Miss Natalie couldn't be any more content of a baby, and oh my gosh, she is just so perfect. She spends her days sleeping a LOT and is rarely fussy or crying. (Knock on wood. Repeat, knock on wood.) She simply starts eating her hand to signal that she's hungry, and she gets restless when she needs a diaper change. We definitely realize how fortunate we are.
We are feeling overall well rested and getting into a routine (for as much as you can with a newborn). I haven't forgotten to eat or shower nearly as much as I did the first go around with Nico, and it's feeling less like the "survival mode" that I so fondly remember. We can say that I am feeling like a functioning human being that has it together...for now.
When Natalie is not sleeping away 16-18 hours of the day, I can say without a doubt that eating is her favorite hobby. I would say that I don't know where she puts it all, but we do seem to go through about FIFTEEN diapers every day. She gulps and gulps to the point of getting short of breath. She still gets the hiccups a lot too, just like in the womb! Now that I am over the initial pain, blisters (they were horrible...), and soreness, I can say that I love this bonding time of ours while starring down at her wide open eyes, clutched fists, and Shark-nado mouth. I catch myself missing her if she goes extra long in between feedings. She generally eats every 2-3 hours around the clock with the exception of these "cluster feedings" that we seem to get once late at night and once during the daytime. That's when she decides to eat a few extra times within a short timespan.
Regarding her sleeping, we have it so good. For real. Once 11:30ish hits, she sleeps in 3 hour increments and goes straight back to bed after eating. She is starting to be awake for a few bouts throughout the day, but she definitely likes to party in the late hours between 9 and 11. That's when she gets her daddy/daughter time while I pass out early.
During the day, we have her out in the main areas with us and balance time between the play mat, the swing (which she seems to really like), or just being held. She sleeps in various places throughout the day (swing, pack n play, crib, or on me), and she stays in the pack n play in our room at night for now. It's so very practical since our master is downstairs and her room is up.
She initially loved to be swaddled, but that lasted all of a few nights. She quickly decided that she would rather sleep like her big brother with both arms up at her sides.
I'm enjoying dressing her up in all of her cute little clothes! This is bringing out a girlier side of myself! She wore this dress below to her first outing, which was a doctor's appointment on the morning after we got home. (How cruel to get a newborn and her mama out of the house so soon!?!) The whole fam came with us, since I wasn't a fan of carrying the heavy car seat into the doctor's office and having my uterus fall out. Plus, I needed reinforcement with all of the 37 things you have to pack when getting out of the house at this point! How does such a tiny baby require so many things?! The appointment went well if I disregard the fact that our overly excited 4 year old drove us nuts and wouldn't sit still. Natalie dropped a little more weight, but it wasn't of concern, since we were just now starting to get this nursing thing figured out.
For her 2 week doctor's appointment, she bulked up and weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz!! Woo hoo!! The doctor was impressed and noted that she must be eating a lot! It was nice to see that positive feedback from our efforts and to know that what we were doing was working. That put her around the 80th percentile for weight and her 20.75 inch height put her around 90th percentile for height. I found out that she apparently has a huuuge head which ranked 100%.
So when I'm not sleeping, eating, nursing, changing diapers, or hanging out with David and Nico, I'm obviously starring at this beautiful baby and taking an excessive amount of pictures. I can't help it...
When we put her in her crib for the first night, she became so happy and alert! I love it when her eyes are wide open!
So relaxed in her swing.
My view during movie time one afternoon. All cuddled up with my "3" kids. Aaahh...
She's brought our team some luck in her many different Rangers onesies!
David points out to me that he can tell that this girl sure loves her mama. He laughs at the little names I call her like sister and girlfriend. We're gonna be best friends for life.
These post pregnancy hormones get me a little choked up night when I'm holding her. I have cried a handful of times, one being when a classical song come on in her swing that was played in our wedding, because I thought about her wedding day and not wanting her to grow up too fast! You can't help but laugh it off afterwards. It's funny the places that your mind can go during these first days.
We're starting to get plenty of spontaneous smiles and smerks! We wonder if we have seen just a little hint of her personality so far in those smerks.
I continue to fall more in love with David when I see how cute he is with his little girl.
Not counting 2 doctor's appointments and my parent's house, we had our first big family outing on Friday! We went on a walk downtown on the boardwalk followed by breakfast at Magnolia Café. Look at us! It was really nice to get out. I would say that it was a success, minus the completely disgusting diaper blow out that happened at the end of our breakfast and required about 18 wipes to clean up, which I did on my lap in the car! I also may have overdone it for my first walk and had to limp back. My recovery is definitely slower this go around with quite a bit of pain down there still.
I'm hopeful that my energy and willingness to do fun things as a family will remain so that this summer together doesn't pass us by. I really want to take advantage of being home with all of this free time together while still balancing what my time off is for the most - the resting, healing, and newborn loving time.
Look at these guys. This little family of mine is more than I could have ever wanted. Love this pic.
It's hard to believe that it's already been about 3 weeks since Natalie's arrival! We are having such a fun summer together. Haven't been happier, and I thank God every night for this life. Here's to hoping that time slows down!
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