Happy Halloween!

DSC_8604.jpg, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Brian Rebekah and Rachel all wish you a happy Halloween!

iPads

DSC_2758.jpg, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Brian here,

The iPad was announced a while back and it looked like a sort of cool gadget. However, the price of over $500 seemed a little bit steep for a device that's primary purpose seems to be reading eBooks and surfing the internet. After all, my PC can do all of those things. Even if someone GAVE me an iPad, what would I even use it for?

Today I found out why an iPad is more useful than a normal computer or laptop.

And the reason is:

*Drum Roll*

You can easily surf the web using an iPad while going number two.

Rachel's Welcome Shower

DSC_8545.jpg, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Two weekends ago Rachel's grammy (Brian's mother) and great-grammy (Brian's grammy) threw a welcome shower. I have to admit I was a little worried about how Rachel would do. Babies are not known to cooperate or operate on our schedules. After all my unnecessary fretting Rachel slept through most of the shower and we had a great time eating, opening gifts, seeing family, and meeting Grammy's friends. Grammy and Great-Grammy did a fabulous job planning, decorating, and cooking.

Rachel Learns a New Trick

DSC_8484.jpg, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Brian here,

Last night we put Rachel down in the crib all bundled up and turned out the lights around 10:15pm. She wasn't quite ready to fall asleep yet but she didn't cry and just lay there until she fell asleep.

At 5:20 am Rebekah and I woke up but didn't say anything. Then again at 5:30, and 5:40. Finally by 5:50 Rebekah asked, "She hasn't woken up yet." to which I replied, "She needs to soon, I've been waiting until she cried to go potty!"

Anyway, Rachel didn't wake up until 7:30 when I finally decided it was time for me to get out of bed and stop sleeping. And since we woke her up she wasn't starving and didn't cry madly while we changed her diaper.

In other Rachel news, she has started getting fussy when she has a wet diaper. So now we get to change her diapers even more. But she is quiet again after we change them so that's nice.

Rachel Hits 8 Pounds

DSC_8526.jpg, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Brian here,

Wednesday afternoon when I got home from work we weighed Rachel and she finally hit the 8 pound mark! Only 16 ounces left to hit 9 pounds right?

Wednesday night I was lying on the couch with my belly up and I held Rachel so she was sitting on my tummy. She seemed to really enjoy sitting up like that because she had a heated seat (me) and she got to look all around the room. It was a nice little break since lately she has seemed to be extra fussy.

Rachel Models For Us

Brian here,

Rachel decided she wanted to wear her Halloween outfit a little early this year and then she asked us to take her picture. So here she is showing off.

Rachel Gains Weight

DSC_8519.jpg, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Brian here,

When Rachel was first born the doctor was worried about her weight because she wasn't gaining enough weight per day and she was in the 3rd percentile for baby weight which was way too low according to the doctor. After a couple of weeks of doctor visits and finding out that she still wasn't gaining enough Rebekah and I decided to stop listening to the doctor about allowing 3 hours in between feedings if she wasn't asking to be fed. We decided that during the day we would force her to eat every two hours if she didn't ask for it sooner. This plan worked wonderfully and she started to gain over an ounce a day which made the doctor happy.

At Rachel's 1 month appointment the doctor said, "Keep doing what you are doing." We weren't a big fan of that because feeding her every two hours and waking up twice during the night for feeding is really tough so we bought a baby scale to keep track of Rachel's weight so we could start experimenting with feeding times. Wednesday night we decided to let Rachel go 4 hours between feedings at night and she gained 2 ounces! So Thursday night we didn't even set the alarm. We let her crying wake us up for feeding and she only woke up once! This is great news because Rebekah only has to feed Rachel once and I don't have to feed her at all. Then Rebekah can keep sleeping after I wake up to get ready for work. We weighed her again Thursday afternoon and she had only gained .5 ounces. Hopefully she will gain a little more by Friday afternoon.