Happy One Month!

Where has the past month gone? It seems like just yesterday Kris and I were in the hospital with our new precious baby and now she's a whole month old. The past month has been the best month of our lives. It's been wonderful to care for Parker and watch her develop--every little thing she does is just amazing to us!

I'll be taking pictures of Parker each month to show how much she has grown. It's hard to tell the difference one month has made in these photos but she has definitely packed on a few pounds and grown an inch or so!
































































Here are some pictures from the past month of our lives!

Parker's head size is in the 90th percentile. Uh oh, our daughter head a big head ;)



Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz. At my last ultrasound just a few days before Parker was born, the ultrasound tech said it looked like she was 7lbs 15oz. She was almost exactly right!



Parker kept kicking her ID badges off of her feet, much to the surprise of the nursing staff. She was definitely an active baby in the womb and that didn't change out of the womb one bit.











"Please, no more pictures, mama." I have taken around 600 pictures in just a month so I think she's used to it by now!















Sydney is hoping that Sophie the Giraffe is really a dog toy. It's just like one...it's rubbery and it squeaks! I was worried that Sydney would try to eat all of Parker's toys but she has been great with them (knock on wood).























Kris and I give Parker an infant massage before her bath on most nights to relax her and play Canon in D. It's what I walked down the aisle to and I played it for Parker often while she was in the womb. I wonder if she recognizes the song like they say she is supposed to.






















































Little baby smiles.





Tummy time fail. Instead of trying to move her head around she decided to nap!





















































Parker loves all the Lamaze toys, especially this inchworm!



Four generations
























































We tried to introduce a pacifier to Parker at four weeks but she hates it. She much prefers sucking on her daddy's finger!









































































Go Bucks!











Parker scooted all the way down Kris' stomach and wanted to sleep in this position! So funny!



Another interesting sleep move. She's supposed to be eating, not sleeping right now!

Pediatrician Appointment and Activity Mat Fun Time

Parker had a pediatrician appointment last Friday, two days before she turned four weeks. Kris and I were really curious to see how much weight she put on and it was a lot--she was at 10lbs 1.5oz! We couldn't believe it! Our little girl is packing on the pounds! Parker has also gotten a bit taller--she's at 22 1/4 inches. She's in the 75th percentile for both height and weight.

Everything else was great with Parker at the appointment too. She's doing just what she is supposed to based on her age--she's able to track objects, move her feet like she's dancing around when you hold her up in the air, and move her head off the ground when she's on her tummy. Parker has had excellent control of her neck since the day she was born, which is common among babies that are birthed unmedicated. She will lay on our stomachs and raise her head to look all around, much to the joy of me and Kris :) Here's some shots of her getting in some neck and head exercise!

Hey Mommy and Daddy...watch me move my head over to the left!



Going...



Going...



Gone! Parker looks confused by what she just did!



Getting ready for round number two



She was holding this position for a long time...



Then finally decided that it was time to rest :)



It's great to know that Parker is progressing as she should be. We have our next pediatrician appointment mid-December and I wonder how big she will be then!

Carrying Parker All Around

I've mentioned it once, but the baby carriers are a lifesaver! I typically wear Parker in the Moby wrap carrier and Kris uses the more manly (and easier to put on!) Ergo. Parker loves being close to us and being walked around the house. During the late nights that she has (thankfully not that often!) when we've tried everything to get her to calm down, sometimes all she wants to do is be carried in the Moby or Ergo. That's fine with us because our arms get tired after a while--and she's still really little! Imagine how tired our arms will get as she grows! I'm glad that she enjoys the carriers because that's one of the baby items I was really excited about.

The Ergo really resembles a backpack, but I swear that it's not :) Look at Parker looking up at her Daddy!



You can barely tell that there's a baby in that thing!


































Even though the Ergo is for carrying, Parker enjoys being rocked while in it too.





I see you Parker!



I believe that both of the carriers go up to at least 40 pounds so we will be getting some great use out of them!

Sleepy Baby

Parker loves to sleep and at the beginning she had her days and nights mixed up but that's getting better now, thankfully! It's incredible how little sleep Kris and I can function on! The last couple weeks of the pregnancy I was getting about nine to ten hours of sleep each night and now I'm lucky to get five but I feel great. It must be that new mother drive that's keeping me going :)

Parker doesn't enjoy sleeping in her crib yet but I put her down in it for a second to snap a couple photos to show how large the crib is in relation to her. She looks so tiny in that huge crib!





















































I look so exhausted in this photo but rocking her to sleep is all worth it.



Parker's favorite sleeping position is laying cuddled up on our chests :)























































































































Even though there's a lot of sleeping going there's also plenty of awake time. She's just taking everything in around her in these photos. I love when she is in this quiet alert state.

Happy Halloween!

We hope that everyone had a great Halloween! It was an eventful day in our house. Kris and I had three pumpkins ready to carve and it took us all day to finish them since Parker is now in charge of our schedule :) They got done just in time for us to throw the pumpkin seeds in the oven and set the pumpkins on the front porch before the trick or treaters arrived.

A few of the neighbors that we're close with already heard that Parker arrived but many others didn't hear the news yet so it was nice to see everyone and show off our little girl :) There are a lot of young kids in the subdivision so we're looking forward to having Parker grow up with everyone.

Here are the pumpkins. If you can't tell, the middle one is a "P" for Parker!



Sydney the Bumblebee looks thrilled to be dressed up posing for the camera. A group of boys that came up to the house though it was hilarious that Sydney was barking at them and acting tough all while dressed in that ridiculous costume!



Here she is, our little precious flower! It's a bit big on her but she didn't seem to mind :) It was a very thick, hot costume though so we didn't keep her in it too long. Just long enough to snap some pictures and see the neighbors on our street.