Candid Grace pics

The great thing about babies is they're super easy to photograph because they don't really move. The bad thing is their expressions change really quickly so catching the cute ones is quite a challenge. Here are a few favorite candid shot of our little girl starting with the most recent (3 week old Grace) and moving to older favorites I have been slow in posting.

Flower power:

First tummy time:

I started tummy time at three weeks with Grace. Archie used to hate tummy time so I need to be vigilant about getting Grace accustomed to it.

Learning to self soothe:

Grace loves to be swaddled. Since newborns don't have much control over their limbs, she tends to get herself hyper by aimlessly slinging them around. Being a papoose helps her calm down but hasn't quite prevented her personal fussy time, which often takes place sometime between 8-10 p.m.

Her Aunt Bonnie gave her this cozy, crocheted blanket. Thanks!
Grace also really loves this pink elephant her Hamilton cousins gave her. Archie loves it, too. If you pull the tail, it plays music. I think that's how Archie learned the word "pull." Quite educational :)

This was made the morning Hunt's parents left to catch their flight back home. Grace wanted to make sure she had good memories of Grandma so she (at two weeks) lifted her head so she could remember the details of her face.

Nothing like a good nap on Grandma:

The Return of the Guys!

After a five day four night separation (Hunt's and my longest in going on six years), the guys returned. They got home around midnight, and Archie was like a little zombie. When he first saw me, he was speechless and remained so quite a while. He let me hold him but, as Hunter said, had so many emotions coursing through his toddler self, he didn't know how to react.

Not knowing if they would be hungry, I had a special snack waiting for both Archie and his dad.

(Goldfish for Archie, cookies for his dad.)

Doctor visit results: Wait on surgery. The doctor had Hunt give Archie a three day course of very special eye drops, which prevent the eye from focusing and thereby allow him to get better measurements. (These are powerful drops as nausea can be a side effect - Archie threw up one night.) The doctor felt like Archie has been being under corrected and changed his glasses prescription from 1.50 to 6.00. Big jump! We go back in two months to see if it's working. If so, we may keep on that track for awhile and either not do the surgery or just do it to correct small defects. Otherwise, I guess we might go on and do it. Because of the drops, Archie might not be able to focus for four more days. Poor little guy!

We are planning to head home late Saturday night. Our Internet might be unreliable for awhile so I'll schedule some picture posts to publish while we're getting settled.

Grace takes a bath!

Here's a chronological photo series of Grace taking a bath! When I used to bathe infant Archie, I thought it was the most complicated thing in the world. Hunt and I would call his Grandparents Startups in for help every morning. Now, I'm a little more speedy and can bathe her by myself! Amazing!

Getting ready! Getting all the supplies together still takes me awhile but I've learned to keep things in the same place nearby the bathing location! What are the supplies needed? Two towels (preferably hoodies), bathing mat, tub, sterile cotton for eyes and saline, cotton for cleaning any poo-poo before bathing, baby soap/shampoo or Top-to-Toe wash, washcloth, clean clothes, diaper, blanket...so much!

Archie wanted to check out the bathing process. We start with eye cleaning followed by the shampoo:

Next, we put her in the first hoodie towel to dry her hair before undressing her and taking off her diaper.

(These pics are a little old. Her cord dropped off at 13 days if you were wondering...)

Time to suds up:

The hospital taught me to put them in the water on both tummy and back. I love this next pic!

Time to dry off:

What I've been learning in my exciting solitary Bangkok life with a newborn

The guys are fine in Hong Kong. (Who wouldn't be with access to California Pizza Kitchen?)

The baby is fine, too. Actually, she's doing fabulous! She's gone over six hours between feedings four of the past six nights. Way to go for a three week old!

What am I doing?
Trying to use my time productively.
Is it working?
Maybe.

So far today, I've learned some interesting things:
First, I've found a blog I absolutely love: Chronicles of a Babywise Mom.
All you Babywise Mom friends, check it out. She always has just the article I need. I especially like it because she incorporates great tips from many sources other than Babywise.

Since Grace's nighttime sleep started extending so long, I've noticed she often wakes early (and fussy) from daytime naps. While reading the Babywise blog, it hit me. I've been overemphasizing daytime wake time to stimulate nighttime sleep. Since sleep begets sleep, I've cut her wake times down today and she's done much better with napping longer. (We'll see if she still does her wonderful sleep job tonight, but I'm feeling positive.)

Second, I've gotten totally into Baby Massage. Grace loves it! She just kind of oogles and googles and you can see her relaxing. (Oh the stresses of being a newborn!) Recently, one of the malls was doing free baby massage. We tried it out there, and I started reading up on techniques for doing it at home. I found this great guide at parents.com, and I've been using regular baby oil!

My exciting solitary life in Bangkok with a newborn

Here's the latest and greatest report on Darling #1's eyes: He's really noticeably cross-eyed. OK, we all already knew that. Yesterday morning at 8 a.m., Archie and Daddy set off on a great adventure - their first trip to Hong Kong while my Gracie Girl and I stayed behind so newborns can do what newborns like to do.

Eating: (no pic)
Crying:
Sleeping:
Speaking of which, I love how they can go from screaming on their blanket full tilt to sound asleep in the blink of an eye:

Back to the Archie update.
We KNEW one of two things would happen:
1. The doctor would want to do surgery immediately and the girls would fly out to HK to join the guys for the big event.
2. The doctor would want to do surgery later and the guys would come home and we would all depart for home tomorrow as planned.

Guess what? We got the unimagined Option #3.
-The doctor wants to do a 3-day course of eye drops and another exam on Thursday.

After looking at plane schedules and ticket prices, Grace and I decided to stay in Bangkok so newborns can continue doing what newborns like to do (see above) and Mama can save the hassle of international traveling.

This brings me to my very exciting life in Bangkok with a newborn. Yesterday, I went to church and swapped blinds with our duplex neighbor (fun stuff). Today, I took Grace to the hospital for her one month checkup and shot. The doc said her weight gain was perfect, which helped her self-esteem greatly since he'd indicated at her six day visit she was getting a little porky and needed to pull away from the trough. (We assured her she had a perfect baby body.)

I will admit I've enjoyed the peace and quiet of life away from a toddler's demands and uninterrupted Mama/baby time, but I think I'm starting to miss Hunt and Archie. The only thing on schedule for the next three days is twice daily trips to the ultra-cheap Thai food court (an easy walk) and loving on Grace unless I can think of something exciting a newborn likes to do besides the activities listed above.

A Rocky Top tribute for my parents!

Here's Grace sporting her UT attire. I know Me-maw and Papa are hoping for another little Vol.

This first picture is near and dear to my heart because it's the first picture I've ever successfully edited part of the background out of in Photoshop. As amazing as Grace is, she can't actually sit up by herself yet, and the original has a hand behind her neck for support.





And, just for comparison, here's UT Archie. The Grace pictures are at 2 weeks. The Archie one was made sometime between 4-6 weeks.

More Baby Hunt Nostalgia

This yellow outfit is a survior. It's weathered both Hunt's and Archie's babyhoods and has now been passed on to Grace. The tag says Carter's so I asked Hunt's mom if that's the same Carter's kids brand that's still around today. She said it was. What a classic! (I think I like today's styles a little better, though.)

Baby Grace around two weeks:

Baby Archie around two weeks: