It’s hard to believe Laurel is almost 3 weeks old. It’s been amazing to watch her change from day to day. She had her two week doctor’s appointment this past Monday and she was back to her birth weight, which is great! You may recall I was a bit concerned in my last post because I she was sleeping so much and I was worried she wasn’t nursing well to get back to her birth weight, however, she seems to be doing great! Her weight only puts her in the 22nd percentile, which is strange to me b/c I thought I would have this 8lb plus baby, but she is growing and that’s all that counts.
Motherhood has been an interesting journey. However, it has been pretty smooth so far. Laurel is still sleeping a lot, not quite as much as she was before, but she usually sleeps 3-4 hours at a time, which is nice. The day after her doctor’s appointment when I found out she was back up to her birth weight, I relaxed and didn’t wake her up every 3 hours at night to feed her and she had an almost 6 hour stretch. I woke her up when she got to 5 1/2 hours based on the recommendation from the pediatrician that 5 hours was probably the max. Since then, she usually doesn’t sleep more than 3-4 hours, but I’ll take it.
We still haven’t agreed on who she looks like or who’s personality she has, but here is what we do know:
1. She loves to sleep (although she has shown a lot more energy that weeks 1 and 2) and she sleeps much better when swaddled
2. She dislikes diaper changes (cries about 95% of the time when her diaper is changed)
3. She is a master as working her arms out of her swaddle blankets (she loves to have her hands out so she can stick her fingers in her mouth. This may explain why her hand was by her face on every ultrasound we had)
4. She loves sleeping on people’s chests, but she is still able to sleep in her crib
5. She stretches a lot… which usually consists of putting one hand in the air. I call it her “Praise the Lord” stretch b/c that’s what it looks like she is doing 🙂
6. She seems to have a very calm temperament. Other than the occasional battle with gas bubbles (the evil enemy), she doesn’t really get upset
7. She loves to wait until we are changing her diaper or get the new diaper on to add an additional surprise. Thanks to Amazon Prime for 2 day delivery on extra changing pad covers (the sanitize cycle on the washing machine was running every day) 🙂
8. She really enjoyed her first bath….until the last few minutes.
9. She has already developed a fairly strong neck and can lift and turn like it’s no big deal
10. She’s an awesome baby! 🙂
Our mom’s have been here since the day after we brought Laurel home from the hospital, so we have had tons of help and have been spoiled that past couple weeks. Between William’s mom and my mom, I haven’t had to do much around the house. They have cooked, cleaned, done laundry, purchased groceries, taken out trash and recycling, driven me to Laurel’s doctor’s appointments… it has been amazing. William’s mom leaves tomorrow and my mom leaves next Friday, so our extra help is coming to and end, but it has been nice for the first few weeks and I know they have enjoyed being able to bond with Laurel also (even though she was sleep more than she was awake). We have also been fortunate to have a great life group at church that has been bringing us delicious meals every other day. It’s so great to have support from family and friends.
William’s last day of summer session was today, so Laurel and I are looking forward to having him around a little bit more for the next two weeks until fall session starts. He’s done a great job with diaper changes and helping to calm her when she gets fussy.
Can’t wait to see what we will learn over the next few weeks!
William posted more pictures on his Flickr Page.
It has been great being a part of Laurel’s life. I am going to miss her so much when I go home. It has been so wonderful seeing William and Kyllan being such great parents. I will be back soon to visit but in the meantime, thank God for ipad face time.