InstaCarson

Father's Day

It's pretty neat that Carson is only 5 weeks old, but Sean and I have both already celebrated our first Mother's Day and Father's Day as her parents! This year we drove to Branson for Father's Day so we could spend some quality time with our dads.

Sean has been such a great dad these 5 weeks and a great husband for 5 years. I'm really looking forward to Carson's personality showing more and watching her relationship with Sean grow and develop. She's really lucky to have Sean as a dad!!

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Dads and their kiddos.

Hanging with Uncle Austin.

My parents and Carson.

Carson via iPhone

I take a lot of pics of Carson -- I feel like she's always looking or doing something cute that I want to document (which is funny bc she pretty much just sleeps and eats right now). Here are some of my faves: 

first bath - apprehensive (still is, honestly)

Pretty eyes

Her lips are my favorite!

Not very flattering of me, but does capture Wyatt's desire to be close to Carson and I. He usually sits on the ottoman while I feed Carson in her nursery.

Just chillin with dad. She really is wide eyed in between eating and sleeping.

Summer babe. Pun intended.

Visited dad at work -- all of the ladies loved the visit.

Went to get her for a middle of the night feeding and she managed to turn 90 degrees in her crib, even while swaddled. Impressive.

Sweet profile.

Carson: one month old

Miss Carson is awesome -- I mean, she's pretty much awesome at everything a baby should be: eating, sleeping, pooping. I've heard others say they can't imagine life without their little baby and I can now attest that is such a true statement! It's like she's always been a member of our family!

Our new normal is pretty different than life before she arrived...my schedule is based on when she needs to eat, I feel like we pack a ton just to leave the house and take twice as long to get anywhere. This took some adjustment for me, but now that I'm used to it I feel like I can still get a lot accomplished in the day and look forward to the time I have with Carson at home.

I'm now halfway through my maternity leave and am sad it's going by so quickly -- thankfully, when I do go back to work it will just be three days a week and Sean's cousin will be watching her for us while I'm gone, who I know will love her so well.

Here's what she's up to at one month old:

• According to my at home measurements, she's now about 10 pounds (!) and 23 inches long -- we don't go back to the doctor until she's two months old for official measurements. 
• She's still in newborn diapers, but we will be switching very soon, as we're having more blowouts. The size 1 diapers look huge, though! 
• I usually have her in 0-3 month clothes. Some newborn stuff still fits, it's just hit or miss based on the brand. She's usually just in a comfy onesie while at home.
• Her schedule has been pretty consistent for a few weeks now, eating every three hours during the day, then one 5 and one 4 hour stretch at night. 
• For the most part, you eat, stay awake for 45 minutes or so, then take a nap until the next feeding during the day. Your morning and evening naps are usually shorter than the afternoon nap.
• She's taking a bottle very well -- we are replacing one feeding a day with the bottle and I pump to get used to this routine upon my return to work.
• She will nap pretty much anywhere, but we try to stick to the crib/pack n play/sometimes the swing. 
• Her fussy time is still the 7-8pm window, though last night she didn't cry at all, just wanted to be held and we happily did so. 
• We moved her to the crib at night when she turned 4 weeks old -- a few nights in and it seems to be going very well. It's really amazing how babies' bodies know to keep on a schedule! I really like this switch, as I don't have to really bother Sean to feed her in the middle of the night and the chair in the nursery is so comfortable. 
• You still have a lot of blonde hair, really blonde eyelashes and blue eyes. I actually think your eyes might be getting lighter in color.
• She does great in her carseat -- we get out and about usually once a day to somewhere like Target or a walk around the neighborhood. Sean's work schedule has been so great while I'm on maternity leave since school is out and there's not a lot of summer camps yet, so we are getting a lot of quality family time. 

Dear Carson -- 

This first month together has been pretty great. Your dad and I are pretty smitten with you, astonished that we are your parents! Thanks for being such a great baby and taking it easy on us as we learn the parenting ropes. I'm super impressed with your eating and sleeping skills and am so thankful you're a healthy, growing baby. We get smiles from you sometimes and they are the most precious things -- we can't wait until we can get those more often and on demand! Carson, you're so lucky to have the dad you do -- he's going to take such good care of you (us) as you grow up. We're far from perfect parents, but believe we are perfectly suited to be your mom and dad. I am looking forward to the next month at home with you and can't wait to see your personality start to come out. We love you very much and are incredibly thankful to call you ours. 

Love, mom

Birth Announcements - Tiny Prints

We are so excited to share the news of Carson joining our family, so I've spent quite a bit of time online looking for cute birth announcements to order. There are lots of websites out there, but I found that the designs available from Tiny Prints were the cutest and most affordable. Click here to see their fun designs. Overall, I found their website to be super easy to use and would definitely order from them again.

Here are a few different options I was considering for Carson's announcements -- we just received the final ones in the mail and I can't wait to get them out!

I liked this design because you could add so many different pictures. 

This one with the gold dots was my favorite, except the picture I wanted to use the most didn't fit well with the design. 

I loved the big, bold picture option with this design. I ended up going with another one, though, because I wasn't sure if the font showed up well enough with this picture option.

Here's the one we selected! I like the colors used and the whimsical design elements. 

back of the card design - my baby is really cute! :)

Month one: products we love

Itty babies really don't need a whole lot of "stuff" yet {outside of unlimited access to mom's tatas}, but here are some products/items we have used and loved over the past month with Carson. I can't believe she will be one month old tomorrow!

Rock n Play -- this is what Carson slept in for the first 4 weeks in our room. It was very easy to transport to Branson for our weekend trip, too. We did just start her sleeping in her own crib, but she will likely still take some naps in this. It's pretty cozy! We borrowed this from our friends Adam and Heather, since it has a relatively short shelf life.

Boppy Pillow -- considering how often babies need to eat, this is a necessity to me!

Knit blankets -- these are great for swaddling, just the right amount of stretch. We do have the muslin swaddle blankets too, but for some reason I can't get a tight swaddle out of them yet because they are so big.

Sound machine -- we use this at night with Carson to help block out other noises and as a "cue" that it's night time. Seems to be working so far.

Swing -- not all babies like swings, but Carson loves hers! Note: this swing has a really wide base to it. Necessary for safety purposes, but I don't think we could get it through a doorway without taking one of the legs off.

4 weeks old

Kind of weird that baby's weeks and months of age don't always match up. Baby girl is 4 weeks old today, but we will celebrate her 1 month birthday on the 10th. Four whole weeks! I feel some sense of accomplishment when we reach big milestones together -- God is so good and this little girl has been a great addition to our family. She is a great eater and sleeper, PTL, and I know the coming months will be so joyful for us as she starts to respond to us more readily. I do feel like she knows who I am and she for sure knows what the Boppy pillow is used for. :) I'll do a full update on Carson in her one month post, but here are a few cute pictures for good measure.

Pictures of Carson

Carson will never be this little again, so I'm trying to take a lot of pictures! Here are a few recent ones to document. We are still doing well here at the Huddleston's -- our routine was thrown off last night, but I guess that's to be expected sometimes with a tiny baby. The whole schedule thing feels like a big guessing game to me right now, particularly because I don't have to be out the door to work at a set time every morning. For the past couple of weeks our schedule has been:

Feedings at 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, 2am -- she's been very fussy in the evening and skips a nap after the 6pm feeding. Last night she did sleep from 7-9pm, but was wide awake after her 9pm feeding until I fed her again at midnight. Not sure whether a screaming baby earlier or an awake baby when I'm tired is better....I know this is just a short season and that hopefully within another couple of months she will be sleeping through the night -- I try to keep that in mind when sleep feels disrupted. Really, I feel worse for Sean since he has to go to work all day, but he's such a servant and great encourager!

Carson and I went to a baby shower for my friend Jill -- due with a baby girl in July. I'm sure Carson and Elliott will be good friends!

Those eyes!

Sean propped her up like this and we thought it was funny.

She likes her play mat for a while -- she kicks her legs a lot and will stare at the mirror. 

Sweet sleeping baby -- this led to a wide awake baby in the middle of the night. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. :)

She's so stinking cute! She likes to be swaddled for naps and bedtime.

Cute baby butt.

Sean has given her a couple of bottles and she took them very well! I have started to pump in an attempt to build up my stock before I return to work in July. It's a slow start, but I'm hoping to get the hang of it soon.

Just hanging with dad. I think she looks so big here!

Mommy does love you!