7 Weeks Old

I may be going out on a limb but it seems that Samantha is putting herself into a nice little schedule. She has begun eating, "playing" and sleeping. She has really turned a page and is a much happier baby. In fact, she is on the verge of smiling at us.

Sabbath at lunch she was really hamming it up with her Dad and almost smiling. You could just see she was happy. She is also starting to make other noises besides crying although I'm sure she has no idea what she's doing.

As you can see by the pictures Samantha has spent quite a bit of time sleeping on the coach with her parents (particularly her mom). I'm embarrassed to say that she spent most every night of the first month on the couch but she is spending her sleeping time in her cradle. We're so relieved!

A special thank you to Grandma B for spending the week with us. We got some things done we wanted to and mom enjoyed having an extra pair of hands around not to mention the advice that she gave!

6 Weeks Old

Again we can hardly believe Samantha is 6 weeks old. We had brunch with our friends Dale and Abbe and little Aaron is over a year old and walking. It's hard to believe that in a year Samantha will be walking. They grow so much in the first year!

The highlight of this week was the arrival of Papa and Grandma Britain. This is the first time her Papa has gotten to see her and he thinks she's pretty cute. He has given her her bottle and held her quite a bit. Grandma is helping mom out and is staying the week (yippee!).

Last week I read a part of the book "What to Expect the First Year" and read the part about a baby having colic. Needless to say Samantha has every symptom listed such as as furrowing her brow which she thought was just taking after her dad. Luckily she should grow out of it in another 2 months!

1 Month Appointment

We waited to update the blog until we went to Samantha's one month appointment. Dr. Carter is always so kind and eager to answer any questions that we have. At the appointment we learned that Samantha has grown, she is 21 inches long and now weighs 7 lbs, 13 oz. She did well although she was very tired until she got her Hepatitis B shot and she let everyone know that she DID NOT like it.

Dr. Carter did not seem concerned about the lack of weight gain but we did discuss that Samantha is probably a bit colicky and has a bit of gas. Dr. Carter suggested that we try supplementing her with soy formula and I go on a non dairy diet (no ice cream!). We have been supplementing her in the evening but will probably do so a bit more. We will see Dr. Carter again in 1 month.

As you can see, Samantha got her first real bath. We had been giving her a sponge bath but Dad decided that it was time she get a real bath. She seemed to love the warmth of the water and didn't cry at all. We've had several since that due to necessity :).

Here are just a couple of pictures from this week. We had a big day Sabbath as we went to the Whitmill's for the lunch and spent the entire day there. Samantha did so good. Before that we even made it to church and Sabbath school. Sunday was also a big day as we made it to Babies R Us, Target and the Mall. By the time we got to the mall she was hungry and tired so I ended up carrying her and pushing the stroller. Today (Tuesday) we went to the company where I used to work so everyone could see her. We've been busy!

3 Weeks Old

This week was another week of adjustments. The high point of the week was the visit from her Renfro Grandparents who got to see her for the first time and get some real good bonding time in with her.

We've started going out a little bit at a time. We've just decided that we can't be inside all of the time and some things just need to get done. We spent some time at Sam's Club (getting pictures), a quick run to Bi-Lo and Sunday evening an trip to a restaurant with her grandparents.

I took Samantha to the doctor this past week to make sure that she is back up to weight and sure enough, she was in 1/2 an ounce of her birth weight. We were worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat but apparently she is.