The First Two Weeks

*I actually started this post about a week and a half ago, so it was titled our First week home, so most of these pictures are from the first few days. But since I didn't get it posted on her 1 week birthday I added a few more recent pictures. 

Here are some pictures from our first week home. 

First, some cell phone pics. 

Trying to capture those sleepy smiles on camera is hard.

Sleeping through her first lunch out after her doctor's appt.

Wide awake after her first night at home.

Look at those little hands. So sweet. :)

First time in the swing. She likes it for short amounts of time. I can't leave her alone in there though because C is on her like white on rice the second I turn away.

I have to include one of big sis. She was crawling to her room trying to get Sinclair to follow her {you can see her in the background}. They looked like parade floats with those balloons. :)

First bath. This got my blood pressure up about 50 points. C was wanting to get in the tub and SC was screaming. It wasn't very fun. {the second one went much better!}

Right before her first doctor's appt last Monday. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz {up from 6 lbs 14 oz when we left the hospital} -50th percentile and was 21 1/4"- 75th percentile. Dr. D was very pleased with everything and we got a great report. And the BEST part- we didn't have to do the heal stick for newborn screening!! They said they find more of the "scary" diagnoses if they wait closer to one month of age, so we'll have to do it then, :( but I was very glad not to have to go through that on Monday. I still remember it very well with Curran and it was NOT fun. SC's newborn screen done in the hospital is still pending, but Dr. D said they would have heard by now if anything bad had shown up, so that is good. 

My parents with their 3 girls before they left town last Monday. We were so sad to see them go!

We told my brother to get in the picture, and we got tickled at how C and S just looked at him the whole time. They are enamored by him! :)

We couldn't quite get everyone looking at the camera.

I tried to get a pic of them wearing their matching Big/Little Sis shirts that were gifts from my Sprinkle hostesses, but this was the best we got.

I was trying to take a picture and this little light {I have no idea what it's called or what it's really for} came on while I was focusing and C immediately threw her hand up to shield SC's eyes from the light. I thought it was sweet. :)

We put her in her crib for the first time this past Wednesday {we don't have a guest room anymore so the grandmothers were sleeping in the nursery while they were here}. It did not go so well and she ended up back in the pack n play in our room. However Thursday night she did great and made it seem like a breeze. Well it must have been a fluke because we have been unsuccessful ever since then. I would be happy just to keep her in our room, but I am such a light sleeper and don't do well with all those baby noises. I think the problem is that she is so used to being held during the day that at night she just has a hard time settling down in her crib. Also, she likes the pacifier, so when it falls out of her mouth that wakes her up. I just have to keep reminding myself that we'll get there eventually.

Parenting has been so much different round 2. I realize we are still very new at this, but from the moment SC was born, it has just been night and day compared to Curran. It helped that my delivery was so much quicker, making the recovery much better this time. It also helps that SC is such a good baby- she rarely cries- KNOCK ON WOOD- and basically just eats and sleeps all day. She started going 3 or 4 hours in between feeding by our second night at home {well, this weekend she pretty much ate every two hours during the night and it about did me in} and 2-3 hrs during the day. I am just generally enjoying her more than I did Curran. That's not to say I love her more or anything like that, but I really am just loving this time with her. A huge part of it is her easier demeanor, but I think a lot of it is also my perspective having been through this before. I know this exhausting newborn phase doesn't last forever making it easier to appreciate and actually enjoy this time. I'm trying really hard not to be the type of mom I would have wanted to punch in the face when I was new to motherhood, but I can't help that I am just a tad bit obsessed with this sweet baby! :)

Curran is adjusting pretty well to no longer being an only child. She is SO sweet with Sallie Cate, constantly saying how cute she is. She came up to her the other day, patted her head and said, "You a pretty little lady." :) She loves holding her hands and looking at her feet. And she is obsessed with covering her up with a blanket. She sees that as her mission in life. :) We have had to do a lot of disciplining for her being sassy and talking back, and she has been pretty emotional, but overall I think she is doing really well, thankfully.

And I can't talk about our first week without mentioning what happened with one of our dogs. So while we were still in the hospital, my mom said that she thought Ellie was sick. I blew it off because anyone who knows that dog knows she has never seen a "sick" day in her life. But when John went home one afternoon he said she was indeed really sick. She wouldn't get up to come inside when he called and wouldn't eat anything, not even a piece of turkey he offered her. So the afternoon we got home from the hospital, John took her into the vet. It broke my heart to see John have to carry Ellie out to the car. I knew at that point something was really wrong. When they got to the vet, the dr said Ellie's heart rate was half of what it should be. She was in acute renal failure and her liver enzymes were very elevated. They were afraid she might have been poisoned. The vet never could figure out what was wrong with her, so they sent her to the doggy emergency room. So after two days at the vet and ER, and a large mortgage payment later, they determined Ellie has Addison's Disease and will require lifelong treatment, to the tune of $83/month {better than the $200/month we were first presented with}. We are just glad she is ok and back to her normal self {ok, I wish we could tone down the "normal" just a bit :) }.

And THAT was our first week home.