The North Rim and the Kaibab Plateau

Sorry it has been a while since I posted anything.  As I am doing a little catch up I thought some pictures from our camping trip 2 weekends ago would be appropriate.  We camped on forest serice land on the Kaibab Plateau and visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Aspen was a trooper and I hope that our next trip goes as smoothly with her! 

The trip was nice, but rainy.  Once we arrived at our chosen campsite our first hour was spent hanging out in the car waiting for the deluge to stop so that we could set up camp.

Fortunately we brought plenty of tarps.  Here is Jamie and Aspen hanging out next to our tent under the tarp shelter to stay dry.

However it didn't rain the whole time and we were even able to have a camp fire at night. As she grows Aspen's vision keeps getting better and better and she really enjoys looking around. I was curious what she would think of the fire, but alas she fell asleep during the whole time it was burning

Saturday we went to the North Rim and enjoyed the view!

This chunk of rock is called Angel's window and you can walk out on it. That is where I am in the photo above.

On Sunday we took a short walk to a vantage point on the Kaibab Plateau about 4 miles from our campsite.  That isn't technically the grand canyon in the distance, but rather another canyon that feeds into it.

Yellow paintbrush! I am used to see bright red/orange paintbrush.

2 months old!

As of Monday  (8/22) Aspen is two months old! On Tuesday we took her in for her 2 month doctor's appointment and to get her first shots.  I would love to tell you that she barely noticed her shots, but the truth is she screamed bloody murder.  However, our nurse was excellent and the whole thing (3 needle stabs, plus bandaid application) literally took less than 30 seconds.  Then there was approximately 5 seconds of silence while Aspen processed what had just happened, immediately followed by shrieking (sigh).  Poor baby girl! She was definitely fussy and slept a lot for the rest of the day, but seems to have decided that today is a new day and all is well with the world.

The doctor said she is looking great and her current stats fit beautifully on her growth line. Speaking of stats, here they are:

  Weight: 12 lbs 10 oz  (79%)

  Length: 23 inches (74%)

  Head Circumference: 15 inches (65%)

She continues to grow and do new things every day.  Often she will start doing something new but it takes us a moment to catch up and realize it.  For example, today I noticed that she was bringing her hands together and I think she was maybe doing it yesterday as well.  However, today she has been practicing it all day! It was only a week or two ago that she decided she didn't have to keep her hands clenched in fists all the time.  Now, when she isn't practicing bringing her hands together, you can watch her spend time slowly opening and closing her hands.  It is so cool to see the movements we take for granted in our own body slowly develop over time!

Lastly, she is smiling more and more, and definitely smiles at both Jamie and I.  She also "talks" to us sometimes.  In this video she is smiling at daddy and talking to him!

Things we all are learning.

Aspen is almost 8 weeks old and our pace up the steep learning curve has been rapid. It has to be as baby girl doesn't exactly come with a manual! (Unfortunately I suspect that this learning curve isn't one that flattens out, it just keeps going and going and going.)


Some things that various family members have learned in the past few weeks:

Aspen is learning to make more and more funny faces!

She is also smiling more and more...only capturing them on camera is more challenging than I thought.  I always get either the beginning or the end of the smile, but not the big gummy grin in the middl!

 Jamie and I are both getting better at eating while carrying Aspen in the sling or our arms...however we have NOT mastered how to eat without spilling! In this picture we discovered a stripe of coffee gelato glued to baby girl's face several hours AFTER Jamie was done eating it.  Oops!

We have also learned the very best way to soothe a cranky baby...naked time! Our little girl LOVES naked time.  You can also see from this pic that we have no worries about Aspen not eating enough.

(sorry, pic removed)

Aspen is becoming a pro at finding her hands and sucking on them.  She really enjoys a good hand nibble!

From Aspen:  Mom promises that she will update next week after my 2 month doctor's visit on Tuesday. Two months old already!  They will weigh me, measure my length, and then jab sharp needles into me. Fun, fun!  

For Daddy, Love Aspen

Hi Daddy! I hope you are having fun in Alaska! I made Mommy and Grandma take some pictures with Grandma's cell phone so you could see how much I've grown in the last week.  (Some of the pictures are blurry because, well, because it's a cellphone and you have the good camera.)

Here I am napping in one of my favorite jumpers (thanks Aunt Becky!)

In this one I am having naked time in Grandma's lap.  I tried to poop on her, but she had me sitting in  a diaper so my plot was foiled.  Boy do I sure love naked time though!

Speaking of pooping I just wanted to remind you that my "I'm pooping" face is still the same!

Here is me and mommy hiking in the woods.

Here is Grandma.  It is blurry because momma is cell phone illiterate (sigh).

I still really love baths!

But mostly I miss you and can't wait to see you on saturday. Until then I am going to be a mad baby!

Love, Aspen

We have progressed to play time!

Aspen is now just over 5 weeks old and has started to spend slightly longer chunks of time awake, which is the perfect opportunity to start incorporating some play time! Generally we start out with a little tummy time.  Baby girl is very strong and can lift her head really well off the ground.  However, since she didn't feel like cooperating with any of my recent photo shoots I don't have any documentation yet (sigh).  Just more adorable cuteness!

I am practicing my smile, when I finally bust it out its going to be a real zinger!

Who is that other baby?!?

Mommy, I am not convinced that you are funny. Do you see me laughing right now? Exactly.

Hey look over there!

That all was a lot of work, so now it is nap time on the couch.

As of yesterday Jamie is gone for over a week to a meeting in Alaska.  We will definitely miss him! Fortunately, mom is here to help out which should be a lot of fun! Here is one more pic of the our family hiking again last Saturday.  So far we have managed to get out every weekend! :)

Exactly one month old!

Happy 1 month birthday to me! 

I have to say that I am pretty fantastic and aging well!  To celebrate being one month old I took my first shower with mommy.  Fortunately, I liked it as much as I like baths, which happens to be a whole lot.  A shower wasn't necessarily in the plan, but mommy left the house to go for a run and I got hungry. Daddy tried to feed me pumped milk from a bottle, but I said "heck no, its my birthday and I don't want no stinkin' bottle!".  So by the time mommy got home (a whole 30 minutes later, can you imagine!) I was really angry and wanted food RIGHT THEN. Unfortunately it is hot out so mommy was sweaty, therefore I got all sweaty, and then because I was mad I wanted to yell in between gulps, which means breast milk got sprayed everywhere...essentially it was a sticky, milky, sweaty mess!  


Also, for a solid 20 minutes everyone is the house was mad. I was mad because I do not believe in delayed gratification. Mom was mad because she only left for 30 minutes and it was the first time she has been entirely alone in several days and she really really wanted to take a refreshing shower immediately after her run but she couldn't. Dad was mad because he really really wants to be able to feed me, but I'm going to make him agonize a bit longer before I cave in. 


However, the shower fixed everything!  I liked it, mommy got clean, and daddy helped sponge me down while mommy held me and they were both reminded of how adorable I am.  (These parents of mine are such suckers, all it takes is a few funny faces and no matter what their mood is they start cooing and drooling over me.)  Ergo, I love showers and baths!

Drying off after my shower debut!

Whoa..who are you crazy people?!?

Even though she knows it's a reflex, mommy's always a sucker for this one!

I am sure there is more celebrating to do, but first I need to take a little nap!

Not a routine persay...

Aspen is now just over 3 weeks old and we are all settling in nicely.  I wouldn't say we have a routine, but we have do have some emerging patterns.  For example, she usually sleeps ~3hours at a time (but sometimes it is just 2, others 4...at night we like the 3-4 much more than the 2!).  Upon waking we immediately feed her and change her diaper (not necessarily in that order)....sometimes multiple times in a "eat, poop, eat, poop, poop, eat...sleep" pattern.  Fortunately she seems to be figuring out night and day in that she isn't awake too long at night, just tends to do her business and conk back out.

Sleeping on daddy in the evening in what we call her "peanut" position.

In the morning she is awake for a little bit of a longer stretch and is content to hang out for a while (meaning maybe 15-30 minutes which is hours and hours in baby time) and we have some tummy time.  Pretty much every afternoon mommy and baby take a nap together and if Jamie is home he joins in as well (sidenote: if I don't get this nap I am a real crank). In the evening she is also awake for a little bit longer similar to the morning so we do some more tummy time, but she is also usually a little fussier.

Jamie and I have slowly been increasing our sphere of movement with her.  She has been to several friends house's and parent hotel rooms to watch the Women's World Cup.  We go for a family walk almost everyday, where Jamie usually carries her in a sling.  I met a friend for lunch downtown with her  yesterday (carefully orchestrated to coincide with sleepy time).  And, last, but not least, we made our first family field trip last weekend to the Aspens with her! It wasn't for long, just a picnic breakfast, and it wasn't that far off the beaten path, but it was lovely!

Our breakfast picnic location!

Sleepyhead slowly waking up at the end of our picnic!