Newborn Pictures!

We are VERY fortunate to have a friend like Jenny Rossi who is an amazing photographer. She took our engagement pictures and wedding pictures so it only seemed fitting to have her do Rylee's newborn pics. We flew her down Easter weekend so that she could be with her family, take pics of another friend's reception, and take Rylee's pics. It worked out so well! I never realized how much hard work it would be taking a newborn's pictures. We literally spent almost 20 minutes in between pictures trying to get her to fall asleep again for the next picture. By the end though, she was sound asleep. I had a hard time picking which ones I wanted on her announcement. Scroll to the bottom and you can see a preview of what is coming in the mail soon! :)

Blessing Day

On Mother's Day, May 8th, Rylee was blessed at our church. We belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We believe in baptising a child when they reach the age of 8. When a baby is born, they are given a blessing that is similar to a prayer circle. My mom, dad, grandma, and sister came to witness it. I was so glad that they could come! My friends, Amanda Churak, Johnnie and Glade Smith, and Elizabeth and Sam Akinaka came too! We also had Evan's good friend Josh Wray in town visiting and he got to participate in the blessing as well which was really special for Evan. Evan was a little nervous giving the prayer, but he did a great job! I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is worthy to bless our little girl. Afterwards we went to celebrate Mother's Day with my family and had a good time. Overall it was a wonderful day!

1 Month Already?

Today was Rylee's 1 month checkup and tomorrow she is official 1 month old! I can not believe how fast time goes by. I like how some of my friends keep updates on how their babies are progressing so I plan on doing the same with each month. Here are a few things Rylee is doing:

*Rylee is both breastfeeding and bottle feeding now. We were worried about her weight gain and so we have been introducing formula slowly. Breastfeeding has gotten better and more enjoyable for the both of us.

*Rylee was sleeping through the night but we had to wake her up to feed her every 2 hours to gain weight, so now she is in a pattern of waking up and will wake herself up every 3 hours or so. She will sleep in her crib or pack and play for the 1st 3 hours but once we get her up to feed her she will not go back down in the crib and will end up in her bouncer for the rest of the evening. We are slowly trying to get her out of this habit.

*We spend 10-15 minutes of tummy time a day. She has really gotten to like it and will usually fall asleep after 10 minutes at which point I will roll her over and she takes a short nap.

*She has gained a whole pound in the past 2 weeks! We were really worried about her weight at first. She was born 7lbs 11oz but lost a whole pound in the first 4 days. She was up to 7lbs 7oz at her 2 week checkup and is now 8lbs 7 oz. They didn't measure her today but at her 2 week checkup she had grown an inch.

*She is almost too long for the newborn clothes but the 0-3 month clothes almost drown her. We are trying to figure out different outfits she can fit in, but we usually have a habit of wearing some of the same things over and over.

*She is VERY alert and usually has her eyes wide open trying to take in the world. She loves to look at lights and can usually be calmed down by being cuddled closely while talking and looking into her eyes.

*Her baby blessing at church is this Sunday and I will make a new post with pictures then.

Overall, Rylee is a wonderful baby and we couldn't feel more blessed. When we can figure out what she wants, she is almost always content and happy. We love our little girl!

Rylee's First Sunday

To tell the truth, I was dreading going back to church today. I personally thought it was too soon, but Evan was determined to make it back to church. He teaches a primary class and has missed alot (since we were out the Sunday before Rylee was born too). It couldn't have gone any better today! On the car ride to church, Rylee was NOT happy that she was in her car seat. When we got there, I quickly fed her and she seemed to do fine! She was awake and alert through the whole sacrament meeting and did not really fuss once. She did fuss right after sacrament so I took her to the car to change and feed her. (Side note: The reason I took her to the car is that I am not too comfortable feeding her in public just yet and the mothers lounge and bathrooms were packed and it is almost impossible to find an empty classroom because our ward is so big) We spent most of the second hour of church in the car and then made our way back in the building for relief society. She was awake for a little while and then napped through the rest of the meeting. I had planned on keeping her in the car seat so others would "look and not touch", just because she is still so small at only 3 weeks, but she really wanted out so I held her for most of the 3 hours of church. Needless to say, my arm was hurting. I guess it takes some getting used to. I really really enjoyed the relief society lesson today about making sure that your "links" in your chain are strong enough to keep you anchored to where you need to be. I really need to be better about personal prayer and scripture study. Evan and I pray together, but I sometimes forget that I need to take the time to physically kneel and pray. Well, here are the pictures from before church today. I didn't realize it would be FREEZING cold outside when I dressed her today. We made good use of the blankets that were in the car and car seat.