What a life...

What has Afton been up to lately you might ask?

Let me fill you in on the exciting life she leads...
She wakes up...yawns...stretches...
Hopefully she is happy and will give me a smile while I change her diaper...
She eats, of course. She does that a lot! See that double chin...that's from eating so much...

Then she might chill in her crib or in her swing. She may be in only her diaper. She prefers the freedom...
Then we get her dressed and she starts to get sleepy again... maybe she sucks on her binky... or plays with her binky, continually spitting it out and making mom put it back in for her... she thinks that's fun!
Eventually she keeps the binky in long enough to fall asleep...andshe takes a nap.
She wakes up...and eats (again)...and has some happy time with mom...
and then some relaxing time with dad...
and some play time with Oliver...(she is unsuspecting)
(he is unsuspecting)
Oliver tries to sneak a lick (don't worry, we don't let him...)
Then we load up in the stroller to walk Oliver...meanwhile Afton naps in the cozy comfort of her car seat...
she wakes up and eats(again).
Then some play time with mom...
She sleeps some more and eats some more...
and lastly bath time!




Then it's pajama time, possibly some more cuddle time with dad, another round of eating with mom and it's off to bed for the night!
That, ladies and gents, is the life of a 7 week old. Beat that!

6 Weeks Old

Dear Afton,

Time really does fly by once you become a parent. In some ways it seems like a lot longer than 6 weeks-what with the lack of sleep and long nights- and in other ways it seems like just yesterday we welcomed you into the world. Your dad and I can't remember what our home was like without you and wouldn't want to.

Your cute little (mostly unintentional) smiles make us so happy. Your little double chin is becoming increasingly bigger and only makes you more endearing. You already have your own personality. You know what you want and you definitely let us know. You are hungry a lot and it shows! You are definitely weighing in over 8 lbs now.

Everyone in our home, including Oliver, can't get enough of you! He loves to sit down next to you while you play on the floor.

You can hold your head up pretty good now and are even getting some strength in your legs. You are growing out of a lot of your newborn clothes now and will soon be in your 3 month wardrobe. You are almost out of newborn diapers too! Your hair is still as dark and thick as ever and your eyes are still gray. We can't decide if they will be brown or green yet... we shall see. You love your baths and we think you will be a little fish like your mom and dad! You love to fall asleep on dad's chest and he is the best at getting you to sleep. Although you still love mom because she feeds you! :-)
You also like to take walks with mom and Oliver in your stroller and lay on a blanket and just look around.
These 6 weeks have been the happiest of our lives and we can't wait to spend more time with you as you learn and grow. Thank you for blessing our home and making us feel like the luckiest parents in the world! We love you Afton!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Can you say milestone?

Let's face it: while newborn babies are adorable, they don't DO a lot. They eat, sleep, poop and cry. The first three are ok, the latter not so much. But that's what you deal with as a mom to a newborn.
Afton is finally starting to get into the "fun" stage. She is sleeping less now and is starting to be aware of us more. We can get an occasional smirk or dirty look from her now, depending on what we do. I want to say she has the dirty look mastered pretty well now...wonder where she learned that?? Mystery...
So...she now is actually doing fun things other than the ones mentioned above. I put her in her crib to play for a little while, which she did for almost 30 minutes without crying! Miracle!
I went in to her room to check on her and thought I would try out the rattle. And...drum roll please...she held it! All by herself! For a few minutes periodically. Here is the milestone I speak of.

It's not much and you can tell by her bored expression in the picture below that it didn't blow her socks off like it did mine, but I like to think she enjoyed it.

Please enjoy the short video below. I'm sure that my sister and mom will probably be the only ones who enjoy it considering it is pretty much Afton moving her arm once or twice with the rattle and looking at me. But even so here it is...

Oh and after finishing this post I realized I spelled rattle like "raddle." Guess my pregnancy brain hasn't completely left yet. Apparently I don't have my good spelling and grammar skills back yet. Hope they return soon so I don't sound like an idiot all the time. :-)

The weekend

I feel like all we do lately is "relax." Or at least that's what I tell people we do. It's a miracle if we are out of the house by noon. But slowly we are getting the hand of actually going out and doing things with a baby. So while our weekend was still relaxed, I at least feel like we did a few things we haven't before! Yay!
We started off our Saturday with a trip to Dry Creek for a little family walk. This activity was mostly to appease Oliver. He is so patient with the new family situation and doesn't get as many walks as he would like. So we do that as often as we can.

Mommy and Afton:

This is Oliver looking for ground squirrels. There are thousands all over the park and he just loves trying to chase them.

Afton's weekend activities included:Swinging in her swing...

Getting tired...

Laying on dad's chest...which just happens to be one of her favorite past times. It's almost a guarantee that within 5 minutes of laying on Chad's chest she will be fast asleep.

Oliver of course has to get in on the cuddle action...

Getting tired again...

And both are fast asleep...

Sunday was our first week back at church and Afton's first time ever at church!! She looked so cute if I do say so myself. Thanks to my big sis for the cute dress and tights...

Here's Afton sitting quietly in her car seat during church. We didn't hear so much as a peep from her the whole time.

We also went to a basketball game on Saturday night which I failed to document with pictures. Afton slept right through the yelling crown and loud announcer. She seriously did not wake up the whole time. Why is it that at night when we want her to sleep, a little squeak of the door will wake her up but take her to a loud basketball game and nadda? I guess that's life right?
And that was the exciting weekend of Afton and her parents...because after all that's how life is right? Afton is the center and her parents are just afterthoughts... I'm getting used to that!

Bath time at the Bringhursts

Afton LOVES baths. If she is really fussy we can give her a bath and it's an instant calmer. (Very nice for parents that are tired of crying :-) I think she has her parents water polo genes and knows already that the water is her kind of place. Or she could just like being able to be naked in warm water without a big annoying diaper? Too bad babies can't talk...

She already knows when to close her eyes and the water in her face doesn't bother her at all.

Of course she has to have her hands by her face though....it's her signature pose.

And Chad likes to style her hair into a faux hawk... I insist this is a boy's hair style, but he does it anyways.

"Now I'm ready for bed! Goodnight everyone! (I promised my mom I would go to bed before 1 am tonight so I gotta run!)

A month of firsts

Afton turned one month old yesterday. It really is hard to believe how fast the time went by. Sometimes it seems like only yesterday she was born but mostly she is changing so much everyday.

It has really been a month of firsts for our little family.
Here is a little overview in pictures of how the last month has been:
The hospital:



Meeting her family:

Afton's first Christmas:

Afton's first photo shoot: This picture was taken by Stacey Haslem. She did an amazing job. Hopefully I will be able to post the rest soon.

Oliver still likes to sleep in blankets....some things never change.

Afton is awake more and more everyday. She is holding her head up really good now and is a very good eater. Oh and a good pooper too. That's one of her favorite past times...

I could definitely get used to being a stay at home mom. I have loved every minute of the last four weeks.

Afton loves, I repeat loves, to have her hands by her face when she sleeps.

She is also starting to give us little smirks once and a while. Usually after she has just eaten and has a full tummy.
More often that not though, this is what she looks like after she has just eaten. It's what I like to call Milk Drunk. Ha!

Afton sitting in her swing mid yawn. This is her at one month old.

We got through the first month with a newborn! I definitely feel accomplished! Here's to the next month and all the months after that...