Coming home, 5/15/14
Holy TARDIS of Gallifrey, folks. Where has the time gone?! What have I even been doing?!?! All the days and nights have run together.......
Of course, I do have THREE CHILDREN now, who are home ALL THE TIME because it's summer break, who are needy and demanding and also hog the computers. So I guess that explains it.
To sum up, we had a lot of visitors the first two weeks. About half of everybody I know came to see the baby. Which is nice. It also meant I was fussing about being dressed and having the house in a semi-presentable state all the time, because you can't turn off that type of crazy with a switch.
We also had to get Luke and Madelyn through their last week of school. I'll write another post about that. Let's see who came to visit Isabelle!
At the hospital, we had my parents, Mark's parents and Aunt Naomi and Uncle Hal, my sister Maria, Emery and Nora, my friend Dawson and my kids visit.
When we got home the next day, my sister-in-law Nikki and her son Cove came and brought us food. Nikki is expecting in November, I can't wait to hear what she's having!
Then my friend Jenny Norton came and also brought food. (Big thank you to all who have brought meals--they have been awesome!)
Thank you to Mark and Maria for the beautiful flowers! Sunflowers and roses are my favorites. :)
Tiger meeting Isabelle
This girl was born with a French manicure! But she kept scratching herself, so the nails had to go.
Maria, Nora, Shay and Emery
Aw! ♥
At her 3 day checkup, she weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz. (down from 6 lbs. 6 oz.)
My brother Tyler, his wife Monica and their kids Nathan and Ava came on Saturday to snuggle the baby.
Such cute cousins!
One of many naps she and Mark have already taken together. Love that little peanut!
That night, the ladies I work with in the RS presidency--Jana, Carol and Shelly--came to visit and brought dinner.
On Sunday (4 days old), she had her first sponge bath at home. She is not a fan of being cold. It's one of the only reasons she cries. Usually, she just pants and makes grunty noises and that's how you know she's awake.
We'd had a rough night....my milk had come in but she was used to formula and bottles (to flush out her jaundice, also because it's convenient to not be the only one who can feed her). She had nipple confusion and thought I was torturing her every time I tried to get her to nurse. It took her a couple of days, but she finally figured it out. She was also battling a wicked diaper rash that was making her bum bleed. We used a lot of Calmoseptine (which numbs the skin) and gave her Tylenol and that helped. Sheesh.
Then my brother Kevin came with his family.
Lori brought dinner, and it was so sweet to see Jack holding the baby. He wanted to hold her multiple times.
Hattie :)
I have pictures of all my babies sitting on Mark's lap while he plays video games. It's tradition.
Sweet little squishy face!
Becoming a big brother has been tiring for Luke.
Mothering a 4 1/2 year old and a 9 year old and a newborn has been tiring for me. My patience quota is not what it used to be, let's just put it that way...
He has been really good with Isabelle and tells her that he loves her. He nuzzles her head all the time, which is how he shows affection for her (and the cat).
We catch her smiling in her sleep a lot. Hope she's having happy dreams. 1 week old.
Mark's mom Kathy came to visit on Thursday and brought food and presents for the kids.
She said that Isabelle is the prettiest baby she's ever seen, which is saying something, since she had 10 kids of her own and has 29 grandkids and 7 great grandkids! I agree, though.
Look at the beautiful quilt she made! She is a master quilter (along with her daughters Sheila and Kathryn).
The kids had to show off their bike riding skills for Grandma. Madelyn finally decided to take her training wheels off and was riding like a pro in no time! Mark had been trying to get her to do it for years, but Madelyn is not one to be pushed. Good heavens.
Luke is super speedy on his trike and will have no qualms about such things, I have a feeling.
Her belly button stump fell off, so she got her real first bath. She looks kind of like a grumpy old lady, haha.
These are our next door neighbors, Elena and Maureen. They are from Zambia and brought us the most delicious dinner!
My friend Alexis Worwood also came to meet Isabelle and brought presents. :)
Tiger had been a little neglected, so he'd come and hop on our laps for some lovin' whenever he got the chance. Unfortunately, the last we saw of him was on Sunday night. He has been super frisky at night ever since it's warmed up, and he has not forgotten his old bachelor ways. We hope it's just a short adventure that he's on and that he'll end up back here or his previous owners (like he did last time), because we miss him! That bum!!!
I fall asleep in the middle of our midnight feedings all the time. Her witching hour (when she gets squirmy and fussy) is around midnight every night, and then I'm usually up with her from about 3:30-4:30 am or so, and then Mark takes the last feeding at 6:30 am, or whatever the time is, because I stay in bed like a zombie and don't look at the clock.
On Sunday the 25th, I did a big photo shoot and took tons of adorable pictures. I'll post them soon.
On Memorial Day, we finally went to the nursery and bought plants and flowers for our garden and pots. Isabelle supervised things from her baby papasan on the back porch.
Did I mention that we're in the middle of trying to refinance the house again? We tried to do it last November and it didn't go through, so now we're trying again. The house has to be appraised again, so that's yet another reason why I can't stop cleaning and spiffing up. *SIGH*
Did I mention that everyone is tired???
I took this pic at 3:30 am, right after I'd had to change Miss Isabelle and myself, after she'd projectile pooped all over my pajamas. She pulled the same trick on Mark today. Poop everywhere. Good thing she is cute.
She had her two week checkup yesterday, and has grown so much! She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches. That's more than a pound heavier than her 3 day checkup, and 1 1/4 inches longer than at birth. Wow! However, she does eat a ton. She can really pack it in for such a dainty girl.
I have been feeling good--my laundry list of health complaints got markedly better just by giving birth. My hips went back into joint, the insomnia and restless leg syndrome stopped, and my heart stuff improved once I didn't have the weight of her body putting pressure on my veins. (I still get dizzy though, and have the orthostatic intolerance thing.) The carpal tunnel that developed in the last few weeks of my pregnancy has been hanging around a little longer, but as the swelling goes down, it gets better. I never needed strong painkillers post delivery--just ibuprofen--and my stitches healed fast. My back and stomach ached and I had a perma-headache from tiredness the first week, but I feel mostly back to normal now. Just so glad to not be pregnant anymore!!
