Baby Log: Week 7

It has come to my attention that my online baby journal does not correspond to Marlie's age. For instance, this journal entry is titled Baby Log: Week 7 so it should chronicle what happens during her 7th week, but Marlie just turned 7 weeks today. This post title should really be next week's, right? I have never been good with numbers, ugh! I should have labeled my first baby blog journal entry Week Zero. Too late now. Anyways, here's Marlie's weekly update:

• She has the cutest double chin and fat rolls on her neck and under her arms! Her new nicknames are fatty boom-boom, chubby wubby and chunky monkey. She weighed 9 lbs., 7 oz. at her follow-up visit to the pediatrician on Thursday where she got an all-clear on the cradle cap and thrush. Hooray! She is experiencing nasal congestion at night and will sometimes sneeze three times in a row (just like her daddy...funny!). We're getting her a humidifier this weekend.
• She had another growth spurt and was nursing like a little piggie at the trough. It felt like she was permanently attached to my chest like a parasite. I was rewarded for my patience though with...wait for it...FOUR HOURS OF UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP AT NIGHT! You read that right. For the past three nights she has slept from 11/11:30 pm-3/3:30 am. I awoke panic-stricken the first time it happened thinking something was wrong, but when I checked on her she was blissfully asleep and woke up a few minutes later to nurse. I never knew fours hours of consecutive sleep could feel soooooo good! It is still a struggle to put her to bed at night. Damon usually rocks her to sleep and she fights like a warrior! He likens the process of getting her to sleep to the "death throes" horror movie villains perform before finally surrendering to their fate.
• Last week we took an infant CPR and child safety course at our local hospital. This week we did some more family preparedness stuff like putting together an emergency supply kit.
• She loves exercising on the yoga mat. She gets lots of traction so she can now scoot on her belly!
• We have started taking her for walks too. We walked to church for the last two Sundays and walked to visit some neighbors on Wednesday evening.
• Speaking of church, I was part of a ceremony called the churching of womyn to celebrate the new mommies in the congregation. It was so touching!
• I started planning her christening for Thanksgiving weekend (in honor of the time she was conceived last year). She already has her gown thanks to her godmother. This will be the first time we are hosting our families for the holidays...pray for me!
• We had a mommy and me Friday. We went to lunch together. I had a mushroom swiss sandwich and she had the breast milk. Then we went to Mater-Na-Tea at the birthing center where we joined some other new mothers and babies in sharing our birth stories.
• She is smiling back at me now, and it has me falling in love with her all over again! She is making all sorts of noises like cooing when she is happy and shrieking when she is displeased. Her middle name does mean "will be heard." She also "talks" in her sleep. It's so cute to hear her dreamy mumblings!