Month 1

Hello again!

Malia here. I can't believe how fast time has gone! Zia is growing like crazy, and I have about a million pictures to share.

During Zia's first few days, we had to go to the hospital every day to get her bilirubin levels checked. She had just enough jaundice to keep them worried. I hated watching them prick her tiny heels! :( That's enough to break any mommy's heart. My mom stayed with us, as I said in my previous post, and that was awesome. Since I had slept so little the night before I had Zia and not much more in the hospital, I went home pretty exhausted. My mom helped me wake up to feed her and took care of the apartment while I took care of myself and Zia. I also was finishing up the last semester of my associates at UVU, and she watched Zia while I did a few school things, which was awesome. I don't know what I would have done without her! I stole a few of these pictures from her awesome blog, purposedrivenmotherhood.blogspot.com. She is pretty smitten. :) There is nothing quite like Zia cuddles, and she gets lots of them!

My dad and siblings came down to see Zia almost every day when she was first born. They couldn't get enough of her!

Zia's first doctor appointment was a little weight check the Monday after Zia was born. (She was born on a Thursday.) Austin was at work, so my mom and I took her. 

My tiny baby loves her grandma!

Zia lost 4 ounces after she was born, but
she had already gained one back by Monday!

Mom also went with us to show Zia off really quick at Good Earth.
Austin and I met there, so it has special significance to us. Our friends
thought Zia was adorable. :)

Here are some more pictures from her first days at home.

First full day at home! Even the newborn clothes were huge
on this little lady!

Her little hands are always by her face! Before I clipped
her nails, we had to keep those bad-boys covered!
My mom would call it her boxing stance. :)

This was the only hat that fit Zia at first.

These next pictures were taken on the 16th, Zia's original due date. First time moms typically go late, so I hadn't been expecting to have her early!

Frog legs! To go along with her boxing hands, of course. :)

She made this face one day as I was trying to take a picture
to send to my parents. Turns out she sometimes makes
this face when trying to poop! The stuff filling her diaper
afterward was quite explosive! My mom and siblings got a
kick out of that!

Zia's Grandma Springer bought this outfit for her.
Isn't it adorable? I love the little giraffe feet.

 Austin's mom was able to see Zia for the first time on the 16th as well. She and her husband, Tony, thought she was pretty dang cute. Can you blame them?

Zia's first bath! She hated it. 

A lot.

Note how big even this tiny outfit is on her. There is a picture
later on with her wearing the same thing. She's growing fast!

1 week old!

Heidi Porter of Monkeyface Photography did Zia's
newborn pictures. Here Zia is, packed up and ready to go!

I took a candid shot of Zia in this outfit (I just had too), and Heidi's
professional shots turned out so great!

 Here are some of the pictures from Zia's shoot by Monkeyface Photography.

After the shoot, we drove up to have dinner with the extended family to celebrate a birthday. It was lots of fun, though a little stressful, since Zia hadn't been out of the house for that long before. Unfortunately, my little brother got the stomach flu the next day and passed on the germs to her without knowing it. She was sick for about two days, which broke my heart! A projectile-vomiting newborn is enough to freak any new parent out! I felt so bad that we had taken her out in public too soon. We had been careful about making sure people washed their hands and used hand sanitizer, but apparently we were not careful enough. She got through it with some TLC, gripe water, and probiotics.

This picture looks kind of funny because I took it while Zia was
sleeping on my chest. It's so yummy to have a newborn sleep on you.

Our stylish little lady in her first church outfit.
(We didn't know she was sick until later that day.)

Our girl is even adorable when she's really sick. She
likes to sit up with a little help.

We kept towels on the bed to help keep cleanup as simple as possible.
I love her cute hands under her chin in this picture. When we burrito
wrap her, she tends to freak out until her hands are out and free again.
Silly girl!

Luckily, by Tuesday she was feeling much better. Austin had an early work meeting, and I had a biology final to take (at 7 in the morning--can you believe that?). Shantel came over to watch Zia for us.

Zia looks soo cute in the outfit her aunt Shantel bought for her!

Sorry, the lighting is really weird in this picture.

Looking at Zia's profile, I think she still looks so much
like the profile we saw during her ultrasounds. I always
liked to imagine what she would look like. Now she's here!

Austin looooves to have Zia sleep on his chest and
dress her in cute little skirts and dresses. :)

She looks even tinier next to his big, muscular body!

2 weeks old!

Austin likes to steal Zia for naps....

...but sometimes he is the only one who sleeps!

We took Zia for our first family walk in our awesome
stroller with her wearing these cute preemie overalls.
We visited Zia's Provo grandparents, Joe and Joyce.

I am not a fan of mirror pictures, but I have to have
 some pictures of the two of us together when she's tiny!

Great-grandma Georgia, Great-aunt Natalie, Grandma Becky,
and Uncle Gabe all came down for another visit.

Second time going to church with this little lady.

Zia's nose gets all pinched when she yawns.
It might just be the cutest thing ever.

She may not have much hair, but what little she does have
gets some crazy bedhead!

3 weeks old!

I put her in the crib to take a nap for the first time, and she did
really well! I was impressed.

My best friends from high school, Lauren and Conner, were married
on May 7th. This is a picture of our little family that my mom snapped
while we were waiting for the bride and the groom to make their grand entrance.

After the wedding, Austin had to go back to Provo to work.
Zia and I stayed in Syracuse with my family for the day.

Doing the best I can with a front-facing camera!

My brother Gabe calls himself Zia's favorite uncle. She does love to hang out with him!
This is a picture of the two of them hanging out on Gabe's bed.

It's so sweet to watch Adam with Zia. He's a bit of a softy!

This was so sweet. We were changing the sheets after a big spit up, and I
had to put Zia down to clean up the mess. She put herself down for a nap. Cute!

4 weeks old!
Sleeping on Daddy's lap. There are those frog legs again!

I had two Moby wraps hand-me-downed to us, and we
finally tried it out the other day. Zia loved it, and it made
running errands much easier!

She likes to sit propped up in the Boppy pillow.

Remember that picture earlier of this same outfit?
Look how much she's grown!

And at just over a month old, Zia rolled over all by herself! She was doing tummy time with Austin while I did the dishes. I came over to watch them for a minute, and I'm glad I did! I wouldn't have missed seeing that for the world!

Needless to say, we really love our Zia!

Thanks for reading!