So baby girl was swinging her way to dreamland while I got a few things done around the house. As I was walked past her, I heard this low hum and I thought her swing was rubbing on something as it swayed back and forth.
Come to find out...that sweet hum was coming from my very own little log sawer. I like to think she gets this from her papa. ;)
Whoa.
Wu-OH.
How do I begin? How do I begin to put into words the last month of our lives?? This introduction to parenthood has been a crash course in patience, grace and true sleep deprivation. It's impossible to paint a picture that would do justice to the way our lives have been rocked. Hearts are overflowing across the board with the joy that this little one has added to our lives. Every change, every new adjustment, every tear (lots of emoting around here) has been a blessing, hands down. I wouldn't change a moment of it.
Nope, I lie...I would add a few dozen hours of sleep back into our schedule.
Things I love:
* The way she boldly owns each and every toot with a ear to ear grin. Couldn't care less if it's gas - my baby smiles people.
* The way her eyes dart across my face when she hears me talk to her.
* The way she knows my touch. If she is fussy when someone else holds her, she will stop when she is handed back to me.
* Her strength is outrageous! This little one holds her head up and kicks her legs and arms like a champion. Rock solid.
* Her need for touch - she is a snuggler.
* When she has alert time, it doesn't matter what noises come and go (vacuum, TV, dishwasher) she is content to hang out.
* I love that her noises are changing, we are still learning how to translate them, but her squeaks are precious.
Things I DEFINITELY don't love:
* Getting her tongue clipped - DOUBLE BOOOO.
* Her PKU testing in the first 2 weeks of life.
* Gas - two fold, it's insanely painful for her, and no fun for me since I am not able to eat chocolate or drink lemonade.
* The screaming that we can't translate - usually happens at the wee hours when her Daddy and I are barely coherent.
* Knowing when she is uncomfortable (tummy/tongue, etc.)
* Did I mention the horrible gas? HATE how horribly uncomfortable it makes her. No one wants to see their baby in pain.
* Her piddle trick. Every time her diaper change is nearly complete, she let's the pee fly...all over....clean clothes.
Now about that piddle trick. Last Sunday, Dana and I made our first venture out to church since Penelope's arrival. We took our time in the morning, made sure baby girl was fed, clean and happy and went out on our way. As expected, the time came when she needed to eat again so she and I went to the nursing mother's room at the back of the sanctuary. In the room, there was one other mother quietly nursing her little one, and a volunteer there to help the mommies. The room was dimly lit and the speakers were quietly sharing the service, it really was a sweet and comforting atmosphere. This being our first experience in the nursing room, I hoped we wouldn't be sticking out too much like a sore thumb. But lo and behold - she begins to nurse. Loudly. You would think that I had been depriving my child of any kind of nutrition with the way she was gulping. LOUDLY. The mom in front of me literally giggled when she heard Penelope start in. Little did she know, my baby belches like a sailor after a good meal - so what was to come was even MORE comical than the nursing part.
After the 'show' in the nursing mother's room, I took a full and sleeping baby back into the sanctuary for the duration of the service. Before leaving the church, I thought to play it safe, I would make one more trip to the nursing mother's room to do a quick diaper change. I got her laid out on the bathroom baby changing table, took her pants off, did the job. As I went to reach for the replacement diaper, it began. The flood, the flood of pee. (What I haven't mentioned yet, is she was wearing a DARLING sweater from her Aunt Jes, and being the first time mom I am, I realized I did not have a back up outfit on hand. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!) So as I'm scrambling to get the new diaper on the table, pee is going EVERYWHERE. Up the back, down the legs, it's pooling on the changing table...POOLING. All I could think to do to save the clothing, so I held her up and let her finish the job. Yep, pee down the legs, soaking her socks and pooling...everywhere. So there I am, holding my baby over the changing table, looking desperately for something to clean her up with and there is pee just...everywhere. Needless to say, it became a one-armed balancing act. After a few splashes of water, two dozen wipes and two more diapers, we were back in action.
All I have to say, is I fought that gnarly sterile flood with vigor and the outfit was SAVED.
Consider me broken in to the bathroom diaper change.
This has been a ride. A really amazing, great ride. Every diaper fiasco or screaming fit is a learning experience for all three of us. We are learning the power in the love a parent has for their child. It grows by the minute and the strength in that love carries us.
We love her in a way that words can't capture. We want to be the very best we can for her in every way and hope that one day, we can be the parents to her, that our parents were to us.
So onward and upward to week number 4. I can't wait to see what our big lesson will be this week. :)
Penelope just turned one week old. Wow. Really? It's so hard to believe!
Needless to say, her first week was action packed. Yes, mommy and daddy are pooped, but every second with her makes up for every second of open eye at night.
We will be posting a blog with more detail - but Peanut has gone a lil' bit radioactive with jaundice. Her pediatrician says she is "glowing" - and I've taken to calling her our little Hulk since her eyes have a yellow-green tinge to them. After being poked and prodded for several PKU tests, it was determined that while her jaundice levels are high-ish, they are going down and the likelihood of her needing further treatment is minimal.
She is eating like a champ. She sleeps like a champ, and gives us plenty of rest in between feedings. She smiles (who cares if it's gas - it's a smile). She loves bath time (she is after all, my daughter). She LOVES the camera (which tickles her daddy silly). She has everyone completely smitten as they should be. We are totally and completely in LOVE with this rufflebum baby.
A couple of pics for her 1 week birthday - thanks to her Great Grandma and Popo in Arizona for providing the deliciously sweet wardrobe. 
How sweet to be home.
Yesterday we signed on the dotted line, ran through the do's and don'ts with the nurse and brought our beautiful baby girl home.
How sweet it is.
We are totally pooped but extremely thankful to be able to sleep in our own bed, rest in our own space and enjoy the quiet with Penelope. We are learning quickly how the three of us will work together and we are doing our best to establish a routine. There is definitely a laundry list of things that we never realized we would run into. Whether it be the quirks of nursing, diapering, sleeping, healing, etc., those little things keep us on our toes and definitely keep our sense of humor finely tuned.
I can say with 100% certainty, that we came home with an angel baby. I'm sure every parent says that - and I'm sure there are those that will say "oh just you wait", but I honestly have met few babies that are so even tempered and mild. She is amazingly alert, she loves to coo and gurgle, she sleeps like a LOG at night (giving her mommy and daddy legitimate stretches of sleep), and she rarely EVER cries. Sure, maybe we are biased, but nurses were surprised by her from the moment she was born so I think we have a good thing going! :)
Thank the Lord for such a gift - I seriously don't think I could love her more. I feel like I've joined the elite group that know God's love in a very unique and special way. The way I love Dana now is far deeper than anything I could have imagined and the instant connection I have with this little girl is profound an indescribable.
I am beyond blessed - my cup runneth over.
After our appointment with Dr. Awesome on Monday evening, we were left with a decision regarding Peanut's delivery. We hadn't been making the progress Dr. A or I hoped to see so he left us with a decision to make. To make a long story short, after much prayer, counsel and consideration, we decided Peanut was going to be making her appearance this week.
We were expecting to be going in Thursday night to begin the process, but to due to the apparent massive amount of October babies coming we are set up to go in tonight at 7. :) They will begin the process this evening, if needed we will start Pitocin in the morning and if all goes well, baby girl should be greeting her very excited family tomorrow night.
Unfortunately, the piggy flu has dictated that the hospital make visits from family and friends completely impossible. They can't even come to the waiting room...boo. Since I am only allowed two people to stay with me, my support team is made up of my amazing baby daddy/husband/rock star, Dana and my mom who will be joining us tomorrow morning. We are anticipating this little one's safe arrival and praying that the process is simple and uneventful.
We will keep the 'couch' and our FB accounts updated as much as humanly possible. Go easy on us though - we are you know - having a child - that does kinda take priority. ;)
Keep checking in! We will write again from the hospital tonight after we're all rigged up and settled in.
It is insane how our weekends just keep buzzing by.
Lately, we reach the end of the day on Fridays dragging our feet home and aching for R&R. Saturday morning begins and with very little sleeping in, we launch into chores and a list of to-do's. We are after all less than a month away from the impending arrival of our baby girl - so time to get those last minute to-do's in is fleeting. By Saturday late afternoon, we realize we've somehow added to our to-do list and by doing so, we extended our 'get-er-done' time to absorb most of what would have been our much anticipated play time. Our heads hit the pillow on Saturday night with a heavy sign of relief and exhaustion and we count the sheep leading us to Sunday morning. Sunday mornings start early with church and fellowship usually taking us until noonish. From that point on - we finish up what couldn't be done on Saturday and put every last ditch effort and every ounce of energy into taking it e-a-s-y. Of course, as we apply said effort into easiness, we realize it's 9PM and it's time to start shutting down and preparing for the impending Monday Madness. Can I get a witness?
This weekend was no different than the madness of the last few. Our Saturday included what was hopefully the last and final pre-baby trip to Babies R' Us, installing our car seat (which earned an entire blog entry in itself), catching a soccer game, cleaning, laundry and having a quiet dinner/movie at home. Sunday was a day Dana has been anticipating for a year. No lie, a YEAR. Battle Of The Imports came to Woodburn Dragstrip in OR - and it was Dana's version of heaven in more ways than one. We got up early enough to catch some coffee/pastries together and his parents came and picked us up to go down and catch the car action. We spent the day watching suped up cars and insane drivers (no really..people that do this are a few clicks short of CRAZY)rally their way to get the quickest time on a quarter mile straightaway. Dana was able to get a press pass and got to get right down in the action off the starting line to take pictures. He LOVED that!! He got some pretty amazing shots too. (He will be posting a couple later.)
I'd like to say our lives are slowing down a few notches in preparation for Peanut, but I as much as we've tried to make that happen - things only seem to be a combination of crazy and poorly timed madness!
