The Nuk Snatcher

I've been trying for weeks to get a picture of our cat Steven (a.k.a. "The Nuk Snatcher") in action. For those of you that don't know, our cat has become obsessed with stealing Berkley's pacifiers...he seriously searches them out (despite our attempts at hiding them or putting them where he can't get them). Once he has one, he bats it around for awhile, and before we know it...it's gone. He has taken 3 of them and has them hidden somewhere - they've been missing for weeks and we have no clue where he's putting them. Someday we'll find a stash of them (and who knows what else!). He even started jumping INTO the pack-n-play looking for them! Here he is trying to sneak a peek into her carseat while she is taking a snooze...and another with him getting comfy on her blanket.

So as you can see, the cats are getting more accustomed to Berkley being around the house! Bailey (our other cat) isn't as intrigued with her...he's just happy when I have to get up with her during the night so he can take my warm place in bed.

A few more recent pics:

Berkley's first playdate

My good friend Janelle came up to the farm today to meet Berkley and visit for awhile. She has 3 kids and she is a total super-mom...it was so great to catch up! Her oldest (Morgan) was at school, but she brought along her little boy Zach and her little girl Reese, who is almost 6 months old. While it's a little extreme to say that the girls "played" together, I think they were at least intrigued by one another! Janelle also works part-time, and has Thursdays and Fridays off...so I think our girls will have plenty of playdates in their future :)

I planned to get a picture of the two of them together, but never managed to do it. Here's a pic of her cutie pie Reese though...

Berkley Video...

Berkley has discovered that it's fun to see how much of her hand she can get in her mouth! She's also quite the little drooler when she wants to be!

Go Badgers!

Berkley is getting into the basketball tournament and cheering on the Badgers today! Notice her cow print socks...and her hand in the 2nd one is almost like Badger claw? :)

Just being a cutie pie...

With Boone...

9 week update...blankets...and visitors!

Things continue to go well and Berkley's in her 2nd month, and already needing to wear 3 month old clothes for the most part! It's so hard to pack away newborn and 0-3 months clothes that she's barely worn, and are so cute!

I've definitely been enjoying maternity leave the past few weeks with her now that we're finally getting somewhat used to things around here, and the weather has been supportive of us venturing out! Not that I wasn't enjoying it before...but as you all probably realize, it's not as glamorous as one might envision it before experiencing it! Over the past week or so I've been trying to get Berkley a little more "scheduled" for naptimes and just our general day-to-day activities. It started out going really pretty well...she'd take her naps when I encouraged it, she'd have fun when it was play time, and things were great! The past couple of days haven't gone as easily, but we're continuing to work on it. Just when I think she's down for a good nap...she wants to be up after just 10-20 minutes down. My main goal is to do what I can to have things work a little easier for Ben when he's home with her in just over 2 weeks (which, I cannot believe is already that soon...and the fact that I'll be back to work already!). Here are some pictures from the past few days...

Berkley's Great Aunt Judy and Great Uncle Don in Minnesota sent us a teddy bear blanket. She's been enjoying some tummy time and relaxation on it!

Ben's cousin Jeanette stopped by with Bryce and Makenzie over the weekend...the kids had fun chasing the cats around, and took turns holding Berkley!

I recently came across my "blankie" from when I was a baby/kid and let Berkley cozy up with it one day. It's pretty bare, since I decided to eat the fuzzies off of it growing up :)

9 weeks - sunshine!

At 9 weeks, Berkley finally knows what sunshine and warmth feels like! It's been SO great having beautiful weather...we've been going for walks around our yard, in town along the water, shopping up at Tanger, and a trip to downtown baraboo...all in the past week! We even got a pair of sunglasses when we were out and about, and spent some time outside watching Daddy stack wood :)  The older she gets, the more I'm starting to see her looking like her Dad (the 2nd picture below of her outside)...don't you think?!

2 month check up

Berkley had her 2 month check up appoinment today, and our little girl isn't so little anymore...she weighed in at 12 lbs! She also measured 23 1/4 inches, and got her first round of vaccination shots :( Needless to say she did not enjoy the shots, but actually didn't cry too long afterwards. She napped on the way home, and for quite awhile once we got here - but then woke up and was not happy in the least! She didn't even want to eat, the poor thing. A little infant tylenol and she finally ate a little bit and went down for bed at 8pm, hopefully for a good night's sleep and she'll wake up forgetting the whole thing!

A few additional pictures from the weekend...

8 week birthday - on the ice!

On Berkley's 8 week birthday (Sunday 3/7) we went with Ben's parents, up to my parent's place for the afternoon and dinner. Berkley enjoyed her very first fishing excursion on my parent's pond and did some ice fishing with her grandpas, dad, and mom (the Grandmas were visiting in the house). Here are some pictures from the day...

And a few from the next day when my parents stopped by on their way to Madison.

So well behaved...and meeting the extended Cerny Family!

Last week Berkley had another busy week! On Wednesday we went to lunch with my coworkers in Madison, and then went into the office so that everyone could meet our sweetie pie. I wasn't sure how she'd do with so much activity and lots of people wanting to hold her - but she did great! She wasn't overly happy during lunch, but did amazingly well at the office...especially considering we were there for a couple of hours! I just couldn't get away, people (understandably) couldn't get enough of her! 

On Friday we had a tough day as we said our final goodbyes to my Grandpa Cerny (Berkley's Great Grandpa). Grandpa Great (as Gianna calls him) passed away at the end of January, and sadly he never had the chance to meet Berkley. It was a long emotional day, but it was a beautiful service and the military salute yat the burial was very cool. Berkley did SO unbelievably well all day - she pretty much slept the whole time while Ben held her, and barely blinked an eye when the guns went off af the cemetary (we covered her ears of course, but I'm sure she still heard them!). I was so nervous that Ben would have to sit with her in the "cry-room" all day, but she was absolutely perfect!

One of the good things from the day is that Berkley got to meet lots of family friends and extended family, including some of her 2nd cousins, and her first cousins once removed (I had to look it up to figure out how all that works ;) ). Here's a picture of the Cerny family including my Uncle Joe and Aunt Deb and my cousins Stacey, Shelley, and Katie, and Katie's boy Cooper. Chloe (Stacey's little girl) was there, but she didn't want to sit still for the picture :) My niece Gianna came down with a bad flu bug and therefore Amy & her didn't make it.

Here are a couple more pictures we took of Berkley recently as well:

Sleeping & Eating

Berkley slept for 7 hours last week Thursday night! She went down about 9:15 and didn't wake up until 4:15...and then went down for another couple of hours! We couldn't believe it - and of course woke up several times worried that something was wrong! Earlier this week she slept even longer, going from around 9:30pm-5:30am! 8 hours! We couldn't believe it. Of course I still needed to get up in there and relieve some pressure from her not eating in so long - but it's so great that she's getting into the mode of sleeping longer! Of course it's not overly consistent - for example, last night I was up several times with her - but we'll get there!

We've also started trying to get her used to taking milk from a bottle. The first time we tried (about a week ago) she took it right away, but then she had a few days where she wanted nothing to do with it. I tried changing to a different nipple style and the last couple of times (knock on wood) she's been fine with it. It will be great knowing that's an option so I can leave the house without her for more than 2 hours at a time! I'm planning on meeting friends in Madison on Saturday night to see my friend Brook's band perform, so it will be Ben's first "alone" feeding and bed time. Hopefully it will all go smoothly!!

Here's a picture of Berkley still enjoying her swing, and sitting with a little Valentine's monkey she got from her cousin Gianna!

Maternity leave...Paternity Leave...and G&G Weber!

Berkley is almost 2 months old already! That means I have less than 5 weeks of maternity leave remaining - hard to believe how fast it's gone! It will admittedly be nice to be back in the "adult" world and to use my brain again...and I'm so very thankful that I'll be able to return on a part-time basis! I'll be working Monday-Wednesday, and home with Berkley Thursday/Friday. Ben is also taking 8 weeks off (starting 4/5 when I go back to work) so it will be good for him to experience the "stay at home Dad" lifestyle! He's lucky though that Grandma Carolyn (Weber) has offerred to help out while he's home as well though, because they'll be moving here very soon! Grandpa Joe (Weber) is officially retired as of last week Friday, and they sold their house after just about 1 week on the market! We're so happy for them and are looking forward to sharing good times with them just down the road. Speaking of their farm, Berkley and I are still enjoying walks down there - here is a picture of her getting excited to head down there!