It’s 3:30 pm, just 1.5 hours until the end of the workday and I have to say, Charlotte and I have been doing pretty darn well! We got up at 8 am, had breakfast, put up some soup in the slow cooker, did a bazillion loads of laundry, made lunch for hubby (he came home to eat with us) and… The kicker… We both napped!
Today might just be beginner’s luck, but I’ll take it. Fingers crossed that tomorrow goes just as well.
The cutie pie ready to go… And then not so ready to go 🙂
Yesterday was a big day. It was the first day I was apart from Charlotte. Granted it was only for a little less than 2 hours (to get my nails done), but still… I was leaving her. As I was prepping to go, I started getting really nervous that she was going to be a total milk monster and give Mark hell while I was gone. So, going off the fact that the doc gave us the okay to give her a paci since she’s such a pro nurser (which we gave her for the first time two days ago), I figured I would pump so I could leave a “just in case” bottle for Mark.
It would be my first time pumping since her arrival. In pure Melissa fashion, I was running late, so I fed her on one side, then switched her to the other while I pumped the first side. Talk about feeling like a cow… I had baby milking one utter, machine milking another. Yikes. Anyway, when she was done with side two, I pumped on that side and got a little over 4 ounces total. Then, I was out the door. But not before Mark could say in a borderline annoyed tone, “what are you so worried about?”
The second I left, I had a pit of guilt in my stomach. Stupid mom guilt. I started worrying about the bottle… Did Mark know how to heat it up? We’ve never used a bottle. Would she take it? Would it mess with her latch? What if she didn’t want to nurse after that? Oy.
Needless to say, it wasn’t my most relaxing mani/pedi, but I tried to enjoy myself. Even when I asked Mark for an update and he informed me that she took 2 ounces chilled… He read that you didn’t need to heat it up. Urgh. What if she only likes chilled milk and refuses my warm milk from the utter? Deep breaths.
After some worried words from me, he warmed up the next bottle and she conked out right at first taste.
When I got home, I snuggled my sweet girl and felt a huge sigh of relief. It was good to be home and of course, everything was fine. And of course, she had no problem taking the breast.
Later in the evening, as we were getting ready to watch the baseball game with some friends downtown, Mark called me into the nursery to show me Charlotte’s first tear. It was adorable. One single tear running down her little cheek. Likely flowing because she wanted more milk.
To continue in the firsts, Mark finally dragged me out of the house to see friends. I’ve been so nervous about Charlotte. Would she have a meltdown? Would I have to be feeding her the whole time? Etc. As soon as we got there, she wanted to eat, but luckily, our friends have a 10 mo, so we excused ourselves to the nursery and gave the milk monster some fuel. After that, it was smooth sailing and really quite nice to get out of the house and visit with friends.
The morning started off chaotic with a cranky baby and sleep deprived mama. Yes, after bragging that our nights are pretty good with 3 hours sleep, .5-1.5 hours of feeding, then 3 more hours of sleep, etc, our sweet Charlotte had a bad night. She slept 3 hours and then decided to boycott sleep for the next 2.5 hours, then sleep for 2 hours and then only permit sleeping if it was on mommy. And then, it was time to wake up.
We were meeting up with my aunt and uncle for brunch and literally, until we walked into the place for brunch, Charlotte was fussing. But somehow, she kept it together for the entire 1.5 hour brunch. Then, feeling in control, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. When we got back, we plopped Charlie in her crib and I got cooking.
I was about 5-10 minutes from being done, when Mark walked by and this happened…
Broken glass, cherished apple juice all over (including all over me), and worst of all, woken baby. To help delay the feeding Charlotte was instantly demanding, Mark left the glass and went to change her… And then, this happened…
Projectile shit all over… Everything. The changing table and every container/item on it, the dresser, the carpet, the wall, my husband. Everywhere.
Needless to say, my last 5-10 minutes prepping dinner became pure chaos until all of a sudden, the kitchen looked like this…
Now, we’re eating (and by we I mean the child) and all is right with the world.
It still shocks me that they let us take this tiny fragile little lady home with us to take care of forever. What the hell do we know about being parents?
I literally know that I should feed her pretty much all the time (or whenever she asks for more milk in her high pitched, silly little way), she needs lots of sleep, and tummy time is important. Past that, I’m a little lost. Hence, today’s google search.
Charlotte has been having more awake times or maybe longer awake times and seems to be looking for more stimulation, but is still, well, two weeks old. And really can only do so much. I didn’t end up finding much from my search, but coincidentally, I did have a great playtime with her.
It lasted about 10-15 minutes! She laid on the floor on her quilt from Grandma while I cooed at her, made noises, gave her kisses, and so on. At moments, she even seemed responsive. I guess for now, that’s how we’ll play! She’s just so uninterested in toys.
Anyway, play time obviously resulted in one hungry little milk monster, so we had to conclude quickly and move directly into nursing. It’s hard being two weeks old.
And for fun, check out the tiny person enjoying her nap…
And here’s her post playtime, post nursing catnap before nursing some more…
Our little pumpkin is two weeks old! Oh how the time flies…
And here’s a little sneak peek picture from her newborn photo shoot that I just got from our photographer… Soo cute!
Today we went to Charlotte’s two week appointment. I can’t believe she is already two weeks old (tomorrow), yet I can’t imagine ever not having her here with us. It’s exciting… I feel like we are just starting to get a little rhythm down. I’m sure it will change tomorrow, but for today, it feels great!
The doc had only good things to say about our sweet girl’s development. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 6.5 oz and is 21.9″… 88% for weight, 99% for height. Her short parents reminded her to cherish her “tall status” because it probably won’t last long. Doc said that her high numbers are likely due to the fact that she was so late and is sooooo developed 🙂 haha okay, I’m not going to be that person who pretends their baby is so advanced. But nearly 20 extra days have her a little leg up. That and she’s a milk monster. Girlfriend loves to eat just like her parents.
After our appointment, my parents happened to be out to lunch, so we met up with them for a bite. Charlotte was perfection at her first lunch outing. Slept like a sweet angel through the whole meal. We ate at a golf club, so after lunch, my mom and I took her into the women’s locker room so she could have a little lunch. She ordered two boobs of milk for lunch, but not before pooping all over 4 diapers, her blanket and the locker room carpet. While that sounds bad, it actually felt somewhat successful.
Two boobs was just enough to keep sweet Charlotte sleepy and dazed for our first trip to the grocery store. Again, not a peep out of the little one. We were even able to make a stop to pick up some makeup for me on the way home AND, after unloading the groceries and transferring her to her bassinet, hubs and I got to nap. This is one very well behaved little lovey.
As my pre-baby self blogged about, my husband and I…. Errrr… I decided we would become cloth diaperers once our baby arrived. In the hospital, we used disposables and now, a week and a half into our sweet girl’s diapered life, we just got the courage to test out our diapers.
For my baby shower, we were gifted tons of bum genius cloth diapers, but were also given 6 months of a diaper service… So that’s where we started today. The diapers are prefold cloth diapers that require a diaper cover.
Anyway, we had one pretty successful(ish) diaper change; although, the entire cloth was so damn wet. Then, our sweet Charlotte ate and went down for a nap… Maybe 2-3 hours? Anyway, when she woke up from her nap, she had soaked through her diaper, the plastic cover, her onesie, her pants and the fabric on her swing… Sh*t!
She literally had pee all down her back and in her hair. Perfect. Sponge bath time.
After the sponge bath, we were drying her off in her adorable hooded towel, when she shat everywhere. And I mean everywhere. All over the husband’s shirt, pants and toes. On the towel. On the carpet. It was lovely. More sponge bathing.
In the chaos, the husband – who has changed probably 95% of all diapers since Charlotte’s birth – starts ranting about gift receipts to return all cloth diaper “crap.”
We’ve since talked about attempting to figure it out, but in the meantime, he just ran to Target to pick up a jumbo case of disposable diapers.
It’s hard to argue too much since he’s the main diaperer… Not to mention I have no idea what I would have done had I been alone for that diapering experience.
For now, the jury is still out for cloth diapering in our household. Stay tuned.
Not exactly the picture in my head when someone says breakfast in bed… But I can’t complain! Regardless, I am very grateful for my amazing husband. He’s been working from home since we’ve been out of the hospital and has definitely been taking care of me and the house… And about 98% of all diaper changes. What will I do when he has to go back to work? Thankfully I still get one more week with him home. I’ll start stressing about him leaving me next week. Until then, Charlotte and I will both enjoy breakfast in bed.
Today we had Charlotte’s newborn photos. As I had mentioned in a previous post, we hired Pics by Nic and Nicole, the photographer, was great. Totally patient despite the fact that we were at least 10 minutes late and showed up with a cranky baby who needed to be nursed immediately. So, we spent the first two to three hours nursing on and off. In the meantime, Charlotte managed to poop through a towel onto my lap, pee all over at least three props, and – the kicker – pee MY pants. Yes, I was holding her naked to get a cute naked baby pic, and she unloaded all over my lap. I’ve never had someone else wet my underwear, but let me tell you, not that awesome.
Once she was done defecating everywhere, I gave her one more boob and she finally fell asleep. Then, we moved quickly and took as many pics as possible. And oh was she cute.
Here are some “behind the scenes” photos I took while the photographer was hard at work. Note that the adorable hats were made by Lisa of Kiki & Bee… So cute, right?!
That means one week ago I had the craziest damn day ever (details to follow… I promise).
It also means that this past week has been the best and most precious ever.
Happy one week old day, baby girl!
The one week sign was made by my friend Jenna and I and the headband was made at my baby shower! Cheers to DIY!
Playing House 