Week One

We were excited to come home on Sunday, less than 48 hours after Emily was born.  Noah was so sad the night before when it was time for him to leave the hospital with Grandma and Granddad--he wanted Mommy and Daddy and Emily to come home and didn't understand why we had to stay another night.  His excited little face was so cute when we came in the door Sunday afternoon and we quickly started checking out baby sister very closely so he could start getting to know her.  He was especially interested in her weird looking belly button.  My parents were able to stay an extra night and my mom gave me a little break and got Emily changed and ready to eat during the night so Mike and I could get a little extra sleep.  And it was nice having them here to help entertain Noah a bit as we were trying to get settled into our new routine at home. 

 Little miss all snug and posed while in the sling with Mommy

We had a check up with Emily on Tuesday (7/26) to check her weight and skin for jaundice.  When we were discharged from the hospital she weighed 7 lb 2.2 oz and was already up from that at 7lb 3.5 oz on Tues.  Her jaundice looked no worse than on Sunday so we didn't even need to get a blood level which was great.  Overall she is healthy and thriving so far--such good news!

The rest of the week was pretty laid back.  Mike has two weeks off from work so it's extra nice having him around.  We enjoyed introducing Emily to family and friends that stopped by to meet her.

 Meeting The Whites (Wed 7/27)

Here with cousin Lydia

 Cousins Lydia and Jared

 And Aunt Dayna

(Uncle Brian and cousin Isaac were there too, just no pictures of them)

 Aunt Kristi came back on Thurs (7/28) to spend the day with us.

She helped give Noah some extra attention--here playing Rabbits on Wii

Emily got her first sponge bath on Thursday.  Noah was anxious to watch and help.  He helped wash her arms and legs and decided he needed to get baby sister her special princess rubber ducky to play with while she had her "bath".  Such a good big brother!

My brother came to visit for the weekend.  We enjoyed some nice (well as nice as it can be in 100+ degree weather) time outside--it was especially good for Emily and me to have some fresh air.  Noah and Daddy had a water war in the back yard which Noah loved!

Meeting Uncle Thomas

Here is Emily at exactly one week old (7/29).  We'll try to take regular picutres like this with the same bear in the same chair to track her growth.  When we weighed her at home she was 7.6 lbs on our scale--so just a bit over her birth weight already!  Babies are supposed to be back to birth weight by 2 weeks of age so she's growing like a champ so far! 

We're beginning to learn Emily's personality--she's quick to get upset and let you know when she's unhappy about something (which really isn't often and is mostly for good reason-hungy, dirty, tired) but she's also quick to be soothed.  For some reason Mike thinks that trait came from me.  Hmmm.  We're enjoying her newborn stretches, grunts, and other noises.  When she gets really mad her cry makes her sound like a goat so we kind of laugh at her (honestly we're not mean parents) and when she gets the hiccups sometimes she sounds like a little chihuahua yapping.  I wonder how many other parents compare their babies' noises to animals??  She's been mostly great to us at night so far--just waking 2-3 times to eat but going back to sleep easily when she's done.  We're enjoying what seems to be an easy baby so far--hard to know if she's just different than Noah or if we're just more experienced this time.  Or likely some combination of both.

Overall we're adjusting well as a family of four.  We've had a few rough spots with Noah--mostly just dealing with some extra whining and more blatant disobedience.  We're trying to balance being understanding as he is obviously going through a big adjustment right now too and sticking firm to our rules so he doesn't think misbehaving will help him get his way all the time.  He's been only loving to Emily and I know the rest of the stuff will work itself out with time.