One month ago. . .

I can't believe I have a one month old baby!  It is still unreal to me.  I hold her and love her like crazy, but I still can't really believe she's our baby.  We aren't just babysitting.  What is even weirder is calling her my daughter.  I have a daughter!  I am a mom. . . can't be.
Those last couple months of pregnancy seemed to last forever as we were waiting for Katelyn's arrival, and now since she's been here, it honestly seems like yesterday I was sitting in the hospital with my epidural calmly waiting for her all day.  Time has flown by so quick!
Here she is with a newborn sized outfit on.  Amber found it this weekend and it was so new and still had the tags on it.  It was too cute and deserved to be worn so we put it on anyways.

Her legs stretch all the way to the little footies, and her little belly peeks out a little.  Cute :)  With a full diaper, those pants sag a little more than usual :)

These pants also have cute ruffles on the bottom which make them extra cute!  She just had to wear them.

For her one month birthday celebration she had a bath!  That sounds gross, like she hasn't had one before, but she has had plenty.  So this bath isn't that exciting really.  

Oh, she didn't cry one bit during this bath, so I guess that is what made this bath so special!

I got to shower today too, so it must be a good day!

Katelyn often looks annoyed.  Maybe she's mad at how immodest she is. . . but she's a cute naked baby :) 

Katelyn has had a little extra chub since she's been born.  I love that I have to wash inside all her rolls and folds.  I especially like this one on her wrist.

 If you look closely (sorry if this is too gross) you can see all the lint from those darn pants with footies.

Don't worry.  I cleaned those cute little toes.

 

She got to wear an outfit that really fits her.  I love this face she has here too. . . a little worried about something :)

After eating and a bath, she started to get sleepy.  This is a tough life right? Yawns are cute too, sorry.

A few snuggles, hugs, kisses and lovin' it is time to sleep!

She gives me these little smirks as she doses off. . . cute again!

 A few more naps and some full diapers filled up her day though I thought I would spare everyone those pictures.  David and I ate cupcakes to celebrate.  I am sure she wouldn't want any.  We went shopping which was great except Katelyn does not like riding in the car.  We are still trying to figure her out on that one.
We did find out that she sleeps mighty fine on her side. I am still getting up with her every 2-4 hours.  Last night there was a 5 hour period. . . loved it!  But she doesn't have to sleep on us and we can sleep while she does.  Hooray!
For my record. . . at a 4 week appointment last week she weighed 10 pounds 9 ounces. . . that's my big baby!

Life has been a little bit good

 (You can click on the picture to see it a little bigger.)

We have definitely been enjoying Katelyn.  We get a kick out of all the faces she can make.  We have found that hours can pass without us even realizing it.. . .seriously!  We can sit and watch her so much!  She is a good snuggler and an ok sleeper.  She sleeps great when we are snuggling with her, but once we lay (or is it lie, I never did figure that one out) her down, she wakes up and wonders where her warm body to snuggle with went.  We wouldn't dare put her to sleep on her belly, and she NEVER sleeps on her back, so we have learned how to prop her up a bit on her side and off to sleep she goes!  Let's just say that last week was a little rough!  The first two weeks were manageable because I had the nurses help and then mom was here helping and I think I had extra energy that wasn't being used to haul her around in my belly or something.  But after Mom left, my energy to wake up to that cute little cry wasn't so plentiful anymore.  I didn't want to bother David's sleep since he had to work early in the morning, so I tried to manage her on my own, but I was exhausted!  David has been very helpful and gives me a good nap each day that I request.  I cannot complain about him!  He has been great and probably saved my sanity!
The sleep issue was one thing we had to deal with.  That week we also ran out of fresh peaches.  This was pretty sad for me.  David didn't care for him which seemed like a crime, but I think I ate enough peaches to make up for his foolishness.

This is one beauty of a peach.  This is a smaller one, I promise.  The biggest ones really are nearly the size of Katelyn's head,  and her head is almost 15 cm around.  They are always so juicy!  A napkin is not enough. . . they either need to be eaten over a garbage can, outside, or over the sink.   I wouldn't mind if peaches came grew on the trees again and Mom brought another three boxes.  She cut and froze some for me, so one day I though it would be a genius idea to blend it up with ice cream to make peach ice cream.  I was so bummed that my ice cream didn't taste like pure peaches and I put it all back in the freezer not eating any of it.  I wanted to take the ice cream flavor out.  Maybe someday I will eat it.
When Mom was here she went to town cooking for me.  We seriously had to tape our freezer closed so that it wouldn't open randomly on its own.  Any time we opened it we had to be ready to catch anything that fell out.  We have eaten enough of the food out of there that we were able to take the tape off a couple days ago.  It is tough being so spoiled!  Thanks Mom!
So we figured out how to get Katelyn to sleep in her bassinet so we have all been able to sleep a lot better.  She has been fun during the days and is a very active baby.  Her arms and legs seem to go nonstop when she's awake.
She is growing great!  At her 2 week appointment, she weighed 9 pounds 13 ounces which means she has gained over a pound so far since she started at 8 pounds 10 ounces.  She is still a little porker!  Started out big and is staying big!  She eats VERY well and nursing has gone VERY well thanks to having the lactation consultants at the hospital. 
My life goes in 2-3 hour times slots now which is strange still.  I am still trying to figure out when to eat, sleep, shower, clean, do laundry, and all the regular life stuff.  It is trickier than I thought it would be.  I still blame Katelyn for somehow making so that only one leg got shaved for church last Sunday. . . it must have been her fault :)
I can't wait until I get to go exercise again!  My doctor wants to make sure I am all healed up before I get moving too much, so I am just going to have to wait it out.
At the last doctor's appointment, we were sitting waiting for the nurse to call us back, and a stranger that looked and smelled like a HEAVY smoker very nicely with a scary smile asked, "Do you mind if people hold your baby?"  I was caught a little off guard, but I am so glad that I said, "Yes, I do mind."  And returned a nice smile back.  I am pretty sure that I could have lost my baby that day. Luckily, having a baby means that in awkward situations you can just stare at your baby and not look up until it all goes away.  I stared at Katelyn until I was called back to see our doctor and Katelyn didn't seem to mind.
It has been strange lately as anything remotely sad or extra happy has been making me tear up.  Like having one leg shaved at church or the ice cream in my peaches.  One extra happy thing that happened here for us was that David got a new job! This great news definitely brought on the tears!  He starts this coming Monday at a CPA firm doing government auditing and we are thrilled!  We have been grateful for the job he has had since we've been here, but it is so unreliable as each day could have been his last.  The project they were working on luckily kept giving them more work, but we were told that the job would go through July so we have been on edge wondering if he would be working the next week or not.  Definitely an answer to a lot of our prayers.  He even wore a wrinkly unmatching outfit to the interview.  Oh well, whatever works right!  I am sure that is going to be his interviewing outfit of choice for any future interviews since it worked for this one.  We are both so relieved and so happy to be done job hunting! David is thrilled to have a real job with benefits and everything.  He's a grown up now right?
So we are happier than ever with this cute chubby baby and a new job for David.  We get to go celebrate tonight since he doesn't have class.  He also gets to bless Katelyn this Sunday and I can't wait to see the dress my mom is making. . .  and my mom and family coming!  So much goodness. . . minus the peaches and scary people wanting my baby.

It's Nice

Lately:

• I have loved not being pregnant.  I can move and sleep again!
• I love seeing Katelyn when she first wakes up, every time
• We love not being at the hospital
• I feel great and didn't have a reason not to go to church.
• David had Monday off and we loved having him home
• We love having a rocking chair!
• Katelyn makes cute faces making good use of her eyebrows
• Mom or people from the ward have been preparing all my meals
• Nursing is going really well and doesn't hurt anymore
• My belly is a ton smaller but because I am nursing, I still can't see my feet :)
• And today's favorite, Katelyn attempted to pee on both of us during her diaper changing. . . David caught it with a diaper and I was just letting her enjoy her freedom when she tried to get me :)

Mom is leaving us tomorrow and we will miss her.  Apparently I have not been in enough pain and miserable enough for her to really pamper me, but I have loved having her here.  She's got a magic soothing touch with Katelyn and I now have a freezer full of food ready for dinners all month!  She spoiled David too and he has had oreos and cookies and cream ice cream all week.  I can't wait to see the blessing dress she finishes off for the blessing coming up.

I think I forgot to mention. . . As of Sunday August 29th at 7 am, anyone and everyone  has been entered into a weight loss competition.  I have a feeling that I might lose the most weight and I dare all of you to try and beat me :)  This will be the true test to see who gets the Blizzard and dad's two bits.  

Chapter 1- Playing the Waiting Game, You Win

Dear Katelyn,
I have been so excited to meet you. My belly just kept on getting bigger and bigger and I wasn’t sure how much bigger you could get.  Here we are at 41 weeks pregnant the day before I had you.

I found out that I was pregnant with you on Christmas Morning, 2009. I took a pregnancy test right after we opened presents with my family. I don’t remember what I got for Christmas anymore because I can only remember finding out about you. I told your dad about you and we were so happy. We laughed and smiled and hugged and kissed each other. I cried because I was so excited and happy. I was going to be a mom and we were going to have our own little family. Dad might have cried a little bit, but he usually doesn’t and I couldn’t tell because my eyes were all blurry with tears. He was really happy and we couldn’t have had a better Christmas present.
Being pregnant with you was not that bad. At the beginning, I didn’t ever feel sick like a lot of people do. I did have a hard time when I brushed my teeth . . . well mostly when I brushed my tongue because it would make me gag. So that was annoying, but I was okay after I was done. It was weird for me to be gaining so much weight. I knew that it was going to happen, but I was always in shape from playing sports so I have never had very much extra weight. The last month of being pregnant with you was tough because you were getting so big and making my back hurt. My back just wasn’t used to you and it hurt a lot. Dad would rub my back and hold a heat pad on it to make it feel better.
I had fun telling all your aunts and uncles and my parents that you were coming. They were all so excited for me and you and they all hoped that you would grow strong and healthy while you were in my belly. Your Uncle Ben said it was a little crazy that his little sister was really going to have a baby. I am just growing up too fast for everyone I guess. When I called home to tell Mom and Dad, Dad wasn’t there. So I first just told Mom and Abby. Mom was so excited and started thinking about sewing you a blessing dress right away. I guess she knew that you were a girl! She loves making those dresses and I will pass it down to you so that one of your daughters can wear it. She does everything by hand and then sews it all together to make a very beautiful dress.
I told Mom to have Dad give me a call when he got home. He called and asked me what was going on with my car. I guess that Mom tricked him and told him I was having car problems and needed his advice on something. I told him that I have never thought of myself as a car, but this “car” of mine is going to have a baby. He was really excited to hear this too. He asks each time I call home if we are calling to let him know we are having a baby. He didn’t want to be tricked though, so he asked me very seriously, “Now you really are pregnant right?” I told him yes and since it was the middle of winter he then asked, “What’s the weather supposed to be like in the winters of Boise?” I was a little thrown off by the change of the subject and just said, “It doesn’t snow much here.” He then replied with “Well it would be a wise decision to get yourself a pair of golf shoes for some good traction so you don’t slip and fall and injure yourself or the little one you are carrying.” I laughed a little thinking how silly Papa was thinking I would buy some golf shoes. He was very excited and we talked about how lucky we are to get to be parents soon.
I got lots of phone calls from all my brothers and sisters wondering how we were doing. They were all hoping that everything went well and that it would go by fast so they could meet you. I got some good tips from your Aunts, Tricia and Tracie. They had great advice on what to wear for maternity clothes and some of their favorite things for their babies.
I was really busy for the first six months of pregnancy. I was student teaching in a first grade class. These kids were great and they would ask me all the time how you were doing. I got letters from some of my students and they wanted to meet you when you came. The boys in the class wanted you to be a boy, and the girls wanted you to be a girl. I guess the girls won!
After student teaching in first grade, I finished the last two months of the school year as a long term substitute for a teacher that went and had her baby. After Spring Break my belly was a little bigger and you were growing a lot. My first grade class was confused. They thought you would come over the break, but I told them that you weren’t done growing. They liked to give us hugs and try to feel you moving around. They would sometimes pretend that you kicked them when they hugged us, but you were always very nice. One day you did kick one boy’s hand, and he was very shocked and didn’t give me any more hugs. I think he was scared of you. He said that you know karate. Sometimes when you kicked, I thought that boy was right.
The kids all loved you and wanted to know what you looked like. They also wanted to know what I was going to name you. I wasn’t sure yet, so they tried to help me think of names at recess. They came up with lots of Disney princess names, names of their pets, and some kids thought I should name you after them. Your dad and I both liked the name Katelyn. Dad also liked the name Sarah, but I knew too many girls named Sarah when I was little, so I wanted a different name. I liked the names Kira, Kiya, and Kaylin but Dad thought those sounded strange. He thought Kaylin sounded a lot like Katelyn and he liked that name. I liked it too so that’s what we decided to call you. Your Uncle Nick thought it would be fun if we mixed David and Lorry and called you Dory. Dad liked that, but I didn’t because I thought people would tease you and call you the fish from Finding Nemo. She is a funny fish, but she is very forgetful and that characteristic already runs in my family so I thought we should stay away from that name and give your brain a good start. Your middle name, Eleanor, is David’s grandma’s name. She is a very nice woman. I hope you get to meet her soon. She is very smart and has a lot of fun stories to tell about when she was little and also about when she would go sailing with her family.
The other teachers at school always let me sit in the nice comfy chairs while everyone else had to sit on the floor. They didn’t let me ever lift anything either so that I didn’t hurt either one of us. They took very good care of me each day. They also fed me lots. I think I gained a lot of weight because everyone always gave me have extra snacks because they said, “Take an extra one for the baby.” The snacks were yummy, but I shouldn’t have had that many extra for you.
When school got out, I had a lot of time to myself. Your dad was working each day and I stayed home. I had lots of time to get everything ready for you. I spent a lot of the hot sunny summer days out at the pool. Grandma Gigi got me a cute swim suit that goes all the way around my belly and covers you up. It was very nice and relaxing to sit by the pool. I would take a popsicle out there and after I put on my sunscreen, I would sit there and enjoy the popsicle. I would chat with people about being pregnant. Lots of people have advice and are curious how you are doing and they don’t even know us very well. They have just seen us around the apartment complex. I would spend time reading children’s novels out by the pool and swimming in the nice water. You didn’t help me float any better like everyone thought you would. I needed you to hold up my legs because they still sink in the water.
As my belly got bigger, it started to get harder to do the simple things. Laundry, sleeping, painting my toes, and finding clothes that fit got a little bit tougher each week. I liked to wear dresses all the time. They were very comfortable. When I wore pants or shorts, I was always trying to keep them up because with you in my belly, they didn’t want to stay up as well. Every time we had an ultrasound, it showed that you were upside down in my belly. I didn’t like wearing pants and shorts because I didn’t want to squish your head. This is another reason why I liked dresses so much.
Aunt Christine threw a baby shower for me and you in Rexburg. It was fun to see friends and family again. We played some games and had some treats. They gave us some cute clothes, homemade blankets, toys, and books. Dad and I are excited to read stories to you each night.
My best friend, Brooke, threw another baby shower in Kennewick. Grandma Gigi and Aunt Abby helped out too. There were lots of ladies from church there. Most of them knew me when I was just a baby or a little girl. My aunts and Nana came too. Everyone gave us lots of pink clothes, soft blankets, toys, diapers, lots of fun stuff and more books. Everyone was so nice to be so helpful in getting you things for when you came. Some people made you blankets and quilts. They did a really good job and the blankets are so cute.
Grandma Gigi is working hard on making your blessing dress so beautiful. I am really excited to see all the details of it. She has made one for your girl cousins and I love them. Yours will be so beautiful I am sure. Grandma Gigi is here to help me take care of you right after you are born. She will be very helpful to make sure I am a good mom for you. She was a really good mom, so she will have lots of things to teach me so I can be as good of a mom as her.
Papa Bare is very excited to meet you. He thought Grandma Gigi should fly here to Boise, so that he had would have to drive over and pick her up. It is only a 4 hour drive, so it would be silly to fly. He will see you when you are blessed by Dad at church. He cries when he is really happy sometimes, and I think he will cry when he sees you with me for your first time. He loves his family so much and is so excited to be a grandpa again. He is very proud of his big family.
Grandpa Ken asks about you all the time too. He makes sure I am going to see the doctor and taking my vitamins. He wants you to be very healthy. He sometimes sends some tiny baby clothes for you. He sees them at the store and thinks of you. He walks through stores and fills up his cart with lots of things for you, but then has to remind himself that he shouldn’t buy it all and just picks one thing to buy for you . You will be dressed very cute in Grandpa Ken’s clothes that he sent you. You will have fun talking with him. He likes to talk a lot and share things that he has learned. He is also very curious about you and wants you to be very happy.
Grandma Rudd is excited for you to come. You will be her first granddaughter. She wants to see lots of pictures of you as you grow up since she lives so far away in Texas and we probably won’t see her very often.
You didn’t come on time. It was hard to wait the extra week for you to come. Each day seemed so long and I would get 4-5 phone calls, emails, or text messages from family and friends asking if you had arrived. Everyone wanted to see you! You would move around in my belly all the time and I just wanted to hold you in my arms. All your aunts and uncles and Grandma Gigi and Papa Bare would ask about you and if you were coming. They all made guesses as to when they thought you would come. The person who guessed right gets 25 cents and a blizzard from Dairy Queen. You made all of them lose since you came a week late. They thought they would start a new one, but you made them all wrong on that one as well. Grandma Gigi thought you would come the 24th because it was the night of the full moon. It sounded silly to me, and she was just hoping it would work but you didn’t seem to listen. Here is everyone’s guesses:
Brooks - Mon, Aug 23 5-10am
Dad - Tues, 24 2-7am
Mom - Wed 25, 3am-8am
Elder Bare- Wed 25 7am-noon
Chad - Wed. August 25 9-1
Tracie - Wed, 25th noon-5pm
John - Wed 5-8pm
Elizabeth - Wed 25 8pm-2am
John - Thurs 2-3am
Ben - Thurs, 26 3-8am
John - Thurs 9:36am-10:36am
Tricia - Thurs, 26 1-6pm
Chris - Fri, 27 3-8am
Julia – Fri, 27 10am-3pm
Chad – Sat 28 9:43:52pm-2:43:52am
Mom – Sun, 29 12-5 pm
Everyone was so excited for you to come and your cousins Edison and Emilia were so excited to help me hold you. They also want to teach you how to do my hair and how to walk. They will be very fun cousins.

Chapter 2-Nice to Meet You

On Saturday morning, we all went to the hospital.  They inserted a balloon type thing inside of me that would help me dilate.  It wasn’t very comfortable, but it helped get my body ready for being induced the next day, so I was glad it worked.

On Sunday morning your Dad and I woke up early.  We didn’t sleep hardly at all because we were excited about you coming.  Dad held me close to him and felt you squirm and kick for the last time before you were born.  It was a very happy night as we held each other and talked about how lucky we are to get to be a Mom and a Dad.  When we got up, we showered and got ready for the big day ahead.  Dad ate a big breakfast and I just ate a little one so I wouldn’t get sick.  We checked into the hospital and they took us to the room where you would be delivered.  They hooked me up to my IV and put monitors around my belly to watch your heart beat and my contractions.  You sounded very healthy.  They started giving me pitocin which made my contractions come.  After 3 hours, the contractions were still manageable.  Then they started getting stronger.  My back started hurting every time I had a contraction, and we learned that it was because you were turned the wrong way.  You were facing the front of me, but you were supposed to be facing the back.  I told my nurse that my contractions hurt and she asked me, “On a scale from 1-10, how bad is your pain?”  I said, “What number do I need to be at to get an epidural, because I am at that number now.”  She called in the doctor that would give me the epidural.  I heard that it was pretty painful to get the epidural, but I was having a contraction when he did the whole thing, so I wasn’t able to pay attention to the pain of it. 

Within 10 minutes, my contractions seemed to fade away, but they weren’t really.  The epidural made my body numb from my ribs down so that I didn’t feel any pain the rest of the day.  People that don’t get an epidural are pretty tough. I experienced enough of the pain for my liking and felt much happier with the wonderful companionship of the epidural.  This is how I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening, happy for the epidural and that I brought my own pillow.

My contractions kept on coming and I was progressing really well.  By 4:00 pm I had dilated to an 8.  They decided to break my water and they expected that you would be coming pretty soon after that.  I got really shaky like I was freeing cold, but I wasn’t cold.  The nurse said it was probably just all the adrenaline in my system preparing to give birth to you.  Dad and I got really excited when we heard that.  I thought I would have you by 5:00 pm or so.  We kept on waiting and hoping we wouldn’t have to wait much longer.  We were both getting really hungry.  Dad was going to go down to the car to get his homework to read while he was waiting and to grab something to eat at the cafeteria.  The food was expensive at the cafeteria, so he ran as fast as he could to Carls Jr. across the street.  He came back with a bag of burgers and he was sweating a lot.  He didn’t want to miss your birth even though we were told that my progress had slowed down a lot.  He enjoyed his food and we both took naps hoping that time would pass faster. 

At 9:00, the doctor and nurse did an ultrasound.  They checked on you to see what position you were.  You were face up, and that wasn’t good. It is really hard if not impossible to push a baby out that is face up.  It was looking like we might have had to do an c-section to get you out unless you flipped over to be face down.  I didn’t want to have a c-section, so I prayed a lot and hoped that you would turn over somehow.  I was lying on my side and one nurse told my nurse of a trick that might work.  They piled as many pillows as they could between my legs as I lay on my side.  Then they would roll me over to my other side every 15 minutes.  Dad had to help because my legs were too numb to move them on my own.  They felt like they had cinderblocks strapped to them and they felt so heavy.  It looked strange how I was laying there, but with the epidural making most of my body numb, I couldn’t feel if I was uncomfortable or not. 

At 11:00 I called the nurse in.  I felt really shaky again and I felt some pressure on my hips.  I wasn’t sure if the epidural was wearing off and I wanted to make sure it didn’t.  I told her how I was feeling, and she got really excited.  She called in my doctor and some other nurses and told me that this baby of mine was ready to come out!  David and I got really excited and were very relieved that it was finally time. 

I worked for 45 minutes to push you out.  I got really nauseous and started to throw up at the very end of it all.  That seemed to be the final touch because it seemed as if you just jumped right out.  I couldn’t believe what I just did and it was great to have David there with me the whole time.  He was great at encouraging me and he kept telling me that he was so proud of his wife.  He got in trouble with the nurses.  When they told me to hold my breath and push, your dad also held his breath.  They told him that he needed to breathe the whole time or else he might pass out and then they would have to take him off to the ER and he might miss the baby coming.  He had to focus on breathing really hard since he wanted to see you really bad. 

The NICU team was there in the delivery room.  They needed to suck out the fluids from your nose and mouth so you didn’t swallow it and get sick because you pooped before you came out of my belly.  They didn’t let Dad cut the cord, but he was happy about that.  I was watching you as you were weighed and getting the fluids cleared out.  You were crying and your arms and legs were flailing everywhere.

Then they handed you to me.  I couldn’t believe I was holding my very own little baby.  You stopped crying and just looked at me.  You had very soft black hair and your head was a little cone like.  By the next morning your head was nice and round already.  Your cheeks were very round and your eyes were very squinty.  You had little tiny black hairs on your shoulders and back.  You weren’t too hairy, but just little tiny hairs that we found.  I loved looking at you and talking to you. I was able to feed you for the first time and it went well.  Dad was standing there next to us and he was rubbing your back as he talked to you.  We couldn’t stop smiling and we were so happy to meet you.  We gave you lots of kisses and you didn’t seem to mind.

My recovery went really well.  I got some food right away and it was so good.  Dad got an oreo shake and was happy too.  While I ate my food, they assessed you and made sure you were healthy.  By 1:30, the epidural had worn off and I was able to go to the bathroom with some help walking there.  We were all moved to our recovery room and that was where we stayed for the next two nights.  I felt great after I got some sleep.  I was fed well and the nurses came in to check on me to make sure my body was healing properly.

The night you were born, you had a fever of 102.? degrees.  They took a sample of your blood and found that you had a high white blood cell count.  This meant that you had an infection.  The doctors took you to the NICU so that they could help you.  They monitored you for the next 3 days and gave you some anti-biotics.  They did some tests to find out more about the infection.  The tests showed that the infection was all cleared up and that you were healthy.  It was hard to stay in the hospital the extra days.  

Dad and I would visit you all the time if we weren’t eating or sleeping. Dad gave you a blessing that you would be strong and healthy.  I would come and sit with you and feed you any time you were hungry.  Dad liked reading fairy tales to you, but you almost always fell asleep.  You were a really big eater and you always let me know when you were hungry.  The nurses were sad to see you go.  They really liked having you there.  You were one of the only full term babies there.  The others were born early and needed to be left alone to finish growing.  The nurses loved to hold you and fix your hair while I was gone.  You got lots of attention while you stayed in the NICU and I think you liked it.  I was just glad when we were finally able to go home on Thursday.

We love being home with you.  Grandma Gigi is here helping and you like to take naps with her.  She doesn't want this picture on here, but you look so relaxed.

Here is a video of you so far.  You have a very cute cry that sounds a little bit like a dinosaur, but it makes us smile.  Dad loves to rock you in the rocking chair, and sometimes I think he is going to take off.  He really uses the full motion of the rocking.  I will have to get a video of that another day.  You seem to like it though!

You are such a precious blessing in our lives.  You are adorable and make silly faces. Don't worry, Dad makes silly faces all the time.

 We feel so peaceful when we are holding you.  You only cry when you are hungry, but only sometimes.  You make lots of silly faces.  Sometimes you look grumpy, like you are trying to whistle, like you are confused, or like you are happy.  Sometimes we just sit and watch you make all your silly faces.  We absolutely love you and can’t believe you are so cute!  We can hold and kiss you for hours.  It is so much fun having you here and we feel so lucky to be your parents.