Skunks & Bath Time Fun

Harper turned 2 weeks last Wednesday and we've had quite an eventful week since then! Wed. night, she moved from the pack & play in our room to her own room and crib. She was such a trooper! The good 4-5 hour stretch continued and she did great. I got up around 1am to feed her, and Jake was curled up in the recliner in her room, keeping her company. When that recliner was in my office, it was "Jake's recliner" and he would curl up in it whenever he came to work with me. Since it's been home, he hasn't had any interest in it... he must have known Harper needed a little TLC on her first night alone in her room. (:

Thursday night, just as I was finally crawling into bed, Rudy came into our room absolutely reeking of something foul. The entire house smelled of some kind of rotten, chemical substance. I ran her into the shower & Tom gave her a bath... we didn't have any tomato juice or other 'de-skunking' items, so we used the dog shampoo we had. I searched the house for Jake and couldn't find him. Fearing the worst, I checked the yard. Sure enough, he had broken through the back fence to chase the skunk, cut his nose, got sprayed and smelled even worse than Rudy. UGH!!!  We suspect Rudy was just in the area at the time.  After two baths for Jake and trying to get the smell out of the house, we finally went to bed. The good news is, Harper slept through it all, undisturbed.

We headed up to Aunt Karen & Uncle Sal's yesterday to drop off Memere for the night. It was a pretty successful trip, considering it is 45+ minutes up the mountain. Harper was great!

This weekend, we introduced a bottle with pumped milk and she took it with no trouble. We just have to get better about slowing her down on it, because last night she ate way too fast and was full and uncomfortable all night (poor thing!). But it's great for Daddy to be able to feed her sometimes.

Today we gave Harper her first bath before Suzi & Brad's visit. She really seemed to like it and it kept her calm for the rest of the morning. She is so soft now!

We survived the first 2 weeks!

Harper Loves her Gymini!
Thank you Marc & Kathy!

Harper & Squirt at 2 weeks. She's getting bigger!!!

Harper had her 2 week check up with her pediatrician today & gained a whopping 1lb 1oz! She is now 6lbs 15oz! Dr. Mehl said this was a "record weight gain for Colorado"! ha ha! Her Dr. is amazing and is open to any questions/concerns we have with immunizations, which is nice. He was so personable and open to the silliest of questions. I think he's a keeper. ( : Jake meets Harper! He was such a good boy!

Tom went back to work on Monday... very hard for all of us, but we'll be okay. Harper really misses her Daddy during the day and I really miss having the extra support. But, Memere is still here and has been so amazing... not sure what I'll do when she leaves! Auntie Karen has been amazing... cooking for us & bringing us lots of yummy food. When Memere leaves, she'll be the "fill in Grandma".

We're getting more and more sleep at night with fewer feedings & melt downs. Overall, she is a pretty content baby. We thought she had gas over the weekend, but then realized we might just be missing something. I watched "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and started to use the 5 S's to calm her, and man, so far, they work. She didn't appreciate being swaddled at first, but settled down within seconds and passed out for 5 full hours last night. Aaahhhhhhhh!!!! We'll see if it continues! She's starting to make good eye contact & "smiles" too. We are so in love & have kinks in our necks from looking down at her all the time! Can't take our eyes off of her in fear of missing something!

Thank you all for your phone calls, emails and overall support these past couple of weeks. We're sorry we haven't been better at returning calls/emails & weren't quite ready for loads of visitors just yet. But we're getting there! Every day is better & better as we figure out what this little one needs... and if we don't figure it out, well she lets us know we are WRONG! (;

Having our dr's appt today made me realize I CAN leave the house and be okay! So, we're hoping to have more outings soon... especially since we got the go-ahead to spread out feedings, use a bottle & passifier. No worries about her feeding... she's a tank now!

We got calls from "Auntie Colleen" & "Auntie Julie" in MA who are going to visit in the next few months, which makes us very happy! Grandpa said he is wanting to make a trip out here too. We're so lucky to have amazing family & 'extended family' both in CO, MA & NC!

Welcome Harper Joie!!!

Harper Joie (LaJoie is a family name) Lastick was born on Sept. 3, 2008 at 11:28am. She weighed in at 5lbs 14oz (little peanut!) and was completely healthy. We were amazed at how much we could love someone we had just met! The experience was amazing and looking back, I wouldn't change a thing! We managed to have 100% natural birth, and the delivery itself took only 30 minutes. I couldn't have hoped for anything better. So glad I was "with it" to enjoy the entire experience, even the rotten contractions. (: Tom was a trooper and truly took the place of a doula. I couldn't have hoped for a more supportive husband. He's doing a great job taking care of momma and baby. Just when you think you can't love someone more than you already do, they do something that makes you fall in love with them all over again. I have the greatest husband in the entire world!

Rudy & Harper--lost in her car seat!

We had a pretty good first week... Harper slept fairly well, ate like a champ from the start and was a pretty content baby. A few days in, she let us know how well her lungs worked with a screaming fit at bedtime. I cried with her and tried to soothe her (she couldn't POSSIBLY be hungry AGAIN, could she!?). I found out I needed to make more of an effort to sleep when she did to survive. Tired mama makes for emotional breakdowns! But thankfully, they have been minimal!

Daddy & Harper--2 days old

She gets cuter & cuter every day! We are so in love and enjoying every minute of this! Memere is here for 3 weeks to help out (don't know what we'd do without her) and she is even COOKING! What!? Not the mom I remember... she's really going out of her way to keep us rested and well nourished! Tom has to go back to work on Monday, sad for all of us. But he'll so look forward to coming home to see his little girl!