Visitors! Date night! Giggles!!

Grandma Sherri & Grandpa Al have come to visit us for the weekend! Hooray! We always love visitors, especially since we haven't seen any family since Christmas. They arrived around 6:15pm Friday night and since Miss Morgan was rather tired by then and not at all interested in a cat nap (like usual - she must have known there was fun coming), she was a little overwhelmed when they arrived. I believe she might be experiencing a little bit of stranger danger as she got upset near bedtime earlier this week when a friend (Jason) came over for dinner (he was "baching" it up - Adam's term for guy without his wife present for the night) and Morgan got upset when he said hi to her. Then when G&G came Friday night, they were SO happy to see her, she was tired, and all of a sudden this HUGE pout lip came flying out of nowhere and she was sad until one of us took her. It makes me feel good to know that she knows us so well that we calm her. I know this is normal but it still feels good. :) I'm hoping this isn't a permanent thing and that it's more related to her being tired and close to bedtime.

Friday, Morgan had her very first Valentine's Day Party at daycare. She brought valentines tied with ribbon to fruit snacks and received many of the same in return. She also got a bib that said "Mommy thinks she's in charge" from her friend, Brooklyn, and some yogurt bites from her good friend, Adelle, who says "The baby's here!" every time that Morgan shows up for daycare. We took pictures of Morgan with her valentines and I'll post it later. I don't know why but that's super adorable to me that she had a little v-day party. Mary also took (or tried) a picture of all the daycare kids so we'll get a copy when she has a chance. She wasn't sure if it would turn out b/c some of the kids are movers and shakers. :)

Speaking of daycare Friday, I showed up to bring Morgan home and asked how she'd eaten. Since getting sick, she'd only been eating about 2-4oz bottles each day at daycare; compare this to the almost 3-4oz bottles she'd been eating about 2 weeks before; and Mary smiles and reported that Morgan had not only (quickly) eaten the 2 bottles I had sent along (4oz each), but she'd also had 3oz from the frozen stash kept at her house! This was very bitter sweet - Yay! She is finally eating more again!! Boo - I canNOT keep up with a baby who eats more than 8-9oz a day at daycare b/c I'm only making about 8-10oz per day while pumping at work. Unfortunately, this has pretty much been the case of my "productivity" for the past month or two. I've also noticed a few times the past few nights that Morgan is still hungry after I'm done feeding her the last feeding for the night and needs 1-2oz of formula before going down for the night. :-( I knew this day was coming but it's officially here which means stinkier baby poop. I'm still going to go with the flow and keep pumping and feeding her as much as I can and only supplement her with formula as needed. My goal is to make it at least 6 months (only 2 to go!) and reassess at that time. Ideally I'd be breastfeeding her until I start back to work in August at which point I know I'm not pumping at work anymore. If she's still taking morning/bedtime feedings then, that's fine with me. She gets to start rice cereal (which is flakes mixed with milk/formula, for those of you who don't know - Adam didn't) in a few weeks when she's 4 months (on the 19th) after we go to her doctor's appt/well check on the 26th. I'm really excited to see what that does (sleeping through the night??? can a mother wish??)...

Today was Morgan's first day playing outside in the winter. Our friends, Jason & Julie, just bought a rather large plot of land (100+ acres) and we went out to see it...and brought Morgan along. Since her cold is doing fine and it was relatively warm out (27 degrees and super sunny), we bundled her up in fleece and a baby snowsuit and headed out. She did pretty well until she realized she was tired and slightly hungry at which point Julie & I headed back to the truck and I fed her some formula and we waited for the guys to return. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so we couldn't take pictures of her in her little snowsuit playing outside for the first time. I'm SURE there will be many more times to come.

On the parent front, Adam & I got to go out for a "date night" for the first time in FOREVER. We've been able to go out for dinner in town here but it was usually rushed and we were worried about how Morgan was doing. So Grandma Sherri & Grandpa Al watched Morgan and we headed to the Quad Cities (woah - far far away...jk, it's only 30 minutes) to see Avatar and get some dinner. First of all, I must say that Avatar was THE coolest movie I have ever seen in my whole life on so many fronts. It took a while for my eyes to get used to the 3D effects/glasses but after they did, it was AWESOME. I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wants to see something cool. It was a little science-y, had a great story line, and had the best special effects I've ever seen. In other words, go see it. :) We then headed to BW3s (I'm the coolest wife ever for going there for V-day) and had some dinner before heading home. We got a good report of behavior from the G-parents and Morgan slept AWESOME last night - up for one feeding only for about 35 minutes - NO nuk replacements the ENTIRE night. Again - best. night. ever. :)

I suppose I should continue this good wife trend and go take something out for dinner. I don't have to work tomorrow b/c I took a non-contract day - my office was closed anyway - so I'm going "big girl shopping" with a few friends to the outlet mall in Williamsburg. I'm SO super excited about it and feel a little guilty about not bringing Morgan and instead sending her to daycare for a few hours while I'm gone. I think it's ok to take mommy time but I think I'm going to miss her while I'm gone.

Oh - two more things real quick - Morgan giggled for the first time yesterday! It was awesome. We (Al, Sherri, Adam, me, & Morgan) went bowling in the afternoon and Grandma Sherri decided it was time to kiss and nuzzle Morgan in the neck...and all of a sudden she giggled! I repeated it today doing the same thing and it was hilarious. We were all laughing at that point. Second thing - She's REALLY getting active on the floor. As in pushing her feet into the ground, lifting her butt up, rolling to her *side* and getting stuck for real today...I think it's coming soon. I just hope I get to see it!! Gotta go now...more later! Yay for a growing baby!