One month

Liesl is a month old, and I feel like we're starting to get a sense of what she'll be like. She's a pretty calm and happy baby, for the most part. The only days she's been really fussy have been the day after Thanksgiving (probably too much stimulation the day before) and the day I had a large cup of strong coffee in the morning (still no caffeine for mama). She has started sleeping pretty solidly at night, going down at 8, waking up to eat at midnight and 4am, and then for the day at 7. So I'm doing fairly well with sleep as well. She hates to be cold. She loves to lie on her belly and would sleep on her tummy if we let her. She has just started to focus on our faces and smile at us, and it's adorable.

We had our check-up today, and she measured 21 inches long and weighed 9 lbs 9 oz. That puts her in the 50th percentile for height and weight.

Sebastian continues to be a good and sweet big brother. He is fascinated by her diaper changes, mostly because she so often poops on the changing table and he loves the mess. When Liesl cries, he says "it's okay, Liesl, mommy and Sebastian are here." He loves to hug her and lie down next to her and push her stroller around. He tried to feed her from his belly - got all set up on the couch with my nursing pillow and lifted up his shirt and insisted we bring her over to him. He gets a little sad when I can't play with him, but it's usually fleeting.

Thanksgiving

brother and sister

Sebastian's 3rd birthday!

Our boy is three! We celebrated with presents and strawberry shortcake on Thursday (and aunt Mary!) and with more presents and cupcakes on Saturday (and Grandpa Raab, uncle Tom, and cousin Rio!). Sebastian was thrilled. He loves his new toys.

Many pictures below, and in the web album.

Sebastian's new toys

and even more Liesl pictures...

growing girl

Our little girl is growing! We had a doctor's appointment on Friday and she weighed 7 lbs 4 oz - already more than her birth weight. She is eating and sleeping beautifully. And tonight we gave her her first bath. She hated it,of course, making that warbling cry that she only makes when really distressed. Seb was fascinated, however, and watched the whole thing.

Sebastian's "big abenture!"

Grandpa and Popo took Sebastian north to Massachusetts, to visit Great-Grandma Avery and assorted other family members. We called it his big adventure, so that he wouldn't think we were just shipping him off because of Liesl. :)

He had a grand time. He got to throw sticks and rocks in streams, explore the frog pond, help shovel and move mulch, drag sticks from newly downed trees into a pickup truck, and play lots of crazy games with uncle D, aunt Peg, and everyone else.

Pictures below and here:

more pictures of Liesl

Many more pictures from our first few days with Liesl.

A very tentative first meeting between Sebastian and Liesl. He wasn't sure what he thought of this little creature, and he definitely didn't like seeing mommy in the hospital.


But by the next day, he was peeking and smiling at her, and reaching out to touch her tiny toes.


Meeting the grandparents - lucky girl, to have four such wonderful people to love her.



And these last from Friday - Liesl's first full day at home.

Sebastian with Grandpa and Popo

Sebastian has been very well entertained by Grandpa and Popo during the last week, which has been a terrific help as we all adjust to the new addition.

These first pics are from Tuesday the 26th - we walked along the new Riverwalk trail in the morning and then around Halsey Pond in the afternoon - and in both cases Grandpa took great joy in exploring the woods with Seb.





After Liesl arrived on Wednesday, there was lots more indoor play - legos, trains, trucks - and outdoor play - soccer, baseball, and football.