We Love the Weekends!

Carina and I had a very good week together. It helped that we had Peter home on Monday so really it was only 4 days alone together. We're figuring each other out and I'm loving it. I can't believe she will be one month old this week!

So far we have had a wonderful weekend. After dinner Friday I ran to the grocery store alone. I always enjoy doing the shopping together with Peter but I didn't want to mess up Carina's schedule and I think Peter wanted some Daddy time with her anyway. So in the end - mission accomplished.

Yesterday we made a family trip to the mall where I got some nursing bras, some summer tops and an iced mocha. Heaven. We got so much attention from people - everybody loves a baby! And who couldn't love our sweet little thing?

I pumped for the first time yesterday. It went better than I thought - not as complicated as I had imagined. I think I can do this when I go back to work! Peter was a great help with cleaning all the parts for me (probably the worst part of the whole deal).

We went to Target to return a duplicate gift and came out with some sippy cups! I don't know why but I just love sippy cups and love the thought of Carina learning to use one down the road. The ones we bough are TOO cute. We ran to Babies R Us to return another duplicate gift and bought a HUGE box of wipes. We ran into a woman from our birthing class too with her little girl - only 9 days old!

Because I had pumped earlier in the day, Peter got his first chance to bottle feed Carina. It was a little complicated for everybody and Carina wasn't exactly thrilled with it but she drank 3 ounces and slept really well so I guess everybody survived. Last night she actually slept for 2 five hour stretches and it was so nice. I love it when she sleeps well.

Speaking of... she's napping right now. Peter is teaching Sunday school by himself and returning all the pans and such friends delivered dinners in. We have been fed so incredibly well these past 3 weeks. We are truly blessed.

Looks to be another great day! Oh - and one more piece of exciting news. Carina has managed to find her own thumb twice now. I think we have a thumb sucker on our hands, haha.

Father's Day

Yesterday we celebrated Peter's first Father's Day! My parents had spent the night Saturday and Carina's feeding schedule allowed for me to teach Sunday school with Peter so Gram and Grampa babysat. Carina slept the whole time (which was not the case when Peter and I went out for icecream Saturday and came home to a very unhappy baby, haha).

After Sunday school and another feeding we went to my Gram's for the day - but not before a little drama. I had bought an "I love Daddy" onesie months ago for Father's Day and hid it away. Carina had it on for exactly 20 minutes before she spit up all over it, herself and the carseat. The most frustrating part was she never spits up! So sadly Peter didn't have much of a Father's Day present. Oh well. At some point I will get a picture of her in it when she's actually clean.

We made it to Gram's - once again Carina slept the entire way. Apparently she likes the car. We unpacked the trunk and the beautiful cupcakes I had made and brought had overturned and were a complete mess. I was so disappointed. Fortunately I had made a cake as well and it survived the trip just fine. I had made cupcakes for our small group too so at least they were home and safe.

We had a lovely lunch and passed the baby around a good bit. She slept the entire visit except for her diaper change and feeding - silly girl. She managed to spit up big time on Aunt Jeanne too. We have no idea where that all came from yesterday. I guess babies of a certain age, whether bottle fed or breast fed, tend to spit up a bit more. Maybe she got jiggled too much in the car too - like shaking a soda, Peter says, haha.

After such a sleepy day we had a very awake, somewhat fussy evening but Carina slept like a champ last night. She did stay awake for a good bit of our small group meeting last night. We hosted at our house. Our friends brought their 6 month old daughter who was just fascinated with Carina. We got a good video of the two girls together. I can't believe Carina will be that big and eating baby food and crawling one day. It seems so unreal!

A Day in the Life

...of a stay-at-home-mom.

6:15 am - Wake up, move the baby supplies (boppy, bibs, eye drops, etc) downstairs for the day, shower, eat breakfast

8 am - Carina eats breakfast

9 am - Laundry, paint my toenails

10 am - Strap Carina into the baby wrap and wear her while I blog

10:30 am - Carina eats her 2nd breakfast

11 am - Check mail, put in "Sex and the City" movie

12 pm - Make lunch, cuddle Carina while she is fussy, protect my sandwich from Kenny

12:30 pm - Enjoy Carina sleeping on my chest

1:30 pm - Carina eats lunch, I get sucked into Days of Our Lives (who watches soap operas?!)

2 pm - rest a little

I expect an early dinner for Carina before Peter gets home. Someone from church is delivering dinner for us. Hopefully tonight at least one of us (if not all three) will get out to the grocery store.

So excited for the weekend!

Alone but Not Really

Today is my third day at home alone with the little munchkin. Things have gone mostly well. Yesterday was very stressful for reasons completely unrelated to Carina!

Our doorbell is broken and decided to randomly ring at 4 am during one of Carina's feedings Thursday morning. Peter hit the circuit breaker for the living room to turn off the doorbell but inadvertantly disconnected both the phone and the internet. He had the phone up and running before he left for work but not the internet. I stupidly tried to monkey around with the router and modem and ended up losing the phone connection too. I panicked and added minutes to my emergency cell phone that I was pretty sure wasn't even active anymore just so I would have some way to contact the outside world.

In the end I had the phone and internet working before Peter got home but it was a super stressful morning. Carina is still eating and sleeping like a champ. We got her newborn portrait session photos back and I ordered birth announcements. I'm so excited to send them out! Right now I've got the little monkey in a carrier tied to me so I have both hands free to type. She's a little restless but generally happy at the moment. Such a sweetie.

I can't wait for Peter to be home with us for 3 whole days!

New Outlook

And a new layout to match. Mom said I've had the other background for too long so... ta da! A new background for the blog. Enjoy!

What's new? The days are still running together a bit for me. Sunday Peter's parents visited on their way home from Baltimore. My mom came to spend a few days helping with Carina once Peter returned to work.

Yesterday Peter went back to work (very reluctantly). Carina and I really missed him. After Carina's morning feeding I went to the post office and Walmart while mom babysat. Carina slept the entire time I was gone. It was nice to get out of the house again and the weather was spectacular. I bought a darker/thicker curtain for the nursery so it's darker and more conducive to sleep in there. I couldn't resist buying little tights and a summer dress for Carina.

Last night Carina slept for 5 straight hours before I woke her up to feed her. Then she slept for another 3. It was a good night! She's been awake a little more than usual so far today so maybe she will sleep well again tonight.

After my shower and Carina's feeding this morning I ran to the grocery store and then to Cornerstone for a coffee. A great trip! Carina was pretty fussy while I was gone but mom did a good job hanging out with her. In non-baby related news, I'm wearing my skinny jeans today. It's nice to have clothing to wear other than maternity clothes.

That's the latest. We're all doing well and figuring things out. Tomorrow is my first day completely on my own with Carina so we'll see what happens!

We may actually know what we're doing!

Things actually seem to be going pretty well. Carina is still eating and pooping like a champ, yay! It looks like she has gained at least 3 ounces since Monday. Our little girl is growing so fast.

We went in for our follow-up pedi appt on Wednesday and because her numbers were so close to normal on Monday, the Dr. did not feel the need to do another blood test, hallelujah! We hate to see her so upset when they do tests like that. Later Wednesday night we discovered during a diaper change that her umbilical stump had fallen off just in time for her one week birthday! We're not sad to see it go. It was a little creepy.

Thursday my parents came to visit and held Carina the entire time. She's spoiled already. Mom brought chocolate chip cookies and they have held us together ever since, haha.

Yesterday Carina woke up with a yellow discharge in one eye so we called the pedi and they wanted to see us in the afternoon. Our friends delivered dinner around lunch time and then we took our first big outing to Babies R Us. I wanted to buy a few pumping supplies. Carina slept the entire time. Later at the pedi we found out she has an infected clogged tear duct. We have some ointment to put in her eye twice a day and we were told massaging the corner of her eye could help too. I think it looks better already today.

We had our friends Mike and Missy come to do a newborn portrait session this morning. It went extremely well. I woke Carina up from a nap so she was a little fussy but I think we got some really nice shots. Can't wait to see and share them!

So now Peter and I are hanging out while Carina naps. We'll probably grab some lunch soon. Days seem to go very nicely and Carina sticks to a pretty good every 3 hour feeding schedule but the past couple of nights have been a little harder. We wonder if she has some gas issues and gave her gas drops last night. Sometimes she's just too fussy to sleep but it all works out in the end and we all end up with at least a little sleep.

We just love being mommy and daddy!

Week One

So far, so good! The 3 of us are doing very well. Settling into some sort of routine (or as much of a routine as one can have with a newborn).

Sunday we had some visitors. Peter's parents, my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and two couples from our small group. It was a lot of fun to show off our little Pumpkin but it wore us all out, haha. Still, it was really great to see everybody. When we're pretty much house bound, it's nice to be reminded that there's a world going on outside the front door.

Monday we got a call from the pedi at 7:50 am asking if we could make a 9:10 am appt. Of course we needed to get in for our follow-up appt and we were the ones who forgot to set it up till after office hours on Friday so I said sure. We've never moved so fast! Shower, feed the baby, dress the baby, pack a diaper bag, get the baby in the carseat... it was an adventure! The appt went very smoothly. Carina weighed 6 pounds so the Dr. thinks she's on her way to gaining back her weight. She was an absolute doll for the entire visit - so content. They did have to take blood to check her jaundice levels again and of course she didn't like that but as soon as they were done she settled down. We love this kid!

Found out the acceptable levels for jaundice run on a number scale with 12 being the cap for healthy levels. Carina was 12.2 so she's really not bad at all but the Dr. wants to see her again tomorrow. I fear more blood work will be involved - poor baby. For now we're just feeding her as much as she wants and hoping she poops a lot (which she is!). I have now officially turned into one of those moms who talks about her baby's poops. Oh no!

Last night Chris and Michelle brought us lasagna for dinner. Michelle organized meals for us from friends at church (our small group, fellow Sunday school teachers, our Sunday school girls' parents). We're set with meals for the next 3 weeks! What a blessing.

This morning Peter had a few errands to run so Carina and I hung out together. We napped on the couch - her on my chest. I love it! She had a really good feeding while Peter was out and has been sleeping ever since. Probably means she'll be up and hungry again soon. I'm getting really good at one-handed typing and eating.

So that's the latest. We are all feeling and doing great. Could obviously use a bit more sleep but we may move Carina from the pack-and-play to her crib tonight so I can actually sleep in my own bed instead of on the couch. We'll see what happens!

She's here!

We had some unanticipated excitement this week!

Quick birth story. My water broke Tuesday 6/2 around 10:30 pm (I was 38 weeks 4 days). I had fallen asleep in Peter's lap on the couch while he watched Law & Order: SVU but I woke up and immediately jumped off the couch (couldn't have a ruined couch now could we). We checked into the hospital around midnight. I was given prostaglandin to get things moving around 1 am (I wasn't dilating or contracting on my own yet). Walked the halls a bit. Started on pitocin around 10 am. By 2:30 I was 4 cm and decided to go for the epidural (I highly recommend). Around 4 pm I was 9 cm. My midwife broke the last of my water and I was 10 cm by 4:30. I pushed for about 30 minutes and she was born!

Carina Noelle was born June 3rd at 5:14 pm weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces and measuring 18 inches long. She has dark blonde hair (for now) and grey/brown eyes. She is the most perfect and precious baby!

No complaints or regrets - I was very happy with the whole experience. I had some internal tearing but am recovering really well. Feeding is hard only because she is so tired and disinterested all the time but it's getting better every day. Peter and I tag teamed it last night (one on the couch and one in bed) while she slept in the pack-n-play downstairs and we both managed a good bit of sleep.

Today has been really great. We all managed to shower/bathe and Peter went out for groceries. Our neighbors brought us cookies. Carina has been eating, sleeping and well... going, haha well for us all day. She seems right on track. We were told she has just a touch of jaundice so our nurse recommended sitting her in front of a window to get some sun. I sat with her in the sun for a while and she loved it - like a little heat lamp! We should have a pedi appointment Monday so hopefully her jaundice and weight loss will not be an issue.

Thanks all for your prayers and congrats. We love you!

Peter, Amy & Carina

Are We There Yet?

Not much to report. Peter and I have been pretty lazy lately and I guess that's a good thing. Spent some time this weekend taking walks and taking naps. One of my best friends had a beautiful baby girl on Saturday! Obviously a more eventful weekend than ours, haha.

Had a Dr. appointment today. Nothing too exciting. Weight, blood pressure, and baby's heart rate were all good. Met another of the 4 doctors at my practice. I'm only scheduled to meet 3 of the 4. Next week I see a midwife. Of course I hope I won't make it to my appointment next week. The Dr. was only too kind to remind me today that most first time moms deliver in the 10 days following their due date. Thanks Doc, very encouraging.

Gonna go work on cleaning the house since I was too lazy to do it over the weekend!