The Sloats: Sleepy Time, ALL the time!!

What have we been up to the last 6 weeks? Eating, Sleeping, Pooping. That is our activity all day, everyday! With a heavy dose of cuddling, kisses, and starring at our little girl. Yep, we are still in that phase, and I hope we always will be. She has been a joy to live with. In fact, last night, I was thinking...I want another one. When can we do this again!? These little angels truly are miracles and bring a feeling of heaven with them. As of today, she still eats every two hours and is having more and more alert/awake time but there has been a lot of sleeping. She looks so peaceful and cute when she sleeps. A majority of the pictures I have taken, have been when she is sleeping. I have a million pictures already, so I am just going to start journaling and documenting with no rhyme or reason. The only theme will be, Tess! And our lives with her and what we have learned about her and about being parents. Still a lot to learn and many years to do it! The pictures will be in the order that I took them. I can't remember the age exactly in all of them, but they are in chronological order.

My mom was watching her so I could get a nap in, she had her in this adorable wrap job. She looked so comfy!

Getting ready to meet my Uncle Trey!

My little brother Trey and his significant other, Molly, came from Rexburg for their semester off. She stayed with us for a week and left for home after a good visit. Tess was only three days old when they came for their visit. They even stayed the night, helped Greg cook, and cleaned my bath tub. We decided to try a first walk while they were here. I only lasted a short block. I was still, uh, REALLY hurting. I couldn't walk or sit for very long without hurting.

The crew! Short and anticlimactic, but we had fun laughing about our short walk anyway. The picture below is when we were on the way, the very next day, to eat brunch that Greg-Molly-and Trey cooked. Trevor was flying in town and would be there too, and would meet Tess for the first time. I would just get so excited for everybody to meet her each time. Look how cute her cheeks look when she rests them on her chest. Ahhh....what a sweetheart!

In these two picture we are leaving to go see Trevor on the 25th, the day after Molly and Trey spent the night. They all got to meet her when she was only a few days old and we were fresh out of the hospital.

Uncle Trevor holding little Tess for the first time.

Bonding....it was fun to have Trevor here. We miss him, he is so far away and is so busy with school. He was able to visit for over three weeks. So, they got to know each other very well. He was really cute with her and asked all the time to hold her and would for long periods. He'd play with her and talk to her. Definite buddies!

Paige is the best aunt there is! She is another big Tess fan, always wanting to hold her and is protective of her as well. I guess you could say, we are lucky she has so many people who care about her and are supportive of us as parents.

This is everybody, we just kind of circle around Tess and watch her, look at how cute she is and admire each little cute thing she does. Who needs entertainment, it's fun to watch such a sweetheart and all her cute little movements and faces. She is little miss popular, being the first niece and grand baby on my side of the family. She is such a good little baby too, everybody just loves to be around her.

Today marks 6 weeks and one day since she was born. I keep thinking she is still so small and then I look at these pictures. He perfect face is filling out and she is definitely bigger and longer. I just love how cute and peaceful she looks as she sleeps.

Back to Aunt Paige!

Checking out her Dad...

This little dress was a gift from my mom, she looks so cute in it too. The bow is definitely too big. As are most of the bows I bought, I am new at the whole dressing a little girl thing. But it is fun anyway to have her try them on! She is exactly one week old in this picture, so I dressed her up in Sunday clothes! We stayed home, still trying to recover and there was no way I was going to be sure! I was still hurting, couldn't control my bowels, and was feeling like I was hanging on the edge of cliff when it comes to sleep.

Her little newborn napper. I put her in this frequently, she seems to really like to sleep in it when I am doing things in the living room. But, I put her in it just yesterday on her 6 week mark. She still fits, but it's a close call. I will need to take some comparison pictures.

Without the bow, ahhh....she is just so darn cute. I love babies! Like I said, a little slice of heaven.

Relaxing together....

Her first doctor's visit. We took her in on the 30th, so about 9 days old. Dr. Kathleen Hannifen. We really like her, she is so down to earth and easy to talk to.

So, everybody wanted us to come up to the lake so they could hang out with Tess, and my grandparents were up there and they REALLY wanted us to come so they could meet their great-grand baby. Well, I really didn't want to go just because after less then two weeks of having your first baby. Even comfy camping, still is so unappealing. I also really wanted to see everybody and have everybody enjoy Tess and meet her. So, with an okay from our pediatrician that we didn't need to be concerned, it was up to my comfort level with breastfeeding we went. Everybody was so nice, treated us well, and accommodated us very nicely. I am glad everybody got to meet her. But, I told Greg, I will never do that again! It was not a good time for me to venture away from running water, air conditioning, and the comfort of home. It really only got me discouraged because I really didn't feel up to it. I've decided, a new mom-not matter what number of kiddo it is, can take charge and just say no whenever they want until they start feeling up to things. I didn't want to be a party pooper, next time...I WON'T CARE. I guess I should learn to say no sometimes!

Hanging out with great grandparents! Looking at how excited they were to meet her, I am glad that we went...well, partially! :)

Her very first 20 dollars! We started a savings account for her with this money.

Greg cooking it up and then....zonking out. Must have been tough to go have fun on the water all morning. He is getting good I hear, getting up on the ski, skiing on glass while eagles fly overhead, and getting more control of a wake board as well. I heard that knee board wars were had by all as well.

Grandpa Bluemel's hand comparison to Tess's head. It's smaller then his palm! She has long fingers though, I think she may have big hands like her grandpa.

Tess and I hanging out....these are my favorite moments. No rushing, just her and I, enjoying a nice day together.

At the Denver Temple. Uncle Trevor was so cute with her, he held her the whole time we weren't in the car and carried her car seat every where too! I like this picture, she is starring right at him and is reaching out to touch his face. This was on the day that Austin and Ashley received their endowments. I didn't make it in time for the session, so I didn't initiatories while my mom tended Tess. It was a nice time for me to get a little strength from heaven. There is definitely an element of adjustment and difficulty when it comes to being a mother or father. I have realized, I really need the help of heaven to live up to being the best I can be for this little angel. She means the world to Greg and I, we want to do our best but it is a steep challenge. Every time I get discouraged, thinking I can't do the job like I'd want. Greg always reminds me to rely on the strengthening power of the Atonement to make up where I lack. Just remembering that makes me feel a million times better, actually doing it makes me a million times even more grateful that we have it.

Getting ready to go to the temple! We both dressed up....

Just hanging out....baby pjs are so cute, she just looks so comfy in them.

I love having her sleep in our room, I check on her a lot at night and I love just needing a quick head turn to see this little angel asleep in our room. I live with Sleeping Beauty!

Story time with Grandma Bluemel.

Car seat naps!

I have been taking notes of things I want to remember and write about. I have a little page on my phone saved for these notes, I have titled it "Living with Tess." I hope to remember and write as much as I can for many reasons. One, memories are like June roses in December, right? I love good memories! Second, I want her to be able to read about it and her posterity.

It is hard to wake up every two hours, recently she has had some longer sleeping runs at night. One night, on August 30th she slept 5 hours. I had not gotten much sleep the night before because I went to bed late after a meeting and had to get up early for school. With nighttime feedings in there, I didn't get much sleep. I was SO TIRED. She must have known, it was her little gift. She held off five hours until she woke me up to feed her! She has had a few more 3 hours runs and a couple 4 hour. So, it is getting better. At first, I was a zombie. I still am in a way, but I love to watch her eat and I love being there for her. She is so cute when she is super hungry, she pants. Then she does a head but into my chest, with a determination in her eyes that reminds me of...me! She squishes her notes and really digs in, and makes a cute nose of satisfaction. She falls asleep a lot when she eats, sucking must be a big, hard job for a little girl! So, I usually change her diaper to wake her up! That does the trick generally, but not all the time. At one point, I think I started to become her pacifier. She wanted to suck all the time. We got the okay and encouragement from our pediatrician to give her a pacifier. So we did that about 11 days or so after she was born. She is now a champ! I am able to save my skin too, literally. It can only take so much sucking!

She is an easy baby to console, she generally only cries when she is hungry and gets frustrated when she can't get a good latch so she can actually eat! Six days after she was born, no more problems with latching. She was a pro! Now, at six weeks out, she tells us a little more when something is up, but it is never hard to console her and it's never hard to figure it out. She either needs a diaper change, gas to push out, a warm blanket, or my favorite-some attention. She sure does love to be held, but sleeps well in her bed too. She still sleeps in our room, I am not sure when we will move her to her crib. I like having her close!

I guess newborns a lot of time, have one eye they open a lot more then the other. Our pediatrician explained that this is because they are too tired to open both! At six weeks, she hardly does it ever anymore. But for her, it was her right eye she opened all the time. And we laughed and called it the stink eye. So cute.

She loves her baths and she doesn't every cry. She has whimpered a little bit, more out of fear then discomfort. She is so cute when she is getting bathed too! She acts like a fancy lady at the spa. Her favorite part I think is when we wash her hair under the faucet.

Just some more bath time pictures...I guess she was hungry too! I love the little towels with hoods, she looks so cozy in them.

Random, but this is Greg's first time feeding her. I was a little jealous, I did pump the milk but I am a little possessive when it comes to taking care of her. I like to do everything! I think he likes feeding her too though, so I better give him his time. She took the bottle this first time with no problems, I was so impressed. She was just under three weeks right here!

Greg giving her a bath for the first time, she's all scrunched up, loving her head massage and wash.

And she is hungry again, but we call them "kisses."

Now it is time for a major sleepy time photo dump! Lots and lots of pictures of our good sleeper! These are all from my phone, all too easy to snap a cute sleeping shot that I don't want to forget. It will be like the sleeping pictures that never end, starting with the hospital until...well, today! :)

This is a picture taking in the early morning hours, her first night sleeping at home. One thing I cannot stop doing is, looking at her! I am so smitten by this little girl. She is not only so cute, but there is such a good feeling around this pure little human.

On the monitor!

Loving the comfy pjs Grammy Sloat gave her!

I tired to get a shot of her drool after eating, she would always fall asleep while eating. She still does a lot but not as much. We have to help her fall asleep sometimes now. She just always looks so content and totally satisfied after eating, perfect time to sleep!

She almost always (unless bundled up or laying on her back) positions her hands under her head/face to sleep on.

There, you can see some milk drool. You can also see the jaundice, she didn't need any help with that. She pooped and peed all that yellow stuff out! But you can definitely see here that she is still so little, and still working on it.

Grammy Sloat sent her a lot of really neat things, these pjs are one of my favorites! Greg wore them when he was a baby. She really liked them too!

This is a picture of a major spit up! Like a projectile one, it really freaked me out the first time she did this. I thought something was wrong. Turns out, babies do this once in a while and she definitely does every now and then. It doesn't seem to both her, but it is crazy how much stuff comes out of such a little girl. She just went back to sleep, totally content.

Sleeping at Grandma Bluemel's house in the guest bedroom on the fancy bed spread.

Putting her hand over the eyes like Greg does!

Okay, so maybe I won't include the pictures from Boston. I'll keep those separate, she was three weeks when we left, four weeks old when we got back. So this is after her 4 week mark of age!

She got a new toy! It's a swing, she really likes it most of the time. Sometimes, it just doesn't do it for her. But most of the time, she really enjoys it and loves looking at the little elephants above her, or she looks in mirror we got to strap on. You can't see it here. She now holds up her head great, but not at first. I fixed her right up and made it so she would be more comfy looking because it looks like here, she was really enjoying her position, just snoozing away!