One Month Old Today

I can't believe Linnea is one month old already. Time really is flying by quickly. Too quickly...She is just so adorable and cuddly right now and a year from now she'll likely be walking!! Ok ok...not so fast Rachel. First she has to learn to crawl, roll over, etc. Last night my aunt had a baby shower for my friend Carmen and I. We were really spoiled with some more cute outfits and some great books and other beautiful gifts. The last few days Linnea has been really fussy and didn't sleep too much. It made working really hard and I couldn't get a lot done. Very frustrating. Last night I let her sleep as long as she wanted so she did! She slept from about 1:30am until 6:00am today and then for another 3-4 hours this morning so I was able to get some laundry done and other things around the house. I have a wedding consultation to prepare for on Friday morning so I will have to clean up a ton! Our friends Tom and Lia visited us this afternoon which was great fun. Lia took the photos of Linnea and I - first time shooting with a digital slr I think and she did a great job!! Thanks Lia! I wanted to do a more formal session of Linnea today but it didn't work out...soon though!

Here are some photos taken of Linnea today of her various expressions...Enjoy!!

Today's E-Session

I went on a fun engagement session today right between Linnea's feedings. This couple (Stephen & Julia) are getting married this coming Saturday. Julia lives in Winnipeg so this was the earliest I could do their session...Here are a few shots I like from the session.

The past weekend...weddings with Linnea

I finally have 5 minutes to quickly type up an entry about my past weekend. Saturday, May 17th I photographed my first wedding since having Linnea. Jeff came along with her and we started at the church. I nursed her as soon as I arrived before the ceremony began so I could photograph the whole ceremony. This worked out well as I had time to do some family portraits afterwards and then we headed to the Royal Alberta Museum for the portrait session. As soon as I arrived I nursed Linnea again while Shaun and Aaron took care of my clients. I joined them as soon as I was done and we continued to shoot more portraits. Jeff took Linnea for a long walk and then he met us at the Chateau Lacombe hotel downtown where I did some more portraits. Jeff picked Aaron and I up and we then went for dinner to a great Lebanese joint that Jeff and I love.
Now it's the next day or the day after?? Today is May 24th. I started this earlier and wasn't able to finish it. Anyways - the next day (last Sunday) Jeff and I drove to the Kananaskis to photograph another clients wedding. It went really well. My other photographers (Aaron and Lane) passed us on Hwy 2 as I was nursing at a roadside turnoff. :) The wedding images were one of the best weddings we've ever photographed. I'm super excited to work on the images but of course that will come in due time.
Jeff and Linnea got to hang out for almost the whole day and I think it went pretty well for them so that was nice.
This week is busy. I photographed 2 sessions and have an e-session to photograph tomorrow. Next week I have a full day wedding. Linnea has been good and seems to be gaining weight as I notice that her face has gotten a little chubbier. I will post more photos soon. Today is Saturday...we're going to go to the market and bus depot to pick up a pkg and then to see Dad at Transcend where he's working all day. We also have to make the dreaded trip to Ikea to return some items.
Ciao for now!

Linnea - 16 days old

This week has been one of changes from the previous two weeks. For 6 nights she's kept up the same sleep pattern. I keep the bedtime routine exactly the same every night which has been great. She knows what to expect. I nurse her at between 1130 and 1230pm and put her down after some burping and swaddling her. I lay her down awake and she's typically out like a light within minutes without fussing. Then at 4:55am (ironically the time she was born) she wakes up (sometimes a few minutes earlier or later) and I feed her and we repeat the same process. I change her diaper usually at the beginning of this feed to fully wake her up though. Then between 8am and 830am she wakes up again and I feed her and we then begin our day with awake and tummy time. She will then be put down awake in her bassinet and she begins her crying before she falls asleep on her own. On Monday though we had a really different day. Jeff was gone all day working at Transcend Coffee and I was home alone with Linnea. She was really fussy in the morning and missed her nap between feedings and again after her "lunch time" feeding as well. I realized she was really gassy and not feeling well but overtired. By the late afternoon she was quite hysterical and wouldn't feed at dinner time. She would just scream. I finally got her to sleep for an hour and then she ate really well after an almost 5 hour break without feeding. I was kinda freaking out at this point wondering what I was doing wrong, but she just was so tired and not feeling well. After that her evening and late night feedings were awesome and she still slept well at night.

Tomorrow I am doing my first photoshoot after having Linnea. I'll be photographing the vocalist Eva Bostrand, providing her with new headshots. This coming weekend I'll also be photographing 2 weddings. On Saturday I'll be in Edmonton and have help from friends Aaron and Shaun and then on Sunday we drive out early in the morning to the Kananaskis to photograph the 2nd wedding with friends Aaron and Lane. It should be really fun but tiring I'm sure! Jeff will be joining us on these weddings and bringing Linnea for feeding. It should work out well. :) Right now it's 4:45 and Linnea hasn't really napped since 2:30pm. Ahhh well, sigh....it's all good. She's had some great lung practice this afternoon!

Photos from today

Here are a couple photos I took of Linnea today....12 days old! I was doing laundry and brought her down with me and carried her up in the basket. She was just too cute I had to take a pic! And I love her crying too so there's a photo of that as well.

Some new photos...

My first coffee date with Jeff and Linnea to Transcend...Andrew is in the background giving me a thumbs up. :) Linnea slept the whole time while there. I had a lovely relaxing time visiting and introducing our sleeping beauty to all our friends there. You'll also see a photo of a menu from the restaurant Bacon that Jeff and I enjoy. This was my very first time out since coming from the hospital. Mom took us out for dinner this past Tuesday evening and we enjoyed some great food. She slept the entire time on this trip too. She was soooo good!! She was 8 days old when we went out and got to sit on the patio too! It was a gorgeous evening. The rest of the photos are misc photos I took this past week and I included two shots from the shared care maternity party yesterday. Enjoy!

2 sleeps in a row!!!!!

Linnea has slept really well 2 nights in a row now. I can hardly believe it!! I feel so much better when she sleeps and it's been fantastic. Yesterday night was sad though...my mom left Jeff, Linnea and I to go back home. We really enjoyed having her around these first 2 weeks of her life and appreciated all her help around our place and with our little girl. It was very hard to see her go, but I promised to keep her updated on the developments. I'm going to try and download some new photos and upload them soon. Because I see her every day I don't really notice the slight changes but some people have said she's started changing in her face already...Wow! Yesterday we had our first post natal appt and she weighs 8 lbs 1 oz right now. She's very healthy and her slight jaundice is almost gone. I mostly only notice it in her eyes right now. Jeff noticed yesterday that her pupils are starting to dilate which is cool. Yesterday the maternity group I was apart of got together for a potluck party with all out newborns. It was a great sight....imagine...11 women with newborns nursing, burping and cuddling in one room. We all shared our birth stories and then we took photos of all the babies on a couch. I will post this photo soon. Linnea was the only one with bare legs and bare feet. :) She was wearing a cute sleeper Grandma Johnson got for her that says "Bug". I'll try to get this online today. :) I had fun hanging out with Linnea as we went out on our own for the first time. She absolutely loves car rides and sleeps instantly...but what baby doesn't eh?

Sleepless...

As many of you mothers out there are aware, there is bound to be some sleepless nights with a newborn. Tonight is one of them. Linnea was simply not feeding super efficiently or well and kept on falling asleep while nursing. I put her down and she kept on waking up and crying. I fed her again even after she chomped on me! Ouch!! I was burping her and she was wide awake yet again and rooting. So I just decided to swaddle her up and stick a pacifier in her mouth. She quieted down immediately and I laid her in her bassinet and now she's sleeping. She may wake up though at any moment if that soother falls out of her mouth. I am hanging around just in case she starts to wail. Jeff has to be at work at 9am and he was with her til 2am so I don't want him to be awakened any more. Yesterday she slept super well and I was really hoping we'd have a night like that again but it's definitely not. The wind is howling outside and I hear it's supposed to snow...it's May!! Geesh!!

I've been responding to emails related to work all week and find that it's pretty much all I can get done for now. I hope eventually I'll be able to get some album designing done as well. In any case - I'm going to go lay down and see if I can sleep a little bit before Linnea wakes up again for her next feeding or even earlier than that....It's truly an adventure!

Welcome Linnea Ruth Johnson!

Linnea arrived on April 28, 2008 at 04:55 am. She was 8 lbs 3 ozs and 20.5 inches long. It was a long and hard labour for me starting Friday night....with 33 hours of active labour. She is a healthy, beautiful baby and Jeff and I enjoy being parents. Here are some photos for you!