An intro to babywearing

A friend of ours gave us a beautiful Mei Tai baby carrier for our baby shower and I have waited nearly 2 months to use it because every time I’ve tried, Gracie has burst into tears!  In all honesty I can’t blame the poor girl… it looked rather uncomfortable.  Well, I’ve been dying to use it so I surfed YouTube for a how to video and came across a ton.  The video below is the one that I found to be most descriptive and helpful so I thought I would share because once I knew how to properly use the Mei Tai, she LOVED it! 

While I think strollers are awesome and super convenient, there is nothing like strapping your little babe close to your heart and feeling them breathe while you go about your day.

I hope you find this video informative!

For our first experience in babywearing, we went to cheer on G at her first softball game!  The weather was warm with a small breeze but it wasn’t too cold.  Gracie looked so cute, she did great and I was so proud of G.  How many women do you know that start as the pitcher on a softball team 7 weeks after giving birth… not many!

GO MOMMY!

{This Moment}

{This moment} – A Friday ritual.  A single photo – no words – capturing a simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

iPhone Photo Dump

If you’re like me, you have TONS of iPhone pictures that you love, but rarely share because it’s a pain to download these much loved photos and actually post them.  Well, I was inspired by Kelle Hampton @ Enjoying The Small Things, to use Photoshop Elements Works editing software to have some fun with iPhone photos.  I’m still experimenting with the software (30 day trial) and this is my first attempt.  I totally suck at using anything technical but I learn something new everyday and I’m sure you can to.  If you decide to give it a go – let me know how things turn out.

Newborn Professional Pictures

When Gracie was just 3 weeks old, our dear friend Jackie took newborn pictures of our beautiful babe.  Our little photo session took place here at home where we knew baby girl would be most relaxed.  The pictures came out great and we couldn’t be more thankful to Jackie for capturing these memories for us!  Gracie is 7 weeks today and it’s amazing to see how much she has changed since taking these pictures a month ago.  I am just so proud to be her mama.

JHarlow Photography ~ a few of our favorites :)

So LOVED.

This is the best way I can describe the past 6 weeks.  I was just telling Georgia that I don’t think we’ve ever had so many visitors in all of our years together.  We have had meals prepared for us, lunch dates, play dates and have made so many new memories since the arrival of Grace.  It’s funny, we all love our friends and family, but you experience a new kind of love when you see the people who are important to you loving your baby.  It’s awesome.

G’s BFF’s/our work peeps came to meet baby and brought us lunch – Dion’s (YUM)!

The past 6 weeks have flown by and I can’t believe that I have to go back to work in 24 days… it makes me want to cry just thinking about it.  I’m especially nervous about going back to work after surviving a week like this past one.  We are pretty sure that baby girl is going through a growth spurt because she is hungry all the time (I’m talking feedings every 2 hours people!) and she has been sleeping like she did during the first 2 weeks we were home. We weren’t sure what was going on early in the week because all of a sudden we had a super cranky baby on our hands.  She would start fussing (and she’s not normally a fussy baby) despite the fact that her diaper was clean, she was fed and had napped.  Quickly we discovered that she was just starving much more often.  Thank God for websites like babycenter.com.  This site is often my point of reference for things like this!

Our visitors are definitely helping take my mind off of my return to work.  This past week, we had a very special visitor – Grace met her uncle Dean for the first time!  Dean, Chris and Debbie came into town for almost a week to meet Gracie.  After 5 long weeks of waiting, Dean was so excited to meet his niece!  I’m beyond happy that they got to spend so much time cuddling.  We had a pretty action packed 5 days that included a trip to Santa Fe, the usual hair dying day, lots of restaurants and we visited Corrales for Georgia’s birthday.  Yes, that’s right, G turned the big 3-4!  What better way to celebrate than ringing in a new year with brother bear and some great friends?!

I feel like we were just celebrating G’s 33rd birthday and I just know that in the blink of an eye we are going to be celebrating Gracie’s first birthday too!  I don’t want to miss anything… maybe that’s why I take so many pictures! :)

And speaking of pictures… here are a few more from the past week ~

:: Visiting Santa Fe ::

:: Happy birthday to Georgia ::

:: Gracie passed her hearing test ::

Because Grace passed we don’t have to test again for a year!

Happy Earth Day friends!  We’re off to Home Depot!!

Visit to the ABQ Aquarium

Last week, Gracie had her first play date with Sara and baby Olivia at the Albuquerque Aquarium.  The girls are 6 weeks apart which is awesome because Sara and I have been BF’s for more than 20 years and it’s great to know that our little girls are going to grow up together too.  We invited our moms to the outing and they had a great time watching our little ones discover and learn about what goes on under the sea!

Over the past 6 weeks, I’ve learned that play dates can be tricky when they involve newborns.  Gracie’s first play date was at the ABQ Zoo and she basically slept the entire time.  While it was fun for the grown-ups, I don’t think Grace knew where she was or what was going on, lol!  The great thing is that Grace does awesome on our little outings regardless of where we go and she was so much more alert on this adventure.  The moment we arrived we did a quick feeding and baby girl was bright eyed and curious for the remainder of the day.  We spent a lot of time sitting in front of the big tank that has sharks and tropical fish and she looked absolutely fascinated – we LOVED watching her!  If you have a newborn and you’re looking for a fun excuse to get out of the house, visit the aquarium.  I promise your baby will love it. 

Here’s a few more pictures of our afternoon with the fishies. :)    

Our little stinkers were both asleep when we arrived at lunch

Nani, Olivia and Grandma Marcella

Such a fun day!

16/52: Silly Girl :)

Want to join Project 52?  Click here for details.

Baby’s 1st Easter and a TON of pictures!

I’ve been meaning to post these pictures all week but it has been a crazy couple of days.  Uncle Dean and Chris are in town and baby girl has loved spending time with them.  Today has been a pretty lounge day, just cooking and visiting, but tomorrow we are planning to head to Santa Fe for the afternoon. :)

This year Easter was a 2-day event.  On Saturday we took Gracie to meet the Easter Bunny with Grandma and Grandpa and Grace did great for most of the afternoon.  She slept the entire time we were in line waiting and woke up a few minutes before it was time to meet Mr. Bunny.  Once I put Gracie in the Easter Bunny’s arms the photographer decided that would be a great time to step away and ring up some customers.  All it took was a few minutes for baby girl to go from happy to terrified… the picture above was the result.  LOL!

Waiting to meet the Easter Bunny in her baby bunny outfit. :)

Eating lunch with Grandma & Grandpa.

We celebrated Easter at Nani’s house with Gracie’s aunts, uncles and cousins.  

Below is our first family picture. 

Our friend Lisa gave us this beautiful little dress before Grace was born and we thought it was perfect for Easter!  Growing up my parents made us wear fancy Easter attire during the first part of the day for pictures but they let us change into something comfy in the afternoon.  This was Gracie’s “fancy” Easter outfit.

My brother’s beautiful family!

Gracie was spoiled by Nani, Grandma and the Easter Bunny :)

All we were missing was auntie Missy :(

The girls had an action packed day! :)

In other news, Gracie’s newborn photo proofs are in!  We will hopefully have all of her newborn pics to share in a week or so.  Here’s a little sneak peek!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!