I can hold my head up and mommy's back in the pool!

I can hold my head up!

Barry took off today for a couple of hours to run erands, go to the gym, etc. I stayed home. Slave to the tit. As usual. Barry came home with a couple of toys with him: a Baby Bjorn and a Playstation 3 "because it has blue ray and our DVD player was on the fritz anyway". Uh huh. Sure. Whatever you say honey. Anyway, when Barry got home around 3:00, Michelle was finally down for what seemed like "a good nap" (as opposed to the fake-out 30 minute interval of semi-sleep that frequently has me fooled as the real thing). Seeing the opportunity, Barry says to me "why don't you take off to the gym and go swimming". Me? Leave the house? WITHOUT Michelle? Cut her off from her food supply? How can that be? She might cry! She might get hungry! Oh. That's right. Barry is her DADDY and daddies can also handle this sort of thing. This is something I NEVER would have given myself permission to do unless he had suggested it. So with a supply of breast milk in the fridge, I took off...by myself...for my first swim since Michelle was born. And GOD IT FELT GOOD!!! In my pre-pregnancy Sugoi workout suit, I felt like a freakin' torpedo compared to my last swim, 2 days before Michelle arrived. I suppose this was the first REAL cardiovascular workout I've had since she was born. The best part was when I got home, Michelle was in Barry's Bjorn happy as a clam. He gave her a little bottle of breast milk when she woke up, popped her in the Bjorn while setting up his other toy, the PS3. Clearly, I married the right man!

Daddy plays with his new toys

Had to add this one!

Great Grandpa Wilson sneaks a kiss!

Erica took this last weekend, Too cute not to post!

Great-Grandparents Galore!

An exciting week for Michelle! She had her 1 month check-up yesterday. She is 9lbs, 22 inches long and her head is 14.5 inches. In other words, momma's milk is working just fine! We have introduced her to one bottle of breast milk at bedtime and after some mild protest and realization that there IS and alternate source of "the good stuff", she is sucking back the bottle in no time. It has also been a good way to tank her up for a longer stretch of sleep. Plus, Barry gets to join in on the fun.

Most importantly, Michelle met her Great-Grandparents, Bea and Bert , last weekend. They came down with Tammy and Erica on Friday and we drove up to Tammy's on Saturday. Tammy even had a special cake for the occasion.

Barry is out of town this week for work. This is the first time Michelle and I have been home alone without any help. By the end of the day Monday, the house looked like a hurricane had hit it. It really hit me how much Barry does around the house to keep the wheels turning. As I cracked open a can of soup for dinner, I mourned the loss of chef Barry big time!

I am very grateful to my friend Stephanie who came down with her 7 month old baby and spent the night. She watched Michelle so I could go grocery shopping, made dinner for us, cleaned my kitchen AND made coffee (decaf) before taking off this morning. Michelle and I are heading up to Tammy's this afternoon and plan to spend the night so clearly I am not without support this week!

Io and Stephanie's little boy, Keith, were quite amused with eachother.

4 weeks old today!

Michelle is 4 weeks old today. Big milestone last night. She took a bottle of breast milk! It took some coaxing but she finally took it with a "bait and switch" tactic by getting her on the boob and switching to the bottle. Tonight we will try bait and switch and switch again by handing her off to daddy for the feeding.

4 week celebration walk around Titlow. Man, Not bad for 4 weeks postpartum!

Finally fitting into the "Bum Genius" diapers. In many colors!


Daddy time!

Our little poster child for Newborn acne. Don't know if she'll have a prom date this year :-(

The battle of the pacifier....

I have not wanted to introduce a pacifier to Michelle until our breastfeeding was well established. I think we are now at that point but she has done well without one so I figured, why introduce something that we may have a battle with later trying to take away? However, I have read in a couple of baby books that a pacifier may help refluxing babies by stimulating saliva production to neutralize the acidity. So last night, in an attempt to calm our colicky, refluxing child, we tried the pacifier. My boobs were dry. She had been sucking on them non-stop for hours. They needed time to fill up and Michelle still needed to suck on SOMETHING. I figured it would either be a "Ahh, where have you been all my life???" moment or a "You can't fool me with that mockery of a nipple!" moment. And the verdict? Officially "You can't fool me with that mockery of a nipple!" When I first stuck it in her mouth, there was a very brief quiet moment of "Oh! A nipple!" quickly followed by a crinkled nose spitting out the pacifier and crying louder as if to say "you would ACTUALLY try to feed me silicone? Are you trying to POISON me???" So we waited until she calmed down a little bit and tried again to gently introduce the sucking device. This time she fought it with her tongue, refusing it before it could even enter her mouth. Eventually, when she was just worn out with crying, we tried again and she did actually suck on it for a couple of minutes before realizing she had been tricked. Then, of course, she crinkled her nose, made a face and spit out the imposter. The good news I guess is that we won't have to break her of a pacifier habit. The bad news? Well, I was planning to get pumping breast milk this week so that Barry could give her a bottle in the evenings. My nipples and Barry would appreciate delegating an evening feeding. At 4 weeks, this is apparently the window to introduce a bottle so lets hope the bottle goes better than the pacifier!

Reflux sucks!

Michelle has had a rough day. Her reflux really picked up the last couple of days and today she is miserable if she isn't either eating or sleeping. She usually has happy time on the changing table ( there is nothing more glorious than a bare butt in the breeze!) but not today. Anytime she lays flat, she cries as miserable, painful cry. She is living on me in the sling wrap today where she seems to feel comforted after eating. There is nothing that wretches at my heart so than to hear my little one so miserable. But, this too shall pass. I hope taking reflux precautions will be enough to avoid medication...we'll see...

For those who don't know, I have decided, after much fasting and praying, to fly to Salt Lake over Labor Day weekend with Michelle. This was NOT an easy decision! Once Chandra and Jason decided to fly out from North Carolina with 9 month old Ethan, I really figured I had to buck up and stop being a pussy and complete the family reunion. Flying from NC is no picnic. From New Bern, It is an entire day of travel, complete with 4 hour layover...did I mention they would be doing this with a mobile, inquisitive 9 month old? And how far is a flight to Salt Lake from Tacoma? Uh, 2 hours...nonstop. My 6 week old will be doing very little at that point except eat and sleep and with the Moby wrap, crying is almost insignificant. The closer was that I was able to get the same flight out as Barry. Barry will be in the Windriver mountains on a long-planned fishing trip with his dad and is flying to Salt Lake as his starting point. So at least I will have some moral support for Michelle's first airplane trip. We'll be on our own flying back, but at least we will have some practice by then. God, I hope her reflux improves by then!

Real men wear babies!

Barry came home from his business trip yesterday. Michelle and daddy definitely needed some bonding time! I bought Barry a sling wrap since he found the Moby wrap too time consuming to assemble. Both baby wraps have their place as the sling is super easy to put on but there is nothing like the Moby for long walks while simultaneously breastfeeding. Michelle got her long awaited bath with Daddy. She is so relaxed in the bath tub! Barry floats her head and she moves her little arms and legs with a total look of bliss and contentment. Barry gave her an eskimo kiss as she was rooting a bit and she latched right onto his nose! She was so relaxed after her bath, we put her down in her crib drowsy and she fell asleep...by herself...without the boob! And one more exciting milestone... Michelle is big enough to fit into her "Bum Genius" diapers, a cloth pocket diaper with moisture wicking barrier, velcro, and no folding required. They've come a long way since my diaper wearing days of safety pins and scratchy plastic pants!

Grandpa's magic dance

Thursday night, Grandpa David was able to miraculously calm the fussy child with dancing and ski-lunges. This was the first time she has been appeased without the breast!

The results of grandpa's fruitful effort!

3 weeks old

3 weeks ago right now I was getting ready to get in the tub and push! Now look at the reward!

We missed our walk yesterday due to rain and untimely needs to breastfeed. Today I was determined so as Michelle drifted off for her morning nap, I donned my walking gear, walking shoes, visor, chuck-it with ball and leash. Io noticed all these tell-tale signs of the adventure to come and was all worked up to go when Michelle woke up with the need to feed. The word "walk" was uttered which set off Io's talking-howl. Should have made a video, but you get the idea. We did get our walk accomplished with grandma and grandpa via Moby wrap so she could "top off" her meal. I am noticing that just about every photo taken of me in the past week has been while breastfeeding. This is not a breastfeeding campaign, it is simply WHAT I seem to be doing...very frequently...during much of Michelle's waking hours.

I love Grandpa!

Our first bath in the pink tub. Water immersion continues its calming effect on Michelle.

First Bath! Round 2 grandparents.

Up until Thursday evening, we were just giving Michelle sponge baths. Now that her belly button is healed, Barry have her the first bath. She LOVED it! Completely calm the whole time, except for the getting out and drying off part. Of course, she was born in the water so I'm sure she felt right at home!

"High five Dad! This bath business is good stuff!"

Also, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Dave drove straight through (15 hours!) from Salt Lake on Thursday. I couldn't believe it! I have never driven is straight through myself, but I guess they had a little Granddaughter motivating the relentless driving.

2 week growth spurt...

Rooting for the good stuff "I know its here somewhere..."

I love my daddy...even if he is a little wierd.

Daddy takes baby for a test drive...

The last 3 nights have been relatively light in the sleep category. I caved in to bringing Michelle to bed with me due to her frequent need for feedings and screaming. I hope I am not creating a monster as I really want her to sleep in her crib. I am hoping we can get through this growth spurt and get back to establishing a routine for her. I was in tears yesterday because I thought I would start pumping some milk so Barry could feed her if I needed to run errands but I couldn't keep her off my breasts long enough to get in an effective pump session. I do have about 2 oz of milk now in the fridge and I think I will try to introduce her to the bottle nipple today. I think it is safe to say that as ravenous as she if for my breasts, I don't think "nipple confusion" should be an issue. But who knows? New mom, probably making every mistake in the book, breaking all my own rules and playing it by ear. No one said it would be easy...