A Few Milestones for Gretta

Gretta has hit a few big milestones in her 2 month long life. First off, we had our first shots...no fun. I did better than I expected. I only cried as the nurse was leaving. And Gretta did good herself considering. We only had to do 2 rounds of tylenol and she was an angel that night!



Also, she's started to laugh. Only a few times and they're the really forced ones, but laughs nonetheless. I haven't gotten any laughs on camera yet, we're still weary of the camera. I have barely gotten some good smiles on camera. She's so smiley but when I pull out the camera the smiles stop and she just focuses so hard on the camera that she can hardly be distracted.








Gretta has also started rolling over. She rolls over from her stomach to her back any time she is happy on tummy-time. If she's upset on tummy time, it's hardly productive. She's also holding her head up really good and sometimes just sits up on her elbows and looks around. She's doing great. I got a video of her rolling and up on her elbows but it's too big to post, so I'll have to wait til I get a shorter one and post it.





I can't believe how much I love this baby. She is so cute and makes me so happy. I wake up in the morning (after she sleeps for 6-9 hours straight...see why I love her?) and all I want to do is look at her cute face and see her smile at me. She seriously just makes each of my days so special. And I'm not taking one minute for granted! I LOVE being a mommy!!







This is Gretta in her cute dress she wore to church last sunday! Thanks Beki, for the cute dress and Trina for the awesome bow!! She's absolutely darling!

2 months old!!

Our Gretta Rae is 2 months old already! I can't believe it! She is so special. She just melts my heart. She's smiling a lot and is so alert! I am loving all the time I get to spend with her! She's just my favorite!! Here are some of my favorite pictures of this last month with my cute little peanut.

Blessing

Last Sunday, May, 17th we blessed our sweet Gretta girl. Marc gave her such an amazing blessing. I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man who honorably holds the priesthood and blesses our family. I will never forget that day. Unfortunately after the meeting, we were so busy running around visiting with family and getting treats ready for the open house I completely forgot about the camera stashed in my diaper bag. And once everything settled down, I was so worried that she'd have a blow-out in her beautiful dress that I changed her. Thus, I only have the few pictures we took before church. She was absolutely adorable in her dress!!

Little Squeaker

She's starting to smile a lot but stops when I grab the camera. But I'll get a good one and post some fun smiling pictures. In the meantime, here's a video of our little squeaker. We love this pre-crying squeaking.

Lots of Fun Stuff

Being pregnant, for me was stressful. Since it took so long and so much for us to get pregnant I worried constantly about Gretta. I don't make progesterone so I worried about miscarrying, Marc's family has a serious heart condition so I worried about her heart...just everything. Now all you moms, try to contain your laughter, but I remember saying after a trip to the ER to check on Gretta, "I can't wait til this baby is here and I will finally be able to see if something is wrong and know how to take care of it." HA. Spoken like a true naive mother-to-be. Since giving birth I've learned that sometimes I wish she was back inside of me where she was safe and taken care of, that I usually have no idea how to calm the hurt or fix the problem or even what the problem is. Each helpless cry I hear from Gretta usually ends in a helpless cry from me, reminding me that something is wrong and I don't know how to make it better. I probably worry too much but how can I not? I look at this precious baby and wonder am I able to care for her every need? I am learning and I'm grateful that my "mother's intuition" is growing ever stronger and I'm starting to recognize my abilities as a mother a lot more readily. It's been a hard two weeks for me. Gretta got a rash that first started just on her face. I took her to the doctor and he told me it was nothing. My pediatrician was not in so I saw another one. See below photo.

But after a few days it got much worse, and started spreading down her whole body. She had been up all night crying (which she doesn't do. She is such a calm baby and rarely cries.) and I knew something hurt. I worried and decided to take her back in. Again my pediatrician was not in so I saw another pediatrician, different from the first one. Gretta had lost 3 oz. at this appointment which worried the doctor. He told me the rash was a virus. He said if she kept losing weight she'd have to be admitted and subject to all kinds of tests namely blood cultures , MRI's and a possible spinal tap! Gretta already spent one horrible day admitted in Primary Children's when she was 3 days old and all those terrifying memories came flooding back to me in a hurry.

So I went home worried sick, with an appointment set for five days later to check her weight. I worried all week. Alas, the day of the appointment came, (Saturday May 9th, my 24th birthday) and we took her back in. The pediatrician we saw was yet another pediatrician, still not my actual pediatrician. She took one look at Gretta and said, "she looks fine, why are you in here?" We weighed her and she had gained 5 oz. and she said her rash was a common skin problem in babies called Seborrhea and that it will clear up on its own in a few months. I felt relieved and yet, frustrated!! How could I see 3 doctors and get 3 varying diagnoses and 3 levels of concern?? i know this happens all the time which is why people get "a second opinion" but it makes a mothers job very hard, wondering which one to believe and which solution to take.


Thankfully, we're getting back to normal again. Gretta is back to her wonderful, calm self and the rash has definately improved. I don't know which doctor was right, but i guess in the end, all turned out well and thats all that matters.


On a happier note we got a fun picture that I call "speak up" and Marc dubbed the "do you hear what I hear" picture.

And a quick fun, short video of what our regular tummy time consists of. I hope someone made it to the end of this ranting post to enjoy the video.

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope all of you mothers out there had a happy Mothers day! A special shout out to all my sisters whom I love So much and especially to my mom who helped me to become all that I am. I feel so blessed to be the mother of this sweet baby! I wouldn't change a thing in my life right now. I'm so blessed!

Gretta's First Play Group!

This is a little late but a couple of weeks ago 2 of my best friends Kelli Kinnersley Marshall and Kathryn Tingey Snedaker came to visit. It was SO great to visit with them and so relaxing to just sit and chat! We all recently became moms as you can tell.

(left) Mackenzie-Kelli's baby 2 months old (center) Gretta-My baby 4 weeks old (right) Hailey-Kathryn's baby 2 weeks old.

Thanks for coming over girls! I hope to see you both again soon!