6 Weeks Old....Heading to Wisonsin

Tomorrow Annabel will be 6 weeks old.  We thought we would celebrate with her first international trip!  We head out tomorrow for a visit to Wisconsin!  The visit will be full of fun with Eric's brother Neil's wedding, baby showers/welcoming parties, a cabin stay with Illinois friends, and meeting lots of friends and relatives.     

Of course, she seems to be changing daily.  We noticed yesterday that she no longer has this one specific cute cry, but she has started imitating sticking the tongue out and some smiling, so we'll take that instead.  It was a good night when she figured out her days and nights.  Sleep-wise, seems to be on par with what is expected: 3-4 hour stretches, occasionally 2, during the night and the other night she did 5 hours.  If she had a choice, I think she would be a stomach sleeper, as she falls asleep often on our chests, but wakes up shortly if we lay her down.  She still doesn't nap a lot and I am thankful that a schedule isn't crucial or possible at this point, because I am not organized for that yet.  

She has attended church twice and seems to really enjoy the music, but I had to take her out during both sermons!  She is also really calmed by Allison Krause's music.  Eric plays it for her and she turns very still with eyes open and staring and hands up. Eric thought she might like the high pitch, so he tried Bon Iver.  Annabel, not a fan.

Ok, CANNOT get this photo to rotate....frustrating...anyway, she is quite the expressive lady.

We got our little Canadian a passport.  Getting her photo taken was quite the deal...babies need a photo by themselves with their head up, in dark clothing (of course, I had her in white so we had to wrap her up in a blanket up to her neck), and have their eyes open.  Who the heck came up with those rules?  Eric tried to hold Annabel up and the lady kept saying she needed to have her head taller and straighter....hello, she doesn't have head control!!  His fingers weren't allowed to be in the photo either, so he was really struggling.  Annabel was then mad and hungry, so Eric went shopping as I sat with Annabel on the floor in the Walmart studio.  After she was settled, I was able to hold her head and hide my fingers.  Whew!

She feels so much heavier now...at 8lbs 12oz!!  She is very wiggly, can track a toy, coos, and continues to be a 99% percentile pooper. She has lost some of her "scrunchiness," but not all!  She's holding her head much stronger and can change positions when on her back and when resting her head on our shoulders, which was so neat the first times I witnessed it.  Like, "ok, I didn't know you could do that."

We have attended a mom's group at the church which has been great for meeting a few others and asking questions.  This week we went to a great free music class at the library which we will greatly enjoy in the next few months.  During her first class, she napped, but at least she was napping! The babies were all so cute, crawling around and shaking maracas.  I now know for certain that Annabel is a bit louder than other babies because when she hits her highest pitch, other mothers respond with "whoa."   

Skyping with Grandma June