The Hughes': December 2013

Week 5

You're getting to be such a big girl!! We moved you up into size 1 diapers. And your days of fitting into newborn clothes are numbered. It makes me sad a little, but it also makes me so happy that you're gaining weight and eating so well. You played with your daddy a lot this week. You love bouncing with him and playing on your jungle mat with him. He loves to do all of your "exercises" with you like standing, tummy time and neck strengthening haha

We watched the Army vs. Navy game and you sported the cutest Army outfit from your Aunt Kayleigh.

We also went to meet Santa! You were so patient while waiting. You weren't the biggest fan of Santa though. You were fine until he didn't support your head and neck and then you got mad and started to cry. You also grabbed a big handful of his beard to hold onto haha!

Week 4

That was the fastest month of our lives! We have had so much fun watching you grow. You're such a great baby and rarely cry. Your way of communicating to us is through grunting haha! This week you have really starting opening your eyes more and staying awake more in the daytime. We introduced the pacifier this week. You are still eating great and I have began to call you pork chop. You love your jungle play mat and have grabbed the dragonfly and held onto it for awhile.

We got some sweet smiles too.

We got your first Christmas tree this week! It was such a cold, rainy week so we picked our tree very quickly haha!

Aunt Sue sent you your very first Christmas stocking! And Aunt Diane gave you a first Christmas ornament! It was so sweet of them to think of you on your first Christmas. We love them!

Your daddy surprised us with the sweetest gift. He got an engraved Christmas ornament for your first Christmas. We have a tradition of getting a Christmas ornament every year and we are so excited for you to be the reason for celebration this year. You make us so happy and we love you with all of our hearts.

This week's outtake:

Week 3

Where has the time gone? You're already 3 weeks old! This past week was a fun one! We got your birth certificate, social security card, and enrolled in DEERS and Tricare so you're official :) We got to take you to beautiful Florida for the first time and we got to have our first holiday with you. Thanksgiving was such a great time and we loved being home for the weekend. You got to meet Aunt Kayleigh and Uncle Britton, Aunt Juliana, your Grandpa Hughes and Great Grandma Carolyn and Great Grandpa Clark! Everyone said how cute you are and how sweet your kisses are :) You did amazing on the 7 hour drive down. I was so impressed with how well you did. We only had to stop twice to feed you and change you. On the way back to NC it was a little more rough. It was such a big travel day since it was a holiday weekend and the interstate was miserable. Tons of traffic, traffic coming to a complete stop, lots of accidents, etc. It took us 10.5 hours to do the 6.5 hour drive. So we had to stop more often to feed and change you. You were still so patient with us. You also hit your 3 week growth spurt so we had a rough last night in FL and during the drive home. Just like the last growth spurt, you wanted to eat often (as often as every hour). Luckily it doesn't last for too long and we get back into a routine pretty quickly. You've become more aware of your surroundings and love to look at lights and the fan. Your eyes are lightening up and looking more blue in color. You turn your head from side to side very easily and look around when you hear our voices. You can also pick your head up when on your tummy and actually prefer it that way when you're awake. Your such a sweet girl and we love you so much.

Week 2

This week was a little more quiet and we spent a lot of time at home learning about each other. Your daddy had a really busy week at work, but as soon as he walked through the door after work he snuggled and loved on you. You weren't loving the swing so I put you in the moby wrap every night while I cooked dinner and you really enjoyed that. You lost your umbilical cord on Day 8 and we were both really happy about that! That means you were able to get your first bath! And you loved it. You're a little fish.

You got to meet your Grandma! We spent the whole weekend together and you got lots of lovin!

Our friends Kaitlyn and little Lily came to visit too! They brought you a sweet gift and brought mommy some delicious food and cookies! It was so sweet. We're lucky to have such great friends!

You had your 2 week appointment and it went really well! You gained weight and grew in length a little too! The pediatrician was impressed with your weight gain, especially since your a breastfed baby and that made me so happy :) You weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz (41 percentile) and you were 20.2 in long (44 percentile). You've been sleeping pretty good, but we had a couple of rough nights when you hit your 10 day growth spurt. You want to nurse often, which means more dirty diapers too, so we're up quite a bit overnight.

You're doing great sweetheart! Keep growing!

This week's outtake:

Week 1

1 week old

Welcome to the world, baby girl! The first week of your life was very busy. We got discharged from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon around 4 pm (you were 36 hours old and the pediatrician agreed that you were old enough to go home). It was my birthday that day and there was nothing I wanted more than to be able to go home with my whole family. You didn't like us changing your clothes into your coming home outfit (that was a little big on you because who would've guessed that you'd be so little?), but you enjoyed being in your car seat. You turned into such a ham when we put you into your car seat.

It was such a cold, cloudy day and there was a storm rolling in. By the time we got home, the wind was knocking everything over outside and then it started to rain. But eventually that rain turned into snow flurries! It was so fun that it snowed on the night that we brought you home. You had your first appointment at the pediatrician the next day. They told us that everything was looking good and to keep feeding you so you can gain some weight before your 2 week check up. You had no problem with the doctor's orders because you sure do love to eat!

Most of the Estes family came to visit on Wednesday night and stayed until Friday morning. You got to meet Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Candace and Uncle Dillon!

You love to eat, rarely cry and when you open your eyes, you like to look at our ceiling fan. The way you wake me up at night to tell me your hungry is to grunt. It's so cute and sounds like a little pig. You sleep pretty good, waking up every 2-3 hours to eat. You're incredibly strong and kick hard for such a young baby. Daddy is finally getting to witness your kicks that I've been talking about for months while you were in the womb. Everyone is still pretty split down the middle on who you look like the most. And everyone is also split on if you have grey or blue eyes. We'll have to wait and see since you'll change so much. You love your daddy so much. Your absolute favorite spot to be is curled up on his chest. You go to sleep almost immediately. We love you so much Lainey and our first week with you has been pure joy!

Here's an outtake from this week's weekly photoshoot: