Spring has sprung

After what seemed like a winter that went on forever, spring has finally decided to show up here in London.  The days are warmer, the sun has been out and all the trees and flowers have bloomed. London really is a beautiful city when everything is in bloom.  A couple weeks back, there was a stretch of days with perfect blue skies with no clouds and ideal temperatures.  We fully took advantage to go explore some nearby parks that are within a short bus ride or walk away.

We've also been spending a lot of time in our backyard.  Every afternoon after Olivia wakes up from her nap and watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the next thing typically out of her mouth is "Outside back, Mama".  She would probably be out there all day if I'd let her.  So we took a lot of the activities we normally have to do indoors to the backyard and had fun reading books, chalking, running around, painting and having picnic lunches.

Ashton goes with us to the parks and outside in the backyard but since she's almost always on me in some form - riding in the sling or baby carrier -I don't get many pictures of her.  Here's what I usually see from my vantage point.  And by the way, I'm pretty jealous of her long eyelashes that seem to be growing longer ever day.

A couple weeks ago, Geoff had a day off of work so we all hopped on the train for a short ride to a little town west of here called Beaconsfield.  There they have a place called Bekonscot Model Village. It's this place for children that has all these little models depicting houses, little towns, the farm, an airport, schools, the circus, a horse track, etc.  It was pretty fascinating.

 

Olivia definitely enjoyed the playground area they had more than the little model villages.  She has no fear when it comes to the playground.  She wants to do whatever the big kids are doing and typically is successful in doing it.  Her never ending energy had her running all over the place. 

Yum...special treat from Daddy to cap the visit off.  It was Olivia first ice cream cone (she's only eaten ice cream out of a cup before) and she ate the entire thing up!

10 week update

It's amazing to me that Ashton has been here and apart of our family for ten weeks already (as of Tuesday).  In some respects, it feels like she just got her and that there's no way can be 10 weeks old yet.  But at the same time, it feels like she's always been apart of our family and been here forever.  We are enjoying her so much.  I wish there was some way to bottle up her sweet baby smell.  Or the way her fuzzy hair feels on my cheek.  Or the way I feel her little body breathing when I'm rocking her close.  I try to make mental notes in feeble attempts to remember, but it all fades so quickly as they grow and move into different stages.

Anyways, we went to the doctor last week for her two month checkup and here are her stats:
Weight: 9 lbs., 1 oz
Height: 21.5 inches

I don't know what percentiles those are in, but in comparison to Olivia at two months, Ashton is 2 1/2 pounds lighter and 1 1/2 inches smaller, so I'm thinking she's most likely on the lower end of the charts.

Here are some other updates:

- Ashton still loves to be swaddled.  She's probably swaddled about 90-95% of the day.  Whenever she's acting a little fussy, swaddling her up almost instantly calms her down. 

- She's recently discovered her fists and how tasty they are to suck on. 

- We've been getting smiles and little coos for about four weeks now.  Absolutely nothing makes you forget that your clothes are covered in spit up more than seeing those sweet smiles.  Right now, we get the most of them right after she's eaten and had her diaper changed (she does not like to be wet at all).  I'd be smiling too if I were full and had a dry, clean bum.  

- She has been consistently inconsistent with her sleep at night.  The good news is that she consistently goes at least five hours between feedings after her last feeding of the day.  So if I last feed her around 9:00 pm, I'm not getting up with her again until at least 2:00.  But she's had multiple occasions where she's gone 7-8 hours between feedings.  However at this point, it's always a guessing game (and fingers crossed) when it will occur.  I haven't yet figured out what the secret trick is for getting the longer stretches, but I'll keep working on it.  Even though I would love her to sleep through the night, I'm at least at the point where I can function during the way without a nap.  If I can sneak one in, it's a bonus.  But it's not like it was the first month where if I didn't get a nap it, I was practically falling asleep at dinner and barely able to function.