its been a while, hasn't it?

so it has. sorry! things, as you might imagine, are busy these days. so, here is a quick update.

shirley smiles - a lot!














its ridiculously adorable!

i think she is on the verge of giggles.

shirley also holds her head up very well, sleeps in her own room, loves looking at the mobile above her crib, and has almost figured out how to get her thumb in her mouth!

oh yeah! i almost forgot. she looooooooves bathtime!

wearing shirley

for the past couple of weeks shirley has had a little cold and a lot of gas, so she has been a bit fussy. last night was especially difficult. i think she cried for 3 hours or so before she finally drifted off to sleep. i think the one thing we forgot to try was wearing her. so, this morning when i decided it was time for shirley to take a nap i put her down in her crib. she didn't sleep and started to fuss after about 45 minutes, so i decided to wear her. i walked around, started some diaper laundry, read her dr. seuss and within 10 minutes she was fast asleep and still is. i am wearing her as i write. i did more laundry while she was sleeping, ate cereal (without getting any on her!), read all my blogs and as soon as i am done with this i am going to watch last nights episode of sing off. yeah!

Whens day?

Stoked on....My daughter's hands. There's strong

Photo: H. Pearson

Stoked on....My wife. She's a natural at this mom thing.

Photo: H. Pearson

Stoked on...and warm place to come home to. Again, I'm lucky.

Photo: Tami Pearson

whats new

well, i have to say that keeping up with this blog is quite difficult, but if we can manage at least one post a week between harry i, i will be satisfied, and i hope that will satisfy our readers (and shirley when she is older - assuming this blog survives a good 20 years or so. i suppose that is when she will appreciate it.).

so, here is what is new:

shirley is 5 weeks old and now weighs in a 9 lbs. 9 oz. her belly button stub fell off and she now only poops once a day (which, really yes, is ok). she is definitely bigger and definitely adorable! and she is starting to coo and make all kinds of noises. i wonder what she is saying...

anyway, there are tons of new(ish) photos right here.

here is one of my favorites (even though shirley's face is a bit squished).

At work and missing them.

Photo: Dad
Our first Thanksgiving is going to be radness though.

this is how shirley wakes up...







































..and then falls back asleep.

bathing and walking

this is what we did yesterday:




and we took a really loooooong walk to the park, around the park and then home. shirley slept soundly the whole time, and i was exhausted after. we had excellent weather, though, and it was great to get out and move around.

besides that not much else is new - shirley is doing great. she is sleeping a lot, which is good for us, and eating a lot, which is great for her. so, all is well!

Dadness

Finally, I'll be posting with real purpose now.
I think I have about a million things I'd like to write about our daughter, but I think these pictures convey the message I'd be sending.



She's the best.

my little zombie

do you watch zombie movies? we do. and actually, when i was in the ldr (thats labor, delivery, recovery for you non-parentals) on halloween, sometimes numb and sometimes not (the epidural had to be re-administered after about an hour), we were watching zombie movies. kinda weird. anyway, i digress.

if you watch zombie movies, you know that zombies will try to eat whatever flesh is closest to their mouth, so if a zombie is coming after you and you try to push it away, it will just try to eat your hand or your arm or whatever limb you are pushing it away with. here is an example (from shaun of the dead - one of our favorite zombie movies):

this is pretty much what shirley does when she is hungry. her head sort of thrashes back and forth, she tries to eat your hand or your nose or whatever is near her mouth, and she makes grunting sort of noises - just a like a zombie!

shirley is my little zombie and i love her.

first week

it is another blog! this time the authors are mommy and daddy - tami (thats me!) and harry, but i think we will have some guest posters once in a while to spice it up (hear that allison?!).

anyway, it has been a whirlwind of a week starting with the birth of our daughter, shirley lucille, and ending with a traditional baby naming ceremony for little shirley. we gave her the hebrew name, shayna, which means "beautiful," and she really is! shirley was blessed by the rabbi in the company of many of our friends and family who traveled from all over the world and from maine to new york to north jersey to join us for the special event welcoming shirley into the jewish community. it was wonderful!

over the course of shirley's first week, we have gone from struggling to wake shirley up to eat, to hearing her little coos and lips smacking after a 2.5 hour nap - waking up ready to eat! she was a little yellow in the beginning and now she is pink - bye bye bilirubin!

we are tired and physically exhausted, but unbelievably happy and thankful for our little shirley. she is amazing.

check back for regular updates on this blog. we will post photos, funny stories about our adventures with shirley, talk about cloth diapers and whatever else comes to mind. we hope you enjoy it!

before i go, i want to send a special thank you to our friends and families who have spent many hours of our their time cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, and doing whatever they can to help us. harry and i love you guys - and so does shirley!

see photos here.