"I'm happy feeling glad I got sunshine in a bag"

This song is in my head all day every day because of this sweet girl.  Her smile just brightens the room.  If you smile at her she will flash you non-stop smiles.  I think we'll be getting some giggles out of her soon.  She's trying.  I've heard a few squeals here and there.

She also has a new found love of sucking on her hands now that she con control them and bring them to her mouth!  This has also helped her get her nuk in her mouth on her own a couple of times.

I had success in the medicine department for her. I'm very proud of this as working with doctors and insurance isn't easy or fun.  But, I was able to get he doctor to up her dosage which seems to be helping and they also put in an appeal to the insurance and they agreed to lower our co-pay for her medicine!  yay!  Now, I just hope this keeps working for her.  I do think I need to go and throw away some milk that I pumped from all last week though from when I had some dairy.  Jake gave her some of it last night and her reflux was bad again.  It's all a guessing game with this---but we'll keep trying anything so she's not in pain.

Something hilarious with her medicine is that the past 4 days in a row she has fallen asleep while I attempt to give her her medicine.  She absolutely hates getting her medicine so apparently she has found a way out of it... falling asleep.  Grandma Cathy says she has amazing coping skills! ha :)

We're also doing great with getting her in a routine!  Of course this makes me so happy (routine/organizational freak that I am) but I know it's also very good for babies and kids so I'm happy with the progress.  She is taking most of her naps in her crib (with the exception of the past few days from reflux) and is awake for 1-2 hours after she eats and then will nap for about 30-40 minutes with one long nap for about 2 hours in the afternoon.  Then bath time is around 9 and she's usually sleeping by 10.  Hopefully it'll continue to be more concrete in the next few weeks which should also make it easier on the grandparents when they"re babysitting so they can know what to expect (somewhat).

Epitome of happiness... enjoy:

loving herself in the mirror

having a great time playing on her mat

Yes, she even smiles in her sleep.  I went to check on her and wanted to take a picture of how relaxed she looked and she flashed me a smile right when I took this picture...all while she was sound asleep. :) 

chewing on those hands

falling asleep during medicine time

And again...

Raya (Rae-yuh)

Come on people it's not that difficult to pronounce, "Raya." It's not, "Riya."  Ok, that's my rant for the day.

I wish I could slow things down

Everyone always says, "they grow up too fast."  Ugh, it's so true.  Seriously, someone, tell me where the time goes?  I go back to work a week from today.  How did this happen?  12 weeks have gone by already... really?!  When I'm at work time literally stands still.  However, when I'm home with my kids I have no idea where the time goes.  Some days I can't tell you what we accomplished other than eating and pooping (I'm talking about Raya, here).  At least I'm only going back to work part-time for a year.  That definitely helps with the transition and my eyes shouldn't get quite as wet my first day back. :(

We are really struggling with her reflux again.  We had a couple great weeks and things were going great but now things are starting to hurt for her again.  Currently we're waiting to hear back from the Doctor on what our next steps should be.  It seems to be at its worst right now too....I really hope we can get this figured out.  And I hope insurance gets their act together and decides to start paying for it or else we're going to spend Raya's college fund (that we don't have) on her reflux medicine!  

She is still a pretty happy baby.  Her smile is probably the best smile I've ever seen... just melts my heart.  I challenge you to not smile when you see her smile.  It's impossible.   Nighttime is usually the worst time of day for her reflux.  Although,  once we bring her in the bathroom for her bath she instantly gets happier.  She still loves her bath time.  

She also loves to look at herself in the mirror.  Typical girl ;)  She will talk to herself in the mirror for a good 20 minutes - it's adorable!  

She's still not a big fan of tummy time.  Well, actually, she doesn't mind tummy time if she just gets to lay there.  She is not a fan of Mom making her lift her head from side to side.  One day we'll get there.  She definitely doesn't have her brother's craziness at this age.  When he was 2 months he was a wild man and already had rolled over and was moving all over the place - Miss. Raya is quite content with where you lay her down.  Hopefully that's a sign of calmness in our future :)  

Pictures to come later - time to go pick up Easton from school!

A baby wearing leg warmers... adorable! 

Easton practicing his photography skills again :) 

2 months

Can you believe it?  I can't.  Time just moves too fast.  It's bittersweet, really.  I absolutely love watching her learn new things, smile at us, and coo and caw but if they could just stay itty bitty a little bit longer that would be nice ;)   And in 3 short weeks I have to return to work.  Although, the part-time part definitely helps.

We had her 2 month check-up today and the doctor said she's doing "wonderfully."  Eating and growing like a champ.  But we already knew that.  She has grown a whopping 4.5 inches since she's been born though measuring 23 inches. (looking back Easton also measured in at 23 inches at 2 months)  Doctor had to re-measure 2 times just to be sure!  I'm pretty sure she was just short when she was born because there was absolutely no more room in my belly for her to grow anymore.  I told that to the Doctor and she laughed...I'll take that as I am right! :)   She's weighing in at 11 lbs 11 ounces.  She just finished a growth spurt too!  She took her shots like a champ.  She screamed and her face turned red for a minute but there was no crying or tears.  Unlike Easton who had huge elephant tears and broke his mama's heart.  But that's not surprising since girls are so much tougher than guys.  Only kidding... kind of.  ;)

Horray for new acid reflux medicine!  We've finally (fingers crossed) got it under control.  The prilosec stopped working and so we switched to prevacid and it seems to be working for her.  We still have some moments of reflux but nothing compared to how it was.  She's soooo much happier now too.  We get constant smiles instead of painful grunts.  I feel like a 50 pound weight has been lifted off my chest.  It feels like someone's stomping on my heart when my babies are hurting!  And can I just say her smiles are the most adorable things I've ever seen....so glad she's always flashing them at us!

Sleeping at night is getting better.  Hope I didn't just jinx myself.  Of course some nights are better than others but she's gone up to 6 hours in between feedings.  I of course still wake up every 2 hours to check on her but it's better than doing the whole sha-bang of a diaper change and eating and burping and rocking to sleep.  The other night I woke up hallucinating and checking all over bed for her to feed her.  I always did crazy sleep-deprived stuff like that when Easton was an infant too.  Glad this has been a 1 time deal so-far.

Having a hard time figuring out who she looks more like me or Jake.  In some pictures I think she looks like me and others like Jake.  I think it just depends on her expression.  She's just lucky to get both of our stunning looks (sorry, Raya)!

Oh and don't tell Jake but I'm pretty sure she has him wrapped around her finger.  :)

Love this quote and this is me trying to be creative ;) 

comparison of Raya and Easton at 2 months.  I see a little resemblance..the nose maybe?

haha - love this picture! 

Easton took these pictures :) 

"Sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in your heart" - Winnie the Pooh

Pictures by the amazing, Mandy Guth:

I made that tutu for her 

First family of 4 picture :) 

Your first breath took ours away :) 

My favorite picture