Lake Tahoe Family Trip

 Last year we had planned a family trip to Lake Tahoe...before we even knew about Miss Tessa!  It worked out great, however, because she was a month old and we had a trip already set up for all the family to meet her!

It was pretty overwhelming to think of packing for a week with a newborn but I started a little each day so I didn't go too crazy!

Riley got all new ski gear this year so she had fun trying it on and making snow angels on the living room floor while Tessa watched!

We packed up the Tahoe and I fed Tessa just before we left and thanks to great weather we made it up without stopping just in time for her to eat again!  We met Jason's family at Chevy's for lunch and Doc, Bubba, and Gabby got to meet her for the first time!

 After lunch we headed to Heavenly Village to get everyone set up for ski school and get lift tickets and such!  We had to take a family pic in front of the bear.  This is the exact same spot we took our first family picture in Lake Tahoe two years ago!

 That evening my parents arrived too and JoePa got to meet Tessa...he was so excited to hold that baby girl!

 The first day everyone but me and my parents hit the slopes!

Riley was such a cute ski bunny and she did great in ski school!

 Tessa and I went to check on Riley while she was at ski school...I love the Ergo carrier and anytime we were out in the snow that's how I carried her.  She stayed so snuggled up and warm in there!

 Grammie and JoePa...they were hitting the slopes for the first time in 15 years and they did GREAT!

 We went up to one of the lodges and met everyone for lunch and Tessa was excited to see her Daddy!

 JoePa is such a good Grandpa...he let Riley paint his toes one night!  We have a family tradition (with the Hanlon family) that started back at the lake when we all used to spend the summers up there in a house together.  Us girls would paint the boys toys if they fell asleep on the couch...it was SO much fun!  Don't worry...it was very light paint and we had polish remover ready for him when she went to bed!  It was so much fun for her!

 Riley had been BEGGING us to let her snowboard instead of ski but they don't have lessons until you turn 5 which was pretty devastating for her.  So we promised we would ask again the next morning.  Jason took her in and asked and the main guy stuck to his guns and said it was only for 5 year olds.  She wanted to cry but stayed strong and held back her tears.  All the instructors knew her from the day before and this one guy said "Hey..I'll take her out on a board" and the whole place erupted in cheers.  He said she was so tall and had good coordination so he thought she could do it.  Everyone was so excited for her and she of course was elated!

She ended up doing great and was more interested in boarding than skiing.

 After two days of skiing and snowboarding we decided it would be good to take a day off so we had a family day!

We went down to Heavenly Village and let her jump on the huge bungy cord trampoline!

Silly girl!  She kept saying "I want to go higher"

We met Doc for lunch at Chevy's and he got in some good snuggles with Tessa!

 She got to go ice skating with her mama...we both had a blast!

 We ended the day with some sledding at this great hill by our condo!

Those crazies also had a great snowball fight while me and Miss Tessa stayed out of the way!

The next day everyone hit the slopes except for me and the girls.  It was actually snowing so I told Riley we would have a pajama day and cuddle up and watch movies all day!

We did paint her nails for some fun in between movies!

 Snuggled with my girls watching Surfs Up

 That afternoon JoePa took me and the girls to get pedicures!

Sweet girl getting her toes painted!

 Dad and Daughter pedicure date!

 It was Jason's family's last night with us so we met up with everyone for dinner at this great Irish Pub!

Riley adores her Bubba and Gaby!

 The whole gang!

The following day we sent Riley off to ski school, Grammie and JoePa watched Miss Tessa, and Jason and I were off to ski for the day! I never would have imagined I would be skiing 5 weeks postpartum but I felt great and we had a blast!

 We had fun skiing all morning and then met my parents at one of the lodges so I could feed Tessa..it worked perfectly!  We got some food and we were off again!

Love skiing with my hubs!

That evening Grammie and JoePa watched Riley and we took Tessa with us and  had a date night!  We were taking advantage of having grandparents to help with the kiddos!  We found this great restaurant...a great date night place..quiet and quaint with incredible food!  Tessa slept the whole time and was an angel...when we pulled her out of the carseat at one point most of the tables were shocked we had a baby with us the whole time!

On Friday we decided to drive around the lake and just do some sightseeing with my parents!

It was a beautiful day and no matter how many times we go up to Lake Tahoe the beauty of it never gets old!

We stopped at Emerald Bay to take some pics...we forgot to bring the binkie and Tessa wasn't too happy about that!

We just love this place so much!

We drove up to Truckee where we took my parents to eat at Jax at the Tracks and then they strolled around Tahoe City while I fed Tessa. 

We stopped at one of the beaches on the north shore just as the sun was setting and snapped a few more pictures.

 Jason and his girls!

I love this one of Riley with the whole lake in front of her...she had a blast running around on the beach!

We had a great day and the next day it was back home for all of us.  We made some great memories and had a blast sharing Tessa with our family.

1 Month Old

 Tessa is excited to be one month old...can't you tell?

We were literally on our way out the door on our way to Lake Tahoe when I took these so I didn't have much time but needless to say she was not exactly in the mood for picture taking but that's life and I think it's pretty funny!

Weight:  7 lbs 13 oz

Sleeping:  Well of course at just 1 month old Tessa is still sleeping a lot.  She is not on any sort of schedule yet but has just started developing a pattern at night of eating at 9 and then sleeping until 1 am and then sleeping until 5 am when she is up for the day.  All in all it's not too bad and it's so nice to start getting into even a small bit of a routine.  She is napping in various places during the day and sleeping in little co-sleeper that fits in our bed at night.

Eating:  She's eating well and going 2-3 hours during the day and then going for 2 4 hour stretches at night.  She still feeds for 30-45 minutes per feeding.

Doctor: She visited the doctor 4 times in her first month of life all to make sure she was gaining weight properly and even though it took a while she's on the up and up and is gaining weight!

Gas:  This deserves it's own post because boy is this little diva a gassy one.  I remember doing the bicycle moves with Riley every now and then but Miss Tessa has a much harder time with gas.  She will grunt and grunt and scream and this tiny toot will come out.  The first few weeks she would not lay on her back and wanted nothing to do with being swaddled...so she slept on my chest all the time.  When I went on the Fenugreek for my milk it made her gas the worst ever so I went off of it because it just wasn't worth it.  I honestly thought we were going to be in trouble...I didn't mind her sleeping on my chest at a few weeks old but how in the world would we ever get her to sleep like a normal child?  Well just in the last week she has been sleeping on her back and even in a swaddle...it's such a relief.  I think a combination of going off the Fenugreek and her little belly maturing is the reason for this.  I also researched some gas massages and have been doing those on her very regularly and that helps her a lot!

Sisters: So far Riley has been just in love with Tessa...still being really sweet to her and showing no signs of jealousy!  We're constantly having to tell her to not be all up in her face and smothering her but that's much better than telling her not to hit her or throw things at her, right?   There have been lots of sweet sister cuddles!

A few firsts happened for Miss Tessa during her first month!

She got her first bottle on Jan 26 and Riley helped me give it to her!

 She took it like a champ and didn't seem to mind it all!  Neither of my girls are picky eaters...they don't care how they get it as long as they get fed.

Tessa also started playing on the playmat!

She was a little fussy at first because she wanted her binky!

 Once she got her binky she was ready to check it out!

So many people think she looks so much like Riley and while I do see resemblance I also see a lot of differences.  Here's a pic of me holding Tessa and a pic of Riley sleeping at around the same age...you can definitely see the resemblance.

Some pictures it seems like I couldn't even tell you which girl it is...like this one!  It is Riley by the way!

But when you look at them straight on I see more of a difference!  Time will tell!

Got milk?

So I believe Miss Tessa is going to be my little bean and I'm completely fine with that.  The first few weeks, though, turned out to be somewhat stressful trying to get her to gain weight!

 

I breastfed Riley for 4 months but had also started supplementing her with formula VERY early and was never able to make up for it so I was determined to try and do things differently this time.  Breastfeeding is super tough and it's easy to give up on if you don't totally understand how it works.  So Tessa was born weighing 7 lbs 8 oz and she started eating right away.  Our first checkup with the pediatrician was Jan 4th and she weighed 7lbs 1 oz...still a normal amount of drop in weight so no big deal but the doc did need to see her get back to her birth weight so we had to go in a few days later, Jan 9th to have a weight check.  At that appt she only weighed 7 lbs 1/2 oz so she had actually lost 1/2 an ounce.  We have been taking her to a pediatrician office off base and I absolutely love the doctor.  He was still not stressing me out and said he was not at all worried about her because everything about her was fine.  She was not jaundiced, she was alert, and she was having all the normal amount of diapers.  He did recommend I see a lactation consultant and I did and she was extremely helpful.  She showed me that I wasn't feeding her long enough.  I thought she was just a more efficient eater than Riley but turns out she was missing out on some good stuff.  I also started taking Fenugreek and pumping a lot to try and increase my supply.  A friend of mine had a baby scale so I borrowed that too and was able to weigh her before and after feedings and on a regular basis so I had the peace of mind that she was in fact gaining weight.  

When we went back for another weight check on Jan 13th she had gained a little weighing in at 7lbs 3 oz so we were moving in the right direction.  Our final weight check on Jan 26...almost one month old...she had finally gotten past her birth weight and weighed in at 7lbs 13 oz.  Phew!  It doesn't matter that my doctor wasn't stressed...knowing your baby is not gaining enough weight is super stressful  He never pushed me to give her formula and give up on breastfeeding and I'm so glad because it all worked out and as of now I haven't had to supplement at all!  She'll forever be my long and lean girl and there's nothing wrong with that.  Once I knew she was moving in the right direction I was ok with her being tiny because after all they grow up way too fast!  Genes may have something to do with it because although you would never guess Jason was always 10th percentile weight until he was 7 or 8!  I was born weighing 9 lbs 8 oz so she surely didn't get this tiny baby thing from her mama!

I absolutely love all that the iPhone has to offer that I didn't get to experience with Riley!  I have been using the Total Baby app and it's AWESOME!  It tracks everything...doc visits, growth, immunizations, feeding, sleeping, diapers, baths, pumped milk storage, etc.  You name it this app probably has it!  No more spreadsheets, writing things down, or simply trying to remember when they last had a bath!