Kivrin Anne

Obviously our photo quality is much better when Dan is around…but here is a self-portrait of Kivrin enjoying our new Maya Wrap ring sling — it’s a woven fabric, with metal rings, and it makes a sling that you can use with the baby in several positions (we have only mastered the tummy-to-tummy carry so far). We used the Maya wrap this morning to go to the library. I was even able to sneak down to my cubicle to get a little work done while she was snug and sleeping! After meeting Daddy for Baby Bookworms and bouncing around while Kyler sang and played the guitar, Kivrin charmed Marta and everyone else at the Media desk with her huge happy smiles before we headed home from our adventures.

On Tuesday at the Breastfeeding Clinic, Kivrin tipped the scales at 10 pounds (actually, she was 10 pounds 3 ounces by the time she finished nursing!). As you can see in the snugly fitting outfits and hitched up tshirt in the photos below, she is outgrowing her newborn clothes and wearing the 0-3 month clothes (at least for another two pounds!). No one is good at guessing on these things, but I think she should be in 3-6 months sizes for the beginning of winter at least. After that, who knows…

It’s no secret – baby clothes reflect parental preferences.  Last Sunday, Kivrin didn’t care what she was wearing.  However, once I dressed my child in the tiny St. Louis Cardinals onesie from my friend Dave, and the hat from her aunt, and set her next to the baseball from Gramma Mary, I realized that she is the cutest baby EVER and we had a mini photo shoot to capture it. Some people hope for a future quarterback — I’m raising Kivrin to cheer for whoever is fielding the fly balls in left field.

Lissa and Kivrin watching the pre-game coverage of the last game at Yankee stadium (but thinking about the old Busch stadium the whole time…)

That’s right — Most Valuable Baby!

“Root, root, root for the Cardinals….”

Kivrin sat in her swing for the first time and loved it! She smiled and laughed with mommy.

A brief literacy commercial we created together- once we had the idea, it was just too cute and we had to go ahead and make it. Dan was filming, and we experimented with several options, but this was our first take!

With Daddy home all this week on vacation, we have been busy having fun!

Kivrin is just beginning to enjoy her activity gym (although she cried the first time we tried it.)

She likes lounging around on the boppy pillow.

Staring at mommy is a great way to spend the afternoon.

Playing “Catch” with a 3 week old baby means that mommy throws the ball and catches the ball, while Kivrin watches!

This picture just doesn’t capture the moment – we were playing a game called “Loudest Kisses” where the goal is to see who can give the loudest kiss on the cheek to the other person. Mommy wins most of the time right now, but Kivrin is going to be a contender soon enough.

This is the reference room at our library. A co-worker walked by, saw the baby conked out in Dan’s arms, and teased us about “sleeping in the library” not being allowed!

Kivrin is modeling one of her favorite comfy outfits — it was a gift from Aunt Leigh Anne and Colin and the shirt says “Mind the Jungle.”

This morning, we went to Baby Bookworms at the library for stories, songs and fingerplays — Kivrin liked the bouncing song about a car the best! We made it almost the entire 30 minute program before she got hungry again!

This is an honest-to-goodness grin from a very happy baby who loves hanging out with her Daddy (her t-shirt says “Daddy Rocks”)

Kivrin has started to want comfort-sucking sometimes when she isn’t really hungry, so we tried out a pacifier last night for a few minutes.

It’s official, mommy is a “sling addict.” But seriously, our new baby carrier arrived today and we had to try it out right away. Because she was already sleeping before we took our walk, Kivrin curled up in the Ella Roo Mei Tai and stayed asleep even when I came inside and used the computer for a bit. This carrier isn’t as warm and cozy as the HugaBub, but it feels sturdy and secure — as a bonus, it didn’t make mommy or baby sweaty in the 80 degree sunshine.

Kivrin went to our library this morning to apply for her first library card. (Mom and Dad are the responsible guardians on the account, of course.) Once she had her card in hand, she decided to check out some music CDs of children’s lullabies and other songs.

It may look like she is sound asleep in all of these photos, but trust me, she was really excited to be visiting the library!

I can’t believe Kivrin’s already three weeks old! She is getting more interested in looking at her toys, and she is smiling and watching our faces when we talk. This week she started grabbing on to the fabric of our shirts, and grasping my finger with her hand more. She likes to be outside — during a heavy rain, we sat on the back porch together and the cool air and the noise seemed to calm her. We try to take several short walks every day around our neighborhood — but we try to limit ourselves so that we don’t end up at Dairy Queen on every walk. Kivrin is still wearing newborn diapers and clothes, but probably not for much longer. Last Wednesday, (9-10) she weighed just over 9 pounds at the hospital’s Breastfeeding Clinic and her weight gain has been averaging over an ounce a day.

I’m just a few minutes from successfully surviving my first day home alone with the baby — here is how the rest of the week has been going at our house:

 Dan expands his multi-tasking abilities to include entertaining the baby while eating breakfast!

Grandma Sandy’s visit mid-week made Dan’s transition back to work much smoother for all of us!

Behold–Our good friend Sheila’s gift in honor of the baby—a freezer full of specially prepared vegetarian single-serving meals. The local family-based company who delivered the food – Magic Meals Personal Chefs – were delightful folks and their creations are healthy, tasty and convenient! From their website, about their New Baby menu — “Every meal is designed to be eaten with one hand while the other is busy holding a baby. “

This is Kivrin’s picture from the Stormont Vail website — see her birth announcement there. In addition to the price of bread, the stock market and the population on the date of her birth, the site also listed the Topeka sunrise and sunset for that day, which is how we learned that Kivrin was born exactly at sunrise – 6:44 am, on the day she was born!

Although Kivrin doesn’t necessarily wake up at sunrise every morning, she does nurse every 2-4 hours, so I have been awake more between 3 and 7 am in the last few weeks than I had since my last college all-nighters.

These are just a few of the photos from the Sears photo session today (how technologically handy that you can buy the copyright from them and take everything home the same day on a CD!) View the rest of them here.