Jada wasn't too happy about this little outfit because it requires the top to go over her head. I usually stick to outfits that snap down the front so we don't have to go through the trauma of pulling a onesie over her head. This little outfit, however, I just couldn't pass up; it's just way too cute.

The first picture is Jada expressing her discontent with getting dressed. The second was taken only seconds later after I put a hat on her and tucked a blanket around her (we were going outside). She seemed to have suddenly forgotten why she was upset and just fell asleep mid-cry. She is so funny!

Sometimes Jada wakes up from her morning nap before I'm done getting ready for the day. When this happens, I'll just put her in the Moby and let her watch me dry my hair, brush my teeth, or put on makeup. She particularly likes the hairdryer. I don't blow it directly on her, of course, but the white noise it creates somehow makes her pretty happy and content. This is a quick snapshot of her I took with my phone while I was drying my hair this morning.

Not only do we get ready in the morning together, but she also enjoys helping Mommy clean, bake, or even put the laundry away. I like to explain to her everything we're doing throughout the day. "This is Daddy's brown shirt. It goes in the closet". I think it will help her with language development. It's crazy to think that soon she'll be making little noises to communicate with us (besides crying, which is more of a big noise). I wonder what her first word will be...



-- Post From My iPhone

 
 
 
 

Jada is 5 weeks old today. This last Tuesday was her one month birthday. I can't believe she was born over a month ago. We can count her age in months now, not just weeks. Moms have always told me "it goes by so fast" and now I'm experiencing it. She reallyis already growing so fast.

I love being a mommy. I love watching her observe everything around her, soaking in new information, her attempts to communicate to us by her expressions, noises, & smiles.

She is truly amazing and our little miracle. We're so blessed by our little Jada. Every day is a new adventure. She honestly looks so much different every day. How incredible it is to experience being such an important part of her life each day.

Are you wondering what Jada's little day looks like? Here's our current schedule (I say current because I hear once you think you're on a routine, baby decides to mix things up a little)! For the past two weeks, though, the night hasn't strayed more than 15-30 minutes from what's listed below. I'm so proud of her little ability to stick to the routine. It really makes life more predictable for both baby and parents.

Daily Routine

7:00- We wake up (our last nighttime feeding & diaper change).
8:00am- I carry Jada downstairs in the Moby & she intently watches me make coffee & eat my cereal.
8:30am - We all go for a walk- Jada's in the Moby & the dogs on the leash.
9:00am- We're back from our walk & Jada's asleep in the Moby. I have about 1.5 hrs to sit at the table & get some work done (currently working on taxes, but could be any type of paperwork project).
10:30am- I slyly slip off the Moby in the middle of our bed & she rolls out still sleeping. I move away any cloth from around her face then book it to the shower - I have about 20 min. to get ready before she wakes up!
11:00am- I feed Jada.
12:00pm- Now I'm ready for lunch too, so she watches me make then eat lunch from her fantastic view in the Moby.
12:30- Now we'll just do whatever is on the To-Do list for the day... could be cleaning, going to the grocery store, a playdate, Dr. Appt etc.
2:00pm- I feed Jada.
3:00- We start making dinner together.
5:00pm- Yay! Gabe's home from work! I feed Jada again then Gabe & I eat dinner & the 3 of us hang out as a family.
8:00pm- I feed Jada then Gabe & I put Jada down to sleep in her room.
9:00pm- My bedtime! I usually get my longest stretch of sleep now.
12:30am- Jada wakes up & I feed her. Then back to bed.
4:00am- Jada wakes up & I feed her. Then back to bed.
7:00am- We get up...a new day has begun and Jada's a whole day older. Wow.

Jada looks more like Gabe everyday; I love it. I feel like I'm carrying around a mini-Gabe throughout the day! Don't you think she looks a lot like Daddy?

Grandma Chapin and Amber wanted to test out Jada's eye tracking skillz and skillz she does have!

This first picture is from Jada's first bath. She did cry a little, but I think she actually enjoyed the warm water...well, at first. Don't you love her cute little hoodie towel?

Aunt Mariah (Gabe's sister) visited this last weekend. It was so special for Jada to meet her Aunt Mariah. We had a great time hanging out together.

My mom has been staying with us since Friday. She has been so amazing; she's been cleaning our house for us, making and freezing dinners, and spending precious time with her granddaughter. She's going home tomorrow and will really be missed. I'm looking forward to her coming back up to visit soon. We've been running a lot of errands together too; this is a picture of Jada & Grandma at Casey Eye Institute waiting for Grandma's eye appointment.

Jada's sporting her cute new pink bear outfit here. I just LOVE this little outfit; she looks so pretty. Thank you, Katie, for thinking of Jada & giving her such a cute gift.

Gabe went back to work yesterday. We were so blessed to have him at home with us for 3 weeks. We've been keeping ourselves busy since he's back at work. Today, Jada & I took our first trip alone in the car. We went to a parenting class in Sherwood together through Athey Creek (our church) and she did great! She slept through it all so that Mommy could sit through and listen the whole time! What a good girl!

Jada started tracking objects with her eyes this morning. She can follow an object that is moved back and forth in front of her. She even tries to reach out and grab it sometimes. I am just so impressed with her everyday; she is so smart.

Today we gave Jada her 2nd bath and caught it on film, just to show ya'll how much she enjoys baths.

After staying awake straight from 2am - 5:45 am this morning, I am just loving any 30 minute nap I can squeeze in. Jada & I just got up from a quick nap on the couch; she has been so sweet and cuddly this afternoon.

She also had her first real bath today (before today I was too scared to give her a real bath, so I just stuck to sponge baths). She surprisingly liked it at first. She did cry a little, but I could tell that she felt clean and happy afterwards. She slept so well on me afterwards (pictured here). I'll have to post the bathtime pictures next time.

Have a wonderful night!






-- Post From My iPhone

Gabe set up a little photo studio in our dining room last nigh & we took these adorable photos of Jada & her daddy. I love these pictures of them. I'm so excited to continue taking pictures of Jada as she grows up - enjoy our beautiful little girl!

Well, the past few nights have become much more challenging as we seem to have a regular cranky time from about 11pm - 2am. I was able, however, to capture this beautiful smile today & it really made my day!

Gabe & I have discovered a whole new level of tired where we commonly ask each other , "what was I doing downstairs,again?" or "Wanna go for a walk with the wheelchair?" (translation- stroller). It's pretty hilarious; we laugh quite often at ourselves. :-)

Gabe is going to a Men's Retreat this weekend with our church- I'm sure he's looking forward to sleeping all night tomorrow night :-). My mom is coming up here to stay with me while he's gone (Thank you, Mom!)

Everything is going well over here; I'm still amazed how much Jada is growing and changing every day. We love her so much.








-- Post From My iPhone

Today Jada saw Dr. Knapp for her 2 week well baby visit. They had to take the heel prick test, but she was a brave girl & handled it with only a couple tears (while being held by Mommy). She weighs 8 lbs 1oz , which was close to our goal of returning to her birth weight of 8 lbs 4 oz. She is also 2 inches taller- she's 21 inches tall now!

She is still a great eater and is an excellent communicator. She lets us know right away if she's hungry or if something is wrong. :-)

It's so fun to start to see her little personality. We're looking forward to getting to know her better with every day. When she was first born, I thought she looked a lot like me (definitely my cheeks and dimples). I think she's starting to look more like Gabe each day. It's so fun to see little parts if Gabe and myself in her. She is so amazing and God has blessed us with such an incredible little girl.














-- Post From My iPhone

My family came up on Friday (1/2/09) to see Jada & to celebrate Christmas. A little late to celebrate Christmas, yes, but the crazy weather up here made it hard to celebrate Christmas on Christmas day. We had such a fun day spending time together, taking turns letting Jada sleep on us and, occasionally, talking with her when she had awake time. Everyone tried on the Moby (pictured above is my sister, Annie, and my brother, Cole, wearing little Jada in the Moby). Jada also was able to spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa (second picture).

Yesterday was a big day for me. Not only was it Jada's first night sleeping in her crib, but I also left the house without her. Annie & I went to Fred Meyer for about 20-30 min. to buy some ingredients for dinner & it was really weird for me to leave my baby at home & go without her. I knew that she just ate and my mom was holding her while she was sleeping, so she wouldn't need me for the next 30 min., but it was still a little hard to leave her. I was fine and obviously she was too and the Fred Meyer trip was successful.

This morning, Jada went to church for the first time. Her and I spent the whole service in the nursing mom's room. I was actually the only one in there for most of the morning & she was wonderful. I was able to sit in a rocking chair, watching the service on a TV (live feedback), & knew that if she cried, we wouldn't be interrupting anybody. She was such a good girl. I think we'll be in that room a few more times before I leave her in the nursery.

Right now, she's just sleeping on me and is as happy as can be. What a little blessing she is to us.

Jada's officially sleeping in her crib at nighttime now instead of next to me in a bassinette. I have to admit, I did cry just a
little when we put her to bed last night because I felt like my baby was already moving on to the next step. It's been a great night, though, so far. This is her third feeding tonight, which is perfectly on schedule and she hasn't spit up yet tonight, which is fantastic. She's such a big girl.

On Friday, my family came up to visit Jada & I have some great pictures to post from that visit, but I'll do that later on today. Well, I'm off now to get a couple more hours of sleep before she needs to eat again. Goodnight (or Goodmorning?) !



-- Post From My iPhone

Our baby is growing so fast. She is already 12 days old today and looks older every day. We visited our friends Jamie, Karly, & Toby last night. We also saw Dan, Kristin, Eden and Matt & Alexis. We had such a great time hanging out with friends for New Year's Eve (although we took off before midnight so that we could start our bedtime routine before it got to be too late). It takes us quite a while to get ready for bed these days.

Jada met Eden for the first time last night (first picture). She's already a little social butterfly making so many friends. I'm so glad we were able to see the Hayes' before they take off to Mexico.

Jada's officially slept in her crib for a couple hours total now (second picture). We just put her in there during little daytime naps so that when it's time for her to sleep there at night, it will be a familiar place instead of new & scary. It's going to be hard on me when we have her sleep in her own room instead of right next to me in her bassinett, but I know that it's important for her to learn to sleep in her own room. I'm just holding on to every little second I have with her right next to me for now.

Yesterday, we bought a Moby (third picture) which is a great sling wrap that is really comfortable & holds Jada very securely. She loves it because she gets to be close to Mommy (she's currently taking a nap in there & is soundly sleeping) and I love it because I can get things done around the house and hold her at the same time!