildings they were working on and to talk more about the company.  Looks like it might fall into place, so keep us in your prayers. 

She is sleeping more at night, about 7 hour stretches, so we are pretty spoiled and are loving it!

My Grammy was also in the hospital twice this week, once for the fluid in her chest cavity and the other for an infection in her knee.  She is still there and is in a good deal of pain, so more prayers are requested for her healing as well.  Millie is one lucky lady to have all these wonderful people in her life! 

Here are a few pictures from this week:

Sitting in my bumbo chair!

Sitting in my high chair like a big girl!

Such a problem solver:  When her nuk fell out and I went over to give it back to her, this is what I found!

Lots of smiles for Mommy!

Found my thumb!

5 Weeks: Bravery

Baby girl is 5 weeks old today and full of adventure.  She has had many more first's this week and I'm so proud of what a big brave girl she is! 

1. First time meeting cousin Regen--He didn't seem to be too interested in Millie, more in Uncle Joe and Aunt Niki playing with him. However Millie enjoyed being held by Uncle Jed and Aunt Danielle and of course loved all the adorable outfits they got her. 

 

2. First shot at the doctor--I'm pretty sure Mommy was just as nervous as Millie! I couldn't watch as they were putting the needle in her and I feared her reaction.  She screamed pretty loud afterwards but was easily soothed by Mom and Dad.  The doctor said that she is a very healthy 1 month old baby.  She is 25th percentile in both weight and length at 8 lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches.  That means she grew and inch and gained a pound and half since birth.  If she keeps going at that rate, I'm going to look like a body builder from carrying her around.

3. First monthly photo shoot--not that everyday isn't a wonderful photo opt, but she had her official one month pictures taken by yours truly.  We hope to stick to a similar theme each month for pictures and to watch her grow.  Here are a few of my favorite.  (For those of you that have asked the month sign is actually a clipboard that I spray painted with chalkboard paint and then bordered in ribbon.  I set it in the shots that I wanted it in, and then photo shopped the words in. I cheated.) 

I'm going to take her picture in these PJ's every month to watch as she fills them out!

4. First time at a restaurant--My best friend got married this weekend and I was in the wedding, so Millie came along the night of the rehearsal.  She cried most of the time at the church, but luckily Dad was there to walk her around and give her a bottle.  However, she fell asleep in the car on the way to the rehearsal dinner and slept through her entire first restaurant experience.  This did allow for Mommy and Daddy to enjoy the night with friends!  :) 

5. First sleep over-- Since mommy was in the wedding, Millie spent the day Saturday with her Ba and then spent the night!  What a brave little girl.  Or maybe we should say, what a brave Mommy!  While it was hard to leave our little girl for a whole 24 hours, we had a lot of fun at the wedding and enjoyed being able to sleep through the night and sleep in this morning!  :)  Thanks Ba!  

Me and the Beautiful Bride!

Me and my Hot Date!