Wildlights

Last weekend, we went to the Columbus Zoo for Wildlights with Sam's brother and his family, Dan, Beth, and Ethan. We were a little apprehensive thinking Inga would just have a total meltdown in the evening, but we totally wore her out earlier in the day Christmas shopping. She slept the entire time we walked around. It was nice not having a squirming girl in the carrier, but sleeping babies are super heavy!

It was the first really cold night of the season. The little tyke was all bundled up and so was I, but Sam forgot to bring a warm hat and was a bit cold. The lights were very pretty. I had never been to see them before and was impressed with the sheer number of lights. There are so many the zoo doesn't even turn on the regular street lights. We saw a few of the animals in the inside exhibits like the aquarium. There was a baby manatee that was super cute. It was pretty crowded (and cold) so we left after a couple hours.

We had a great time and will definitely go next year. Hopefully, Inga will be awake to see all the lights (and in a stroller; she's getting heavy).

This is what she looked like the whole time.

All bundled up for our evening walk

New Favorite Photo

This was too good not to share. It was taken during our attempt at a family Christmas photo.

3 Months

Ingrid is 3 months old! She has changed a lot in one month. She smiles, giggles and babbles all the time. She likes to have conversations while nursing, which means meal times take awhile even though she is a power nurser. She is very vocal and has a large repertoire of sounds for communication.

Her new favorite activity is standing. I am amazed at how long she can stand and giggle. She recently added taking baby steps to her standing routine. Maybe she will be an early walker. Probably not since she is also really working on pushing up onto her hands and knees. She now notices objects and wants to be much more mobile.

She is certainly growing. A week ago we moved into 3-6 month size clothing. I must say she has a very cute collection of 3-6 month clothes. We go to the doctor next week for an official weight check.

Sitting up about as well as the bear now (with the classic Wiley, open mouth smile).

The tongue makes many appearances nowadays. She has also found her fists and enjoys sucking on both fists to pass the time. Next up: the toes!

"I want to play with the camera, Mom."

This has got be her new favorite toy. It's a blanket our friend, Tiara, made for us as a wedding gift. Ingrid is totally fascinated by all the texture. She loves to stand up on the arm of the couch and just touch the blanket (and drool on it).

Thanksgiving Events

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is the least stressful. Everyone just gathers around a delicious meal and recounts their many blessings. We did Thanksgiving with the Wileys this year. The Wiley Thanksgiving is always a large affair. There were 19 of us this year including 6 children under 6 and 2 babies under 1. We had a lot of fun and the food was delicious as usual.

Thanksgiving actually began a week early with a special lunch at great grandma Foley's nursing home. This was the first time Ingrid had met great grandma and Ingrid really liked great grandma.
Ingrid loves to sit up by herself and look around. She must feel like a big girl when she can sit in a chair on her own.

Surveying the chaos her cousins are creating.

Relaxing with Daddy after eating lots of turkey and turkey milk

The next day we tried to work off some the calories with Sam's sister, Anna, and her fiance, Michael. We took a walk at Black Hand Gorge State Preserve along the oak knob trail. We had never walked this trail and were pleasantly surprised by the views of the gorge and Licking river below.

I have walked the bike trail along the bottom of the gorge many times, but thought this trail was much nicer. Towards the end of the trail we found a little waterfall that was busing carving out the sandstone. There were actually several interesting sandstone formations along this creek the trail followed for awhile. Sometimes I forget that this area of Ohio actually has interesting little hikes hidden away.

On Saturday, Ingrid and I went to Anna's wedding shower. Ingrid was very well behaved and even took a nice little nap in my arms while socialized. I was one of the lucky people chosen to be dressed in a toilet paper wedding dress. It was quit amusing standing there while my sisters-in-law tried to make a stylish dress out of toilet paper.

And because no Thanksgiving blog would be complete without it, this year I am most thankful for Sam and Ingrid.

First Smile on Camera

This could also be titled, "Oh no! We've found the legos!"

2 Months!

Continuing my series charting Ingrid's growth and development, she is now 8 weeks old. I don't have a weight or height because she doesn't go into the doctor until 3 months. She is wearing 3 month size clothing and size 2 diapers so I am guessing she's about 13 pounds and 23 inches.

Her new favorite activities include sitting up (supported) and looking around. She can hold her head up pretty well and is more and more interested in looking around the room. She also likes bath time and playing peek-a-boo with Daddy. She has also started cooing and making a very distinct whining when she doesn't like something as opposed to being hungry or having a dirty diaper. She is also working on smiling when socially appropriate, but she's a little ways off from laughing.

We are turning her into our good little traveler. Although she does get bored in the car seat after awhile if she does not want to take a nap. I am looking forward to taking her to California for Christmas. Hopefully, it will be the first of many trips out West for little Inga.

Classic slightly perplexed look

The big, pink bear makes another appearance.

Can we go play now, Mom?

Cleveland: at least it's not Detroit

We drove up to Lakewood to visit Emrys before he moved to NYC in a few weeks. The great part about going up to Lakewood is we have several friends that live there so we were able to see the Petries and Mike.

We stayed with the Petries in their new apartment with a view of Lake Erie. It was pretty nice being so close to the Lake. Their one year old daughter, Laila, was very interested in Ingrid, but didn't know quite what to do with a little baby. On Sunday, we took a walk to Lakewood park since it was such a beautiful day. We also had lunch/dinner at this great pub, Deagan's. I highly recommend it, if you are in Lakewood.

Ingrid did a great job on her first overnight trip. She was a wonderful sleeper in her travel crib. I am very glad she is not picky about where she sleeps. She needs to have her bedtime routine and then she will just snooze away for several hours.

Cleveland skyline from Lakewood

I love my Ergo carrier (and so does Inga).

Laila being a total ham.

The little Petrie family

The little Wiley family

Going for a Drive

Checking in with the doctor

Ingrid went in for her 1 month check-up on Monday. (Yes, a week late because our doctor needed a vacation the week before. Weird.)

Weight: 10 lbs 14 oz

Length: 22 in

Percentile: ~80%

That's my big girl!

She almost had a total blow out for the doctor. However, I intervened to do a quick diaper change and avoid a very messy girl.

I was so happy to go back to our regular family doctor after all the pediatricians at the hospital. It's not that I am opposed to vaccination, but I am very tired of pediatricians acting like I am an abusive parent for not wanting to follow all their recommendations. Plus, the only people in our doctor's waiting room are retirees with a chronic illness. The kids at a pediatrician's office are very likely to have whatever contagious illness is going around school.

Another reason I'm leery of vaccine recommendations: the Pharma Lobby.

One Month

Ingrid is one month old already!

Ingrid's big accomplishment this month was sleeping at night. She is already on a daytime and nighttime schedule. While she still wakes up at night to eat, she goes right back to sleep and there is typically one 4 hour long stretch in there. This is very wonderful and quite the accomplishment.

Ingrid's current list of favorite things includes: cuddles (especially with Daddy), clean diapers, nursing, and her bouncy chair.

The bear is there for size comparison

Big, chubby cheeks!

First Family Outing

As you probably already know, Ingrid Joy was born on Aug. 30. She weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz and measured 20 inches long. She is know over 9 lbs and keeps getting longer.

A few days after getting home from the hospital, we took her out for her first walk around the neighborhood. She was very fascinated by all the sounds and smells. She really likes going for walks.

So far, Ingrid has been pretty easy to take places. She has been to Grandma Wiley's, two restaurants for lunch, the park and Roscoe Village, and the grocery store. I am hoping she keeps this up otherwise it's going to be a very long plane ride to California this Christmas.

37 Weeks

Last trip before baby

On July 9, our friends, Keaton and Rebekah, got married! Yay! It was a real do-it-yourself wedding and we had agreed to help out with reception preparations the day before the wedding. The wedding was in Milwaukee and a few months ago I thought it would be no problem to drive up. Well, it was a very long drive at 33 weeks, but Jean-Luc and I toughed it out. It was worth the hours on the road because we got to see a bunch of friends from college we hadn't seen in close to 2 years.

Working on bouquets

Preparing wedding favors

Pretty bouquets

Enjoying a beer after helping set up the reception hall

Lydia feeding Ransom

Sam was MC of the reception

33 weeks

More college friends

The bride enjoying a cigar

On our drive back home, we stopped by chinatown in Chicago for lunch.

Mmmm...dim sum.

I have decided that is the last trip before baby arrives. Unfortunately, it means missing another friend's wedding this weekend, but I am just too pregnant for a 5 hour car ride. Are you almost done in there, baby?

Wiley Family Reunion

This weekend has been very busy for me and Sam. In addition to an unexpected trip to Michigan, a large chunk of Sam's extended family were in town for a reunion Sam's mom had been planning for over a year. We missed events on Saturday evening, but Sunday was the big all-day Wiley family reunion.

I actually had a great time meeting Sam's extended family. There were people from Ohio, Indiana, Washington, California and even Hawaii. I was a little surprised how many little kids there were. I guess all the Wileys really like big families and there is no fear of the Wiley name dying out anytime soon. Sam and I helped with an egg hunt for the kids (who says you can't do an Easter egg hunt in July?). All the eggs were filled with Starburst and then every kid got a prize toy. It was really funny watching some of the kids try to trade up for more toys with Starburst. They got an early economics lesson. It took a lot of Starburst to buy a toy and most of the kids were not interested in selling their toys.

I didn't take many pictures because Sam's uncle was taking "official" video and pictures of the event that I will get copies of later. But I did take pictures of all my cute nephews and niece.

Ambrose loved Jim and Justin's music. He was dancing on stage with them.

Sam's dad and his brother in a classic tech-gadget moment.

Caleb and Titus in a moment of cooperation.

Nathan had a lot of fun with a grocery bag. He even was getting the hang of the potato sack race.

Sam's cousin, Cheryl, and our niece, Sonja. Sonja is a little cuddle bug.

Ethan is mobile!