Enter: Frigid Weather

For the past week, the temperature outside has hardly reached above freezing and has most often been resting in the teens.  Let's not talk about windchill.  We did have some snow last week, which made the temps somewhat worth it, but I now have a new appreciation for above-freezing, non-rainy weather and a strong dislike of the opposite.  When the weather is not conducive for a wee-little babe to survive more than a minute out there, we get a major case of cabin fever because we LOVE BEING OUTSIDE!  So we are definitely looking forward to spring, which will hopefully come sometime soon after it snows another 4 inches this week...

We take selfies when we're bored stuck inside.

Susannah has also started to make associations.  I should really keep that at the singular, an association.  She now associates being laid on her back with her least favorite thing ever: being swaddled.  Once swaddled, she likes it alright; but the being swaddled part is another story.  Bless her heart, now if she is even remotely tired and we lay her on her back -- be it on her little play mat, the couch, a blanket in the yard, etc. -- she starts her little cry for help.  Luckily, it only takes a few seconds for her to go back to having a grand ole time once she realizes that it's not bedtime.  Except for when it actually is bedtime.  Then she's mad all over again, and the association is yet again validated.

MORE RANDOM YET ADORABLE PICTURES!

I won't smile, but I'll look real cute for you, Mom.

Since her hair was all greased-up in attempt to get rid of cradle cap, we went ahead and combed it into a nice, slick butt-cut.

I like tummy time when I can actually see stuff!

Lastly, for the very first time this morning, Susannah began to legitimately PLAY with one of her toys!  Her favorite toy, Freddie the Firefly (as pictured in THIS post), hangs on her bouncer.  Each time she sat in her bouncer today, she would reach out and either hit it or grab it and smile so big multiple times!!  It really is the little things...  Love that girl.

Babies Are Fickle and Chickens are Neat

January 15th, 2014 will go down in the books as the first night Susannah Jane Acker slept through the whole night without so much as a stir.  I, of course, woke up at 5 wondering if she was alive in there and proceeded to wake up every 10 minutes thereafter, anticipating her cry that never came.

Of course the very next day, Susannah was hit with a growth spurt and has been absolutely ravenous at 4:00am each day since.  But we know now that she's got it in her to make it through the night, so we're looking forward to getting back to that point again soon!

Also, it is important to note that we bought some Buff Orpingtons today.  They should start laying eggs by May!  Here's to not buying anymore eggs to feed my "grown-ass man" husband (how he likes to refer to himself) and our growing-booty girl baby.  Once we get our fruit trees and bushes planted and our spring garden started, we'll be regular locavores off our own land (and, I suppose, the land where Pete kills our meat).


Without further ado, here's a small sample of our entertainment this week.

Firstly, a video example of how Susannah's legs never stop.  Think changing her diaper is easy?  Think again!  Think changing her diaper is super cute?  Every time?  Minus the poo?  It sure is!

Nextly, some cute baby pics.

Heading outside for a little walk around the house with Daddy.

Tummy Time is slowly growing on us.

Susannah is becoming more and more interested in the TV when we have it on.  So during the NFL playoff games last night, she and I sat away from the TV to play but close enough for me to hear what was going on.  And yes, she is pants-less.

Playing in the musical gym.

Lastly, our new babies.  We are now a family of 7.

That coop is a Pete Acker original, folks, that he designed and built right in the shop next to where the coop resides.  

That's all for this week!

A Glimmer of Hope

We have been so lucky that Susannah has been relatively easy during the nighttime hours.  Since about 4 weeks, she's been only waking up once, and over the course of the last month, she's been extending her time between night feedings like a champ.  This past Friday night, she cried for her paci at 4:05am, and that was it!  No feeding!  She went right back to sleep after it was popped in and slept until 7am.  WOW.  The next night, we had a dinner party to go to, so her schedule was a little off, but she still slept from 9:30pm until 4:15am, when she ate an early-morning breakfast and went right back to snoozing until 7:15am.  Two nights in a row of 7+ hours straight??  I thought we had arrived.

Then Sunday night happened.

Bedtime at 8:30.  Dreamfeed at 10:30.  Should sleep until at least 4, according to new pattern that she would obviously stick to...  Wakes at 1:30.  Wakes at 3:00.  Wakes at 5:00.  Wakes at 6:00.  Wakes at 6:45.  Poop EVERYWHERE.  Mommy picks up poop-soaked, crying Baby to remove poop-soaked swaddle and clothing only to notice these were not the only poop-soaked items.  Mommy straps baby in on changing table so she can strip crib of all things soiled -- everything but the mattress itself.  But if you know anything about cribs, you know that entire mattress must be removed in order to strip it of anything.  Mommy wakes Daddy to share in this poopy experience so crying Baby can eat and be happy and laundry can be relocated to washing machine.

And that's how our Monday began.

Of course, in the hour of play time that followed, Susannah was cooing and smiling more than ever, so all was forgotten.  I seem to remember using similar tactics with my parents as a teenager.  Interesting...it's learned so young.

And now, more proof of her cuteness:

Her favorite thing to watch, second only to the ceiling fan.  We play with this toy at least an hour a day.

Playing with Freddie the Firefly.  I don't think she even realized she was holding on to it.

Our dinner party outfit - cute as a BUTTON

We like Susannah to be versatile, so we let her nap in random places sometimes, such as a blanket pallet on the floor.

We lost power the night it got down to 15 degrees, so Pete put Susannah inside his jacket for a while, and she could not take her eyes off the candles!

Susannah will sit in my lap and follow my fingers up and down the keys for longer than she'll do most anything else.  Luckily, she isn't aware that I'm playing the one song I remember from middle school piano lessons over and over and over again...

And lastly, an adorable video of Susannah's reaction when I blow in her face:

2 Months Old!

We had Baby Susannah's 2-month checkup today, and as expected, she knocked everyone's socks off.  Here are her current stats:

Weight: 37th percentile, 11.02 lb.
Length: 77th percentile, 23.25 in.
Head: 92nd percentile, 42.5 cm.

We definitely have a growing girl on our hands.  She's long and lean with a big ole head!  We had to get not one, but TWO shots today, bless that little nugget's heart.  She was not a happy camper when it came time to take care of those, and it took a few minutes to recover.  Praise the Lord for this technique that helped calm her down relatively quickly once we realized just holding her wasn't doing the trick.  When we got home, she was so snuggly; it was hard for me to put her to bed because I could just snuggle that girl all day!  But alas, she needed some good sleep, so she's snoozing in her crib now...

Over the past few weeks, Pete and I have been extending Susannah's time awake between naps, which has made the days much more fun being able to hang out with her more.  She's interacting with us now, smiling a TON, almost giggling, making the cutest noises ever, and showing interest in colorful toys.  She even watched some of the National Championship with us on Monday; since she was fast asleep before the fourth quarter, I didn't have the heart to tell her the outcome.  She has never witnessed her Auburn Tigers lose -- seeing as the only other games she's seen were the Georgia and Alabama games -- and would be heartbroken to find out the truth.  It's probably best to let her believe the 1st half was all there was to the game...

Even now that Susannah fusses for seemingly no reason at times or wakes up 45 minutes into her should-be-2-hour naps ("The 45-Minute Intruder"), she is still a doll baby and we are 100% in love with that girl.  I might grunt out of mild frustration from time to time, but that frustration is short-lived when I think about how blessed we are to care for such a healthy, happy baby.  I probably have a million pictures of her from the past few weeks because of how animated she has become, but here are just a few others for your viewing pleasure:

Just watching the NFL playoffs.  I'm not a good actress...

Daddy's watching football, Susannah's watching the ceiling fan.

Reading with Mama before the big game!

Next to watching the ceiling fan, her favorite is lying on her changing table staring at and talking to Froggy

And a short video of her getting excited about how cool Freddie the Firefly is:

The end!

What Will 2014 Hold?

Pete decided to scare me a little bit last Saturday by cutting a mullet into his hair and expressing a deep desire to keep it for some time.

Classy

Luckily, the mullet only lasted an hour.  Pete claims he cut it off because he had not cut the mullet correctly in the first place, but I think he really just saw the fear in my eyes and felt compassion.

Dad and Mom - excuse me, PopPop and SuSu - were in town this week to get some Susannah loving.  A 14-hour drive has nothing on the love they have for that little girl!  We had a great time watching bowl games, watching the baby's cute everything, and celebrating Pete and my 2nd anniversary whilst bringing in the New Year (yeah right, as if we stayed up until midnight...).

On our way to paint the town red

Whenever they come in town, my parents refuse to be idle (not too much to do this time of year in Carrsville, VA...), so they choose projects to complete.  Dad's is always painting, and he got creative with his choice of headgear for painting a few ceilings...

We are unfortunately still fighting the little bit of lingering nicotine smell from the previous owners (one of the reasons Dad is repainting a lot of the house for us), so we had our ducts cleaned this week, too.  We had to turn off our heat for about 3 hours while the "Duct Doctors" worked and walked in and out of the house; needless to say, it got a little chilly!  So Mom took it upon herself to keep the baby warm.

If you look very closely, you'll see a baby in there!

The house really does smell significantly fresher than before, so I'd say we are one step closer to being clear of nicotine after this week!

And a little video for you... Sometimes Susannah gets the joy of having her daddy give her a bottle.  She LOVES how fast she can drink from a bottle and hardly slows down the whole time to the point of getting out of breath!  So here's a quick video to show just how ravenous she can get:

And here is her favorite face to make when I'm being a little too silly in my attempts to elicit a laugh:

This next year holds so many exciting things for our family.  No major life changes -- we got all those in 2013.  But there are so many changes that will come in Susannah's little life over the next 12 months!  We can anticipate some crawling and toddling, some teething and talking (words like "buck" or "bass," I'm sure), some solid food and nasty diapers (one leads to the other, right?), and tons of unexpecteds I'm sure.  I look forward to updating you on these events in the coming months!