Growing girl

It is so fun to see Vienna change from week to week. She is 13 weeks today. It has gone by so fast, but it's still weird to say that I have a 3-month-old daughter.

She may have the good looks of her daddy, but she definitely has a few of my traits. One of them being her sleeping habits. She LOVES to cuddle a blanket. She takes all of her naps with her blankie like this and will grab it like it's the best thing in the world, (that and her pacifier - if she's not sucking on her pacifier she's sucking on her fingers.) I was very much like that when I was little, I sucked my thumb for far too long (unfortunately) and I was incredibly attached to my blanket as a child. I had to have it to go to sleep and I would always pet it, it was so soft. To this day I still like to cuddle the blanket underneath my arm when I sleep.

She's such a good sleeper. There are times she fights going to sleep, and times when she can be a very sensitive sleeper. But the majority of the time she goes down pretty easy (she's even fallen asleep on her own a couple of times.) And she has pretty good chunks of sleeping time, during the day and at night.

It's so neat to see her learn, first just with noticing toys and now actually grabbing them and playing with them. She loves this flower rattle. I mean, really loves it. She smiles and talks to that thing like its her best friend.

We got her a play-mat just the other day and she has been loving that as well.

And I'm in the process of transitioning her into her 3-6 month clothes. Its kinda sad to put away some of these outfits she's worn for the past three months, all of the sudden one day half of the things were too small for her. There's still several 0-3 things she can still wear... so she's not officially in the next size as most of those are still big on her. It's just crazy how fast they grow! I mean really, everyday I feel like she's different. Either she looks a little different or can do something a little differently. But I love each new day with her.

Easter weekend

We drove up north for Easter and stayed at my parents house. We really had a great weekend enjoying time with our families!

Saturday we traveled further up the north shore to attend my sister-in-law Jessie's baby shower. Her husband Zack (Andy's brother) has been at basic these last several months and she was getting ready to move down to FL to be with him while he was in tech-school and would be gone until November. When we arrived Jessie surprised the family by brining Zack into the room - nobody was expecting him, in fact we all thought we wouldn't see him until November. It was a nice surprise and we are all excited that he's home. Turns out that they'll probably be able to stay until after their baby is born! Which is exciting for what that means to them and we'll also get to see the baby when it arrives!

Left to Right:

Jessie (due in July)

Zack (Andy's older brother)

Me

Andy & Vienna

Amber (due in May)

Ben (Andy's younger brother)

Easter morning we had a famous Petron family breakfast (one of the best parts of visiting my family!) and then took the kids outside to hunt for Easter eggs. All of my nephews were there and they had a blast finding the eggs we hid in the yard and along the trail down to the river. It was a gorgeous morning, I don't remember it being that warm in MN on Easter in...a long time!

Vienna went Easter egg hunting too, well maybe in her dreams. :) She slept in Opa's arms the whole time.

Of course we had to get Vienna an Easter dress. She did great letting us take pictures of her, I think she liked posing. :)

Birthday fun

My birthday was last week, the big two-five. I am officially a quarter of a century old. It was my first birthday as a mom, and it was a great day spending time with my daughter and my husband! I woke up to a smiling Vienna, she gave me a birthday card - such a sweet little girl :) and Andy took me out to breakfast. Then he surprised me with a shopping trip in the cities. For supper we met up with my brother and sister-in-law and ate at the Osaka hibachi grill. It was delicious food and great entertainment. I ordered sushi...yum!

Everyone else ordered from the grill and we were all entirely entertained by the grill master's show.

And then of course Andy had to embarrass me and tell them it was my birthday. They played a loud japanese birthday song with lights flashing everywhere as they brought desert to me - some kind of fried banana...it was yummy!

And they made me wear the birthday face...

It was a fun birthday! The best part was just spending time with my wonderful family.

Life lately

My blogging intentions have been good; my follow-through, however, not so good. I've had several things I've wanted to blog about, but haven't set aside time to do so. I do have a good excuse though- a new baby. I absolutely love being a mommy, love it. But, it is an adjustment to have a newborn at home. I don't mind accommodating the adjustment, it just takes a little while to get used to. Balancing the household necessities, caring for my daughter, errands, my husband and everything else, is rather challenging at times. Sometimes it's hard to remember what is priority and what's not. I constantly have to remind myself that it's okay if the laundry doesn't get done, or the house is messy, or...blogs fail to be posted. It's such a better use of my time to spend time with my daughter, enjoying these moments as a family and to try to catch up on that never-fully-satisfying rest. For to-be-mothers that statement seems so easy and obvious, but mothers that have already gone through it know that the adjustment can be a challenge. As previously mentioned, I really don't mind accommodating, it's just a new way of life.

Vienna starts my day out so joyfully. She is full of smiles and coos the minute she wakes up. I could have gotten awful sleep that night and she could've been up every two hours, but when she is up for the day she is one happy little munchkin - it's impossible not to melt at her smiles. She is officially smiley and talkative, with random happy squeals and lots of happy kicking. She is so close to laughing. She's made a few giggle-type squeals but not full out laughter. She is starting to find her hands and loves to suck on them and she loves bath time, music and being snuggled. I just love her to pieces.

More pictures and blogs to come in the next couple days!