11 weeks

new photos and fun video! enjoy


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happy thanksgiving

just wanted to add some new photos over the past week or so. kiki was in town and chloe and i got to spend just a quick visit with her and her sister sara. unfortunately, she had just fallen asleep in the car by the time we got there and wasn't happy about being woken up as you can see in the photos! had an early thanksgiving with my gramps chet and then grandma marilyn came into town as well for the holiday. ate lots of turkey and cranberries, but had to get a vegan pumpkin pie as dairy still isn't setting in chloe's stomach very well. she's growing like crazy and is really vocalizing a lot. she's also working on her motor skills...grasping at objects and ALWAYS looking at everything. work is fine for me...loving the weekends and still trying to get as much work done at home so i can devote my time to the family. jimmeh is doing a great job being daddy daycare. we seem to be managing quite well with the division of labor and trying to have a somewhat organized house. it's not as clean as it used to be..but we're learning to live with it!

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2 months old!

wow. lots going on over the last 10 days...cousin sam stopped by, grandma katy came down for a visit and we got to meet great grandpa chet! spent some alone time with dad while mom went to a few last minute doctor's appointments. chloe had her 2 month checkup on monday and all went well even though she had to get 3 vaccination shots in her leg. she was a trooper and didn't have any adverse side effects. she actually slept most of that day and the next. mom started back to work on tuesday. it's going well. kids are happy to see me and it's nice that i've taught these classes before so i don't have to do a lot of prep work. it's been hard to juggle the night feedings and sleeping since i'm getting up at 5am to nurse chloe and get her back to bed so i can pump and get ready for work and be out the door at 630am. happily though, things are going really well at home with jimmeh taking over the baby duties. i can think of a more seamless transition. puts my mind at ease, for sure! i'm super glad that they're hanging out well together and that she's doing well with taking the bottle in my absence. so, since i'll be working now, jimmeh will probably be taking over the blog duties and photo taking...stay tuned. current stats: length: 23.75 in (95th percentile), head circumference 35 cm (55th), and 13 pds 12 oz (97th!!) gotta love the chunky monkey!

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week 7

ay yi yi...here we are at the end of week 7. i know i've said this before, but the time sure flies. it's been a busy week here as you can see by the photos. last weekend, grandma marilyn was in town. we went up to walnut creek to visit the local Mantle clan. you'll see great grandma betty and great aunt audrey in the photos. tuesday, we had a lunch date with great aunt margie and then yesterday was a big day in santa cruz with catherine and carrie. it was my 35th birthday, so we had a picnic lunch over at carrie's house. we celebrated catherine's birthday too, which was on the 1st. it was a great day. had lots of great presents from papa jimmeh and other family members plus lots of email and phone wishes as well. too bad i didn't get to watch the rest of the hockey game though. we are in bed by 8pm every day.

papa jimmeh is home now with us for my final week of maternity leave. part of me is looking forward to going back to work, but another huge part of me is nervous about scheduling our morning together and getting to work on time. i'm also not looking forward to pumping at school...i'll try it for a while and see how it turns out first. i think that jimmeh is a little nervous and excited about being home with chloe all day, but that is to be expected. i'm going to miss her little face all day, i'm sure, so i'm uploading tons of photos & viseo on my new ipod so i can have her with me all the time. :)

other milestones: first earthquake (5.6! on 10/30), first bath, and first weigh-in (we bought a scale)...she's 14 pounds! holy crap! big baby!

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5 1/2 weeks - i think she's mine...

i can't believe that it's almost been 6 weeks since out little peanut arrived! the time sure does fly by.she's starting to be a bit more responsive with smiles and that makes the days much happier. she still has "colicky" times in the evening and there are some days when she eats all day and doesn't nap that are hard.. but that just means she's growing. she's definitely our chunky monkey. and i didn't originally think she looked like me, but check out my baby photo on the left. um...yeah, she's mine! we measured her head circumference last night & she's grown 3 cm in circumference in 4 weeks. i have been able to shower a little bit more & feel like sleep is coming easier even though we're co-sleeping. i've also been working on lesson plans for the remaining 2 weeks of leave which is challenging especially on the days when she's fussy. we have been able to get out from time to time for groceries, to old navy & target, to school :(, & also got to meet cousin sydney last weekend for a short visit. all in all, we're well. hope you are too.

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One month old!

It sure is amazing how fast the time has flown by! Can't believe that Chloe is already a month old. She's growing like a weed! Already 22 inches long. Not sure how much she weighs as we don't have a scale though. She continues to be a fun little beauty..although she has developed an evening habit of fussiness starting around 530 and continuing until I can't take it anymore and take her to bed around 830. I'm trying to figure out if she's reacting to any foods that I'm eating that end up in the breastmilk....but it's so hard as I am a fan of yogurt (dairy - bad), soy milk, chocolate, peanuts, and many other things that are considered potential "fussy" foods.
I also started pumping in preparation for my journey back to work. Jimmeh got to spend about an hour or so solo with her last week while I went to the doctor. He got the full spectrum from diaper change, to changing clothes (poop disaster), feeding with the bottle (and the subsequent crying), and finally got her to nap. He continues to be a great help making me dinner and taking care of me and Chloe. She's had a few visitors as well. We went to Santa Cruz to visit Carrie last week and Uncle Mike came down this weekend for a quick visit as well. Wish I could say it was fun all the time, but sometimes it's just not. She's starting to smile sometimes and that little bit of interaction helps. But mostly the evening fussiness and two hours in a row at night sleep pattern sometimes gets on my nerves. I know it'll be over soon and new challenges will present themselves. Until then, I'll continue to try to shower at least twice a week! one can hope.....enjoy the photos and video:

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3 weeks old

another week gone by. this week was marked by a trip to school and doctor visits for mom. milestones this week: chloe made a taco tongue for 1 second! she gets this from her dad, and she moved up a size in diapers...she's a size 1 now that she's passed up the 8 pound mark...and her drumstick thighs were getting pinched by the tiny diapers! she's still growing like a week. i call her chunky monkey! i got a breast pump a few days ago and dad has had a chance to try to get her to take to the bottle. she's done ok so far (today was day 1)..but the nipple flows faster than the real thing and she's not quite used to that yet. i guess it's pretty common. this weeks' photos include some tummy time action, then some "big arms" in the bouncy chair (think eddie izzard), and the in last photo, she's wearing what we refer to as her "hammer pants" (like M.C. Hammer)...so we end up making her dance to "can't touch this"...inevitably, however, she ends up spitting up before we can really get into it!

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