12.28.2013

Life Lately: Holiday Edition

Well, of course I have not been able to blog as often as I would like because 1. Its the Holiday Season and I am taking advantage of the last few days that my parents are in town and 2. I am getting used to this little wonderful bundle of joy.. 

Vashti-Gracia is just a little bit over two weeks old: 
  • She doesn't fuss unless one of her major needs have to be met (feeding, changing, etc.)
  • Her favorite thing to do so far is : Sleep
  • She is doing well with breastfeeding although I am struggling with getting a good supply, but I am determined to stick with it and its getting better each day - less supplementation with bottles of similac.
  • She initially lost some of her weight but at her last visit she started gaining again and we can tell that she is still growing so we are happy that her weight is moving in the right direction. 
  • She is still growing into the Newborn size - she can only fit Carter's brand Newborn clothes - Target newborn sizes and other brands are huge on her little body. 
  • She can lift her head and can scoot on her stomach using her legs.


It truly has been amazing to see this little being grow each day. I remember when she was born she didn't have eyelashes and swollen eyes. Now I marvel how at slowly but surely her eyelashes have grown in. 

She laughs in her sleep and smiles all the time and makes the most cutest curious faces. She stares at the ceiling often and laughs - thats how we know the angels are here watching over us. 
So - what is life like lately?? Its an adjustment to say the least, to my post pregnancy body. But I am recovering fairly quick.
This was me, one week post baby. Today my stomach is almost completely flat. I haven't been to my own OB yet, and I don't have a scale in my home so I do not know how much weight I have lost post baby just yet.

This is Gracie at one week old. We took her to her father's office to record a video announcing her arrival for the church. 


I sleep when baby sleeps. I eat when baby eats. 
Thats about it. 
I am still dealing with swollen feet - and although the painful swelling has now gone down, my normal shoe size has not yet returned. I am praying that it does. 


She has been out of the house - I had to return all the things that didn't work for us. 
She hated being swaddled so all those "woombie" things that I thought would be good ideas were returned. She hated any other Similac that I tried and only like the kind that the hospital got her. 
She had a moment where she hated her bassinet but she got more accustomed to it and sleeps in it probably every other night. The rest of the nights she is with us in our Cali King bed with plenty of space. 

She also loves her Boppy's and her Soothie's. 


At first she loved to lay just like she did when she was in the womb but she is learning other favorite positions now that she has learned to stretch out her body. 

Only problem is that she is a getting a bit TOO comfortable. LOL. She has learned to move around in her sleep so much that when I am awake I watch her like a hawk! She scoots her little body down and around that little sleeper. Nothing more hilarious then to watch her cracking up in her sleep - I totally wish that I could see what she sees in her dreams that makes her laugh so hard. 
One day she will learn how to laugh while she is awake too. 


We also had her first doctors appointment. I love her pediatrician. She lost some weight since birth and dropped from 6 lbs. 11oz. to 6 lbs. 3oz. We had to increase her feeds. I had been supplementing because my supply wasn't keeping up with her demand and neither was my energy. We committed to feeding her every two hours to get her weight up and we can tell that she is definitely getting her weight back. 


So what else can I do while on Maternity Leave from work? 
Watch Football of course!
Amos had to continue to work from the first day that we brought her home. This is a busy time for a Minister of Music. Every winter of course there is the huge Christmas play, in addition to Christmas and New Years Service.
Every time he had to leave her he seemed so sad. I couldn't imagine - but he definitely made sure to have Daddy/Daughter time as soon as he got home and would sneak away from work when he can. 


I don't blame him for missing her, she is most certainly a character and a half! I love her little personality. I swear she has been here before. 


I wonder where she gets it from? LOL


But she most certainly enjoys watching the game with her daddy. She is always so calm with him.


For Christmas, we did newborn photos with the family. She did such a good job seeing as though the day didn't go off without a hitch!
The photographer that I booked, whom I know and love was doing us a favor to do our portraits and she also has a young son, unfortunately the morning of the shoot neither of us had sleep so she pushed the shoot back until noon which is the time that Gracia usually is up when ideally you want newborns to be sleep. Then she texted about 15 mins before the shoot and said she had a flat tire and had to have her car towed. 
Man, talk about being in a crunch since we were already dressed and getting the baby dressed. 
Thank the Lord, my neighbor had just launched her photography business not too long ago and she was able to come through in a bind and took some awesome photos for us. 



Of course for Christmas we had my family come over so that we didn't have to take her out of the house too much. Being only 2 weeks old, we expected that she would sleep through her first Christmas and she did not disappoint.


We had a wonderful Christmas despite me never being able to finish decorating the tree. 


Grandma just enjoyed her time with the grand baby! I loved seeing them interact. Gracie hears her voice and lights all the way up. She is so used to hearing her and gets so animated. I am not surprised that she woke up while my mom was on the phone and was trying to talk to her as well. 



In other news, during these first almost 3 weeks, we have started tummy time. 
Her pediatrician from day one has said that Gracia was strong!  And she really is. The girl can hold her head up and do so for a while and look from right to left. 
I asked daddy to put together the tummy time mat so she could get used to it. I laid her on her back to get her used to it and she started to roll over.. 
Then I laid her on her stomach and she goes pushing her little legs, scooting her body forward like she is trying to crawl. 


What are we doing today?
Enjoying how alert she is - 


And at the same time enjoying how spoiled she is because she has her moments where she wants to lay down on her own and has her moments where she wants to be held. It just means that it takes a bit longer for me to actually get things done. 


Thats ok though, because there will come a time where she won't want to snuggle with mommy and daddy - she gets a pass at under a month old. 


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6 comments :

  1. Awww...Im so happy for you and your husband!!! Enjoy this time!!! Because once she is Emma's size she wont want to cuddle and you will try to give her to her grandparents permanently! LOL!!! Just playing...but it goes so fast so enjoy every moment of it!!! Again I am so happy for you and your family!!!

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  2. awww look at that baby!!!! She is tooo precious!!

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  3. She is beautiful! What an amazing Christmas present! So happy for you and your husband!

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  4. Oh my goodnes... she is so sweet and just too precious for words! Congrats girl on a beautiful baby

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  5. What a beautiful baby! Congrats and many blessings on your family :)

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  6. Ohmygoodness, she is sooooooo cute. Lots of sighing as I looked at these pictures and read up on how you all are doing. I'm so very happy for you.

    Glad you are feeling well (feet aside) and your body is recovering nicely. This is actually great timing for post-baby recovery because with the new year comes all kids of healthy lifestyle messages on TV and online. I know I'm on the vegetable wagon right now. Hope I don't fall off for a while.

    Anyway, enjoy your time with your precious girl. Loved those pictures.
    Heather

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