Pictures of the first two weeks at the bottom!
Anna Love,
Here's what we know about you so far..
...throughout the day you feed about every 2 hours. Sometimes you have episodes of cluster feeding, but for the most part you are pretty consistent with the 2 hour schedule. Nursing is going so well!! It was painful in the beginning, but it's getting so much better. I'm sure praying that we have a long and healthy nursing relationship!
...you take a pacifier very well! We waited several days to give you a paci. I wanted to be sure that we were off to a good start with nursing before we gave it to you. We ended up giving it to you during that first painful week of nursing.
...you are a good little sleeper. You prefer to sleep on your side. Mostly your right side. I'm fairly confident that as much as possible you slept that way in the womb too. As far as the night time routine goes, it took a few days for us to find our groove, but now that we have that figured out you go to sleep so well every night. You start off sleeping for about a 3-4 hour stretch. Then you wake up for a feeding. You and I are up for probably close to an hour. Diaper change (because you insist!!), feeding, diaper change again, then back to sleep. After that you wake up every 2 hours til it's time to for me to get up and stay up. You still sleep most of your day away, but just in the past day I've noticed you having more awake time.
...speaking of that bedtime routine, it all starts shortly after we get your brother and sisters to bed each night. Just like in the womb you are a serious night owl. The show usually starts around 9 PM every night. This is when you usually get keyed up every night. You get so happy and play and kick and coo!! It's so fun to watch!! Then it's bath time which you also LOVE!!! All of this is great since you get yourself sufficiently wore out with all the activity! By about 10:30 or 11 PM you are quite ready for bed. So it all looks something like this: Bedtime around 11 PM. Wake around 3 AM. With this feeding we tend to be up for the full hour. For some reason the rest of the feedings tend to go faster. Next feeding is usually roughly around 5 AM. Then again around 7 AM when usually mommy has to get up for good. Now this is not exact, but pretty close. Right now you sleep with us, but we plan to move you out when the weather warms up a little bit.
...you hate to have a dirty diaper!! Boy oh boy, we change a lot of diapers!! Whether it's just a wet diaper or something more you let us know when you need to be changed. One night when you woke for a feeding, I fed you and then had trouble getting you to go back to sleep. In my dazed and delirious state, I failed to change your diaper. You were SO fussy and just would NOT go back to sleep. Eventually I realized you were so fussy, because you need a diaper change. Actually it was Daddy who woke up offering to help that realized you need the diaper change. As soon as you were changed, you instantly relaxed and went back to sleep! I'll not be making that mistake again!
...you wore size 1 diapers at the hospital which is pretty typical. We put you in newborn diapers for the first several days at home. We seriously went through an entire pack of diapers in one 24 hour period in the first few days!! After finishing up the open packs of newborn diapers, we decided to go ahead and move on to size 1 for good. The newborn were just a little bit short, and the size 1 really seemed to be a better fit.
....you are wearing Newborn size clothes, but probably not for too much longer. Your length will force us to move up a size long before this mama is ready! Right now you wear sleepers pretty much every day. We have a few cute outfits that are not sleepers, but since we aren't really getting out we just put you in easy, comfortable, very cute sleepers! In fact, each night after bath we put you in a clean sleeper and you wear it for 24 hours til it's bath time again. Easy peasy and oh so cute!!
....you have quite a voice on you!! I think you cry louder than any of our other babies!!
...you look so much like big sister Mary Ruth. Almost everyone agrees!! We can't wait to see if we will have another brown eyed girl. Right now, Mary Ruth is the only girl with brown eyes. You share so many of her features, I just bet you'll have brown eyes!!
...you get held almost constantly!! Everyone in this family adores you and wants to hold and cuddle you as much as possible!! We actually had to create a rotation system to keep all the siblings happy!
...you like to be swaddled and you sleep better when you are swaddled.
...your skin is peeling all over in that typical newborn way. Precious!!
...you lost your umbilical stump at exactly one week old.
...we've only taken you out for doctor's appointments.
OK now for the real fun!! Photo overload!! My favorite pictures of the past two weeks! I've got something from everyday! I'm still waiting to receive our professional pics. With the exception of the first couple, these are just ones that I've taken myself with our cheap old camera. Also I have Anna Love's birth story ready to post, but I'm waiting to put pictures with it before I post it.
Same outfit that all the sisters have wore home from the hospital. Sweet!!
First bath at home
First big snow!
First holiday ~ Valentine's Day
Only the 2nd time ever in your crib!!
Loved the pics! I can see the resemblance to Mary Ruth!
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