Auntie Em and Bobby Get Married

One of Deborah's best friends Emily got married this weekend. It was Lenabel's first wedding and she had a grand ole time! Although she is isn't old enough yet to drink, eat, or dance, she seemed to enjoy being passed around from person to person, and especially liked being held by the gorgeous bride.

Lena was so well behaved that mom and dad even got to dance a little jig on their own, while Bobby's step-mom took care of babe. It was our first dance together since our wedding, and we had so much fun, we didn't want to leave the dance floor. But by 9 p.m. it was time to leave the growing dance party and hit the road back home.

After a long day filled with so much love and fun, we gave Lena a bath at 10 p.m. and she was asleep by 11. All in all a perfect summer day.

Cousin Hannah Comes to Visit

Two weeks ago we were lucky to get a visit from cousin Hannah, Aunt Vivian, and Uncle Rich. They came to meet Lena and also spend some time with the Pesky family. We all had a great time, especially Hannah and Talia. Soon Lena will be old enough to join in the fun with the kids. Here is a picture of the kids. We'll share pictures from Aunt Roslyn's trip in our next post.

Happy Days

Lena's growing so fast we can hardly keep up with her. She has started smiling at us and we've been trying to catch one on camera but it's been kind of difficult, her smiles are so fleeting. We'll try and post a picture soon when we manage to snap one.

Also in new developments, Lena put herself to sleep on her own today! Well, kind of. After feeding and rocking her to sleep, Mom set Lena down in her co-sleeper, only to have to pick her up ten minutes later, eyes fluttering awake. After a couple more times of this, Mom gave Lena a nuk, put her down in the co-sleeper, and walked away. Lo and behold, no whining or crying or grunting from the bedroom. Just a quiet, happy, sleeping baby. Amazing.

But it's not that perfect, she's still waking us up at night every 3 hours. We've got to work on that!

Yoga Bonding

Lena and Mom went to Yoga this morning and had a great time moving and grooving. Lena loved the class, especially the bicycle and airplane poses; she still needs to perfect yoga dog (as her cousin Ayla calls it).

There were 12 moms and 12 babies at class, most of whom Lena and Mom had met in Prenatal Yoga at Blooma. It was fun to reconnect with the girls and meet all the new babies. 50 minutes into class Lenabel got a bit fussy, as did half the class, and mom spent the next 10 minutes feeding and meditating. Afterwards Lena had a great 3 and a half hour nap, followed by some very nice quiet awake time in bed with Dad, and then dinner at Big Bowl with Uncle Grish, who leaves for college in a couple of days. We're gonna miss him!

A True Vikings Fan

Lena is six weeks old this week and it is amazing to think that just a month and a half ago we were at the hospital with our new born baby girl. We were actually back at the hospital yesterday, this time to check on mama's recovery and the ever persistent thrush problem. This annoying and painful pest has been around for the past month and it has been pretty difficult to beat. The regimen has been as follows:

• both mom and Lena have been applying nystatin ointment to affected areas
• both mom and Lena have been taking Probiotics
• both mom and Lena have been taking Fluconazol
• both mom and Lena have been treated with Gentian Violet

Unfortunately we haven't had a whole lot of success with any of these
treatments so the doctor took a culture of the breast milk and on Friday we'll see if there are any more answers to our burning question (no pun intended): how do we kick this bug.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is a pretty hilarious picture of Lenabel wearing her Gentian Violet lipstain:


And some pictures we took on Monday just before mom and dad left for dinner to celebrate their anniversary. Lena was lucky to stay with her Baba who took very good care of her.

Mama's First Outing Alone With Lenabel

On Tuesday afternoon, Lena and I dropped Daddy off at the University and headed over to HCMC for a visit with the lactation consultant. It was just me and baby, the first time since she was born that we've been away from Dad and also outside the house. I was a bit reluctant and scared at first, but the visit with Joanne went well (despite Lena being diagnosed with thrush again), and afterwards, I decided to take things a step further, and we headed to the mall! GASP!

Much to my surprise, our shopping trip went better than ever imagined. I was able to cruise the maternity section at Macy's and purchase a couple of nursing tops and a nursing bra, all while Lena slept in her stroller. What an angel! Seriously though, I left the mall one proud and happy mama. Proud of Lena for being such a good little girl, and proud of myself for actually having left the house alone with a five week old baby!

Bath Time

In the past week Lena has gotten a bit more fussy at night. Deborah's lactation consultant, Jeanne, believes it may be the dreaded thrush coming back into Lena's mouth. So...we are back to giving the little girl some medication to try to control it.

We've also started to give Lena a nightly bath before swaddling her up and putting her to bed. I've also figured out how to take much better photos with the flash in the past couple of days.

Hopefully, she'll be on the mend soon.