6 Weeks and Free?!

Marvel's face says it all. He is constantly full of anxiety about what Hannah is doing. So am I but I don't show it off with bug eyes like Marvel does.

Hannah is 6 weeks today! It's unbelievable. We said we were going to keep outings to a minimum before she turned 6 weeks and if we went out that we were going to wear her so that touching was avoided. We have actually adhered to that mostly except for the trip that we took to my work to print off some insurance information that we needed. She was bombarded with oohing and ahhing women...and one man. I did make sure to ask that if anyone was sick to stay away. 

The last couple of weeks has been lots of experimenting. We have been trying really hard to establish a routine. We start at 8:00pm and head upstairs to take a bath or dip in the water. Hannah LOVES her baths. After that we snuggle a little, put her in her pajamas, feed her and then wait for her to wet her diaper. She always wets her diaper about 30-45 minutes after she has fallen asleep for the first time and hates, I repeat, HATES wet diapers so she generally wakes up screaming. Then we change her diaper, feed her a little more and put her to bed where she stays for about 5 hours. That's right, 5 hours! This is a new thing and we are very excited about it. Although Hannah doesn't have a hard time sleeping as evidence of the picture below, she doesn't necessarily like sleeping alone. She actually co-sleeps with us from 4am until we wake up so she doesn't get too lonely.

Hannah has also recently discovered her smile and loves to flaunt it. Since she is a daddy's girl already, Will keeps telling her that her smile is going to get her far in our house since it's so dang irresistible. I have to agree. Enough of me rambling on. I know you are really here to see pictures of our little squishy. 

I have no idea why she looks purple but it's kind of funny because I can call her an oompa loompa.  My my embroidered the towel since we don't want her to feel left out! 

This is what my mother referred to as the Cedar Point shot. Sorry, only  people from Michigan and the surrounding states will get that reference. 

I love when she holds her hands like this. She just looked so peaceful I couldn't resist taking a picture. 

Our 6 week old baby using her powers of persuasion, tongue and all.

And now for my pieces of motherly wisdom and/or commentary:

• As your baby gets older you will get less worried about the pets being around and hair getting into everything because you don't have the energy to care
• It's hard to drive with a crying baby
• It's also hard to sit in the back seat all the time when you don't have to drive - sometimes you just want to be an adult! 
• Find safe places to start breastfeeding in public then move on to more advanced locations, this will make your anxiety much less
• Always schedule appointments on your husbands days off so he can watch the baby while you take care of business...so much easier

Until next time! 

It's No Longer About You!

As I'm sitting here excited that I finally was able to take a shower AND put make up on before Hannah started crying, I completely understand that it's no longer about us. My mom texted us yesterday to tell us happy second anniversary and remind us that it's now all about Hannah. Thanks mom, like we didn't know.

 Since this is my first post since Hannah arrived, I'll give you the down and dirty information that most of you already know. Hannah arrived at 11:44am after 7.5 hours of labor and only about 45 minutes at the hospital. Yes, we almost did have a highway baby despite everyone telling us first babies don't deliver fast. She was born weighing 9lbs 2oz and was 21 inches long. Yes, it was all natural and yes I will spare you those gory details.

Hannah's first day!

It has been a whirlwind since Hannah has been home. Not only do you have to deal with extreme sleep deprivation as everyone knows (but doesn't understand unless you have children), you also have to actually continue living life. Everyday becomes a challenge with new things that you need to reconquer. Things like, taking the dogs out, making food, taking a shower, thinking, and lets not forget dealing with the uber complicated, insurance. Will and I have decided you need a PhD in insurance just to be able to understand what in the heck is going on. Again, I won't bore you with the details.

Now on to the fun stuff. Everyone has been requesting pictures and in an attempt to keep pictures as minimal as possible on facebook, I'm going to try and update the blog with pictures and commentary at least once a month. Understand this is a tall order for a new parent. No, I'm not being sarcastic although I wish I was! So here you are, a few tidbits from Hannah's first month.

This is what I refer to now as squishy face. In fact, I like it so much I have also started calling her squishy. Pray that the nickname doesn't stick for her sake. 

 

We have had a bunch of visitors but one of the most important was my friend Bill. Although, he does make me nervous around babies he was more gentle than Will tends to be an has now earned the title of Uncle Bill, even though he isn't technically blood. 

Since we didn't know that Hannah was a girl prior to arrival, we had a lot of gender neutral clothes. This is her first every day dress that we scored from an ad off craigslist. We are cheap if you didn't already know that.

This was taken last night when we were getting ready for bed. Squishy face and daddy love snuggling right before bedtime and daddy is not only great at diaper changes, but also great at everyday tasks like dressing Hannah in those stupid footed pajamas that are so darned hard to get wiggly babies into.

Some other things that we have learned this month:

• Little babies make big noises, especially from their bottoms
• Type of diaper you use does make a difference - please note when purchasing for friends
• Growth spurts suck - as a mom, you have no identity during these periods, you are simply there to feed and comfort
• Crying because your too tired is to be expected
• Other mom friends are crucial so you can ask questions like, is her poop supposed to be that color?
• Fast moving swings are our savior!

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down recent memory lane and look for more in the near future!