Do I look sleepy to you??

Sorry for the very poor picture quality this evening, our camera is shut away in the room with Daddy who is sleeping, so we have to resort to ipod photography. Semi-dark room + no flash = grainy pictures! But in any case, it's midnight here in Ohio, and I'm wondering if this baby looks sleepy to you?? ;) But if you know me, you know being up till midnight is no hardship for me, so we'll just be hoping she starts looking sleepier soon. (*fingers crossed*)

Another grainy picture, but this is the tail end of a smile! We need an SLR camera so we can take photos instantly, not 5 seconds too late.

Mimi came back to stay with us today, which is perfect timing for our new night owl schedule. She's rocking Dylan now and using her magical Great-Grandma rocking, shooshing, and patting skills to lull her to sleep so I can have a free minute to type up this post. It's a much appreciated break, as poor Miss Dylan has been quite the crabcake today. We had a great night last night, and she woke up happy, but ever since she's been up she's been much fussier than normal: not even consoled by walking the floors at times and seeming very gassy. She was eating every hour through most of the day, but fussy feedings and I don't feel like she was really hungry, she was just nibbling because she didn't know what else to do to console herself. Then maybe a restless nap for 15 minutes or so, fuss for a bit, nibble for a few minutes, and then it starts all over again. I didn't eat anything we haven't had before, so I'm not sure what the culprit is. Maybe just a crabcake-y day! Here's hoping she starts to feel better soon and can sleep restfully tonight, and wake up to a better day tomorrow! But even if she is a fuss-budget again tomorrow, Mimi will be here to keep us company and that will make it all much easier. It's extra nice to have help when you have a crabby baby!

Wish us luck in getting some sleep tonight! :) We hope you all sleep well & have sweet dreams!

Workin' for the Weekend

Sorry for not posting for a couple of days! We came out to Grandma & Grandpa's for the weekend, and we forgot the cord to download the pictures from our camera to the computer. Shame on me! But here are a few fun pictures from over the weekend. :)

Dylan's first time in the play-gym! There were too many other fun things to look at to trick her into looking at us, but she really does seem to enjoy it and will even lay there and play for 15 minutes or so when she's in a good mood.

I know you can only see the top of it, but she's modeling the adorable tie-dyed onesie that Emrie Ann Dickerson (4 years old) made for her before she was born! Thank you Emrie - we love it! (And you!)

She likes to sleep like her Mommy does, with her arms up by her head. :) Though she's only allowed to nap this way, she's swaddled at night!

Playing with Daddy & more modeling of her too cute onesie (& her too cute self!)

Dylan definitely loves her Daddy! And he definitely loves her too!

On a new 36-hour schedule?

After being awake for what seemed like 36-48 hours straight, Miss Roo has now been sleeping since ~3 am this morning. Lets hope she's planning to sleep all night too to make up for her crazy long awake stretch in the previous couple of days & nights! Here are some pictures of our sweet, sleepy baby snuggles from today...

As cute as babies are in clothes, they're even cuter when they're naked, swaddled in blankets, and snuggled in your arms. :)

I just love all the cute things she does with her hands. I feel like she practicing her poses for ANTB (America's Next Top Baby - copyright: Katy K.)

This one is supposed to be horizontal, but for some reason I can't convince Blogger to upload it that way. In any case, I know all these pictures are pretty much the same, but she's so cute I couldn't choose just one! :)

With Grandma here today, I managed to get 9 hours of sleep between 12:30 am & 2:30 pm! That's the most sleep I've gotten since the Saturday before Dylan was born, and it was much needed & much appreciated! It was so wonderful to just have to wake up and feed her, and then get to go back to sleep (have someone else to walk her around & get her back to sleep.) And for about half of that sleep I even went and slept in a back bedroom, while Mom was up and listening for Dylan if she woke up. It's amazing how much deeper you sleep & how much more restful it is when you know you don't have to be on alert for baby cries. I know I thanked you in advance yesterday, but I have to say it again: thank you so much Mom!

All of my great sleep, combined with my antibiotics & catching the mastitis extra early, resulted in my fever being gone already and feeling almost back to normal today. I'm still a little sore, and have a bit of a lingering headache, but I feel pretty good otherwise.

Well, Miss Roo persists in being asleep, so I think I better do the same! Good night!

See my crab claw?

Here's a picture of Dylan doing something today that she didn't do much of last night - sleeping! ;) She just looked so sweet, and I had to get a picture of her little crab claw that she always manages to sneak up by her face no matter how tightly we swaddle her!

Little Miss was pretty much awake last night from 2 am to 7 am with maybe a 45 minute nap in there somewhere. But we'd had two fabulous nights in a row before that, so I guess we were in for it. It would've been just a typical newborn night, but to spice things up I realized that I was getting mastitis in the midst of all of that. :( So I've been feeling very crummy today - achy & feverish. But I'm hoping I caught it early enough that it won't be so bad as when I had it with Haley or even when I was pregnant with Dylan. I did call in Grandma back-up though, I don't think I could handle another night of walking the floors for hours on end if it does turn into what I've experienced in the past. So in advance: THANK YOU so much Mom/Grandma! I can't imagine living somewhere far away from family when you have a newborn, my family is such a huge help. We are very grateful for them, and very lucky to have them.

Alright, I'm off to do something decadent like lounge in bed & read a book for a few minutes while I have other Dylan-holders here this evening!

McMillan-Stevelt-Mitchell Women

Mimi & Dylan-Roo spending some quality time together today - our babies just adore their Mimi!

Dylan talking to Mimi. It was just a little peep & squeak, but I'm sure one day she'll talk her ear off just like her big sister used to. :) On a side note: Dylan weighs 7 pounds 15 ounces today! That means she's gained 14 ounces in 7 days, I'm pretty sure that's twice the standard weight gain. I can't believe my baby will probably be up to 8 pounds tomorrow!

Fighting falling asleep in Mimi's arms. Dylan was awake today from 10:20 am till 5 pm, besides a nap from 1:15-3:00 p.m.! Here's hoping that means we'll sleep well tonight!

Dylan (2 weeks old), Grandma, & Great-Grandma.

4 generations of McMillan-Stevelt-Mitchell women - Dylan, Mommy, Grandma, & Great-Grandma (Mimi!) - before Mimi had to head back to Wooster today.

Thank you so much for your help the last couple days, Mimi! You made our transition to Chadmo going back to work much easier, and your swiss steak was soooo delicious. Please come back soon, we love you bunches!

Snuggle Puppy

Someday soon I need to blog about breastfeeding, but that is just too long of a post for tonight. In the meantime, I couldn't resist sharing this reasonably modest breastfeeding picture. I think Dylan makes the cutest faces & does the most adorable snuggles while she's eating (we've made a lot of progress in 2 weeks to get to this point!) and I loved how she insisted on "hugging" me during this session. I even tried to move her arm a couple times, so I could see that cute face, but she kept putting it back. Please excuse the self-photography, I have limited mobility in these situations! ;)

We're loving having Mimi here, and we had a fun photo shoot with Kalena Ogg Photography today - can't wait to see those pictures in a couple weeks! We were very sad to have Daddy go back to work today, but he had a good day and we did pretty well for ourselves too. One day at a time!

Mimi is here!

All bright-eyed & bushy-tailed after our bath this afternoon! We had to be clean & shiny for when Mimi got here this evening. :) Daddy is heading back to work tomorrow morning, which I have to say I've been very nervous about, but Mimi (my Grandma, Dylan's & Haley's Great Grandma) was nice enough to say she'd come down & help out with the transition. We always love to have her, and when we had Haley we tried to convince her to move in for a year!!

An afternoon nap on the couch - I just love to snuggle like this, and so does Dylan. I bet I could trick her into sleeping 8 hours in a row this way, if only I could sleep this way at night!