Homecoming, Milestones and Visitors: Julia's first 3 weeks

Julia,

You were born on October 11, 2012 (10/11/12- coolest birthday ever!)

And on October 15, 2012 we finally got to bring you home!

The homecoming was initially very hectic. We walked in the front door and Preston came to greet us and his eyes were all cloudy and blue! Did he go blind in 4 days? Will he be okay? What's wrong with him? So, I unloaded the car really quickly and immediately took Preston to the vet.

Turns out that the Turkey just got into something and irritated his eyes. So I got antibiotics and eyedrops for him and came stumbling home. He was going to be just fine, and his eyesight was perfect.

So, then I got to come home, and Aidan came home too, and we got to enjoy our homecoming night together.

Your brother liked having a car seat in the house again. And swore to protect it with his life.

Over the next couple of days you had visitors galore! We were happy to welcome them, and they were happy to hold you and meet you!

Aunt Nessa:

Henners (Mommy and Daddy's College buddy!):

Mommy's co-workers:

Neighbors too!

Kai and Cole:

Dorothy:

Bryan, Tammy and Luke:

Uncle BJ and Aunt Kari came by again too!

You even got to meet Aunt April, Uncle Taff, Autumn and Addison - they came in all the way from Houston to meet you! Aidan had so much fun playing with the cousins, and you mostly slept, but you will LOVE playing with these guys too!

Of course, you got to spend a lot more time with your grandparents, especially Yaya who stayed with your Mommy and Aidan when I had to go back to work.

 

Now, you didn't think your little brother would have left you alone, did you? No way! A lot of your time at home is spent with your big brother! He wants to hold you, sing to you, read to you, cuddle up to you, talk to you while you're eating (Eat it, Julia! Nipple, eat it, Julia!), kiss you, lick you (yes, you read that correctly), and he really wants you to sleep in his bed. But don't worry, you're safe sleeping in your co-sleeper and cradle with Mommy and Daddy...for now.

With all these visitors and family members, it may seem like your homecoming isn't really about you, but, baby, it is. Everyone wants to just hold you, be with you, meet you and get some of that baby magic!

Being home is the first new beginning. You get to try on and spit up on as many different adorable outfits as you want! Some days you go through more outfit changes than a fashion model! And your Mommy and I do definitely have fun playing a bit of dress up, and adoring you

in hats....

6 days old!

in bows...

5 days old

in pinks...

7 days old! A grab from our photo shoot-- more on this later!

and yellows...

10 days old!

 

2 weeks old!

And these first three weeks have been filled with milestones:

• You had your first bath (with a very concerned big brother watching closely):

• At your 5-day check up we discovered that you had regained birthweight (7lb 13 oz)! 




• At your 14 day  doctor check up you had almost gained a pound and grown .5 inch taller. 8 lbs 10 oz; 21 inches tall- Putting you in the 75 percentile (and putting you in a class of champion eaters and growers: by 14 days, most babies are only expected to have just then regained their birthweight!)



Day 14!

• On day day 19, - drumroll please- your umbilical cord fell off and you started really holding your head up super well!



Look at that cute Belly Button!



Hold you Head up!

• Compared to your big brother at the same age, you're sleeping like a champ! Granted, you have your moments, but for the mos part, we're all getting pretty good sleep. We were the Walking Dead by this point with Aidan!

In some ways, I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks. It sems just like yesterday you were born, and just the day before that we were peering at your sonogram trying to figure out who you'd be.

In other ways, I can't remember life without you, and it seems like you've always been here with us.

You're an amazing little wonder already, and we can't wait to share this road with you. Together, as a family!

The Line in The Sand...And some new developments

A challenge has been issued, little buddy:

Apparently the general consensus among non-medical people other than your Mother and I is that you are going to be early!

In fact, on Sunday, Jeremy and Michelle made a wager that your Mom wouldn't "last" 14 days! That would put your birthday on February 21st! Well, your Mom and I are still convinced that you're going to make it to March. I mean, heck we're already 3 days into that 14 day line-in-the-sand and your Mom hasn't even had a contraction.

I think we're going to make it to the finish line without a problem!

Let's take a look at the facts:

• Your Mom is 2 cm dilated
• You will be considered "full term" as of 37 weeks- this coming Saturday
• The doctor didn't say anything about your Mom being "effaced" (the thinning of the cervix)
• Your Mom is acting like a champ...albeit a champ with back pains that cause her to sleep on the couch and sort of flounder around to be able to shift positions
• We haven't packed our bags to go to the hospital yet
• We haven't put your car seat in the car yet (and we're not allowed to take you home with us without your car seat installed)
• Your Mom officially goes on Maternity leave in 2 days
• The doctor said you were right on schedule, as far as growth and weight gain.

And there are some new announcements too, though:

1. ............. After weeks and weeks of waiting, your Mom is now a "). " It's an Outie! Alright, so it's not quite an all-the-time official outie yet, but your Mom's belly button has officially made the switch from a most-of-the-time inny to a most-of-the-time small outie.
2. Your Mom can eat again regular amounts of food again (for a while she couldn't eat a lot...but had to eat a little frequently, because she got full so easily). This may mean that her organs are probably not smushed together anymore, which means that there's not a little you craming all her entrails together. This means you may have "dropped" - which means you may now be engaged in the birthing canal.

So...who knows who is right? Some of these signs may indicate that you won't make it to the 21st of February. Some indicate that we're right on time for a March delivery.

Whenever you do arrive, though, we'll be ready for you. We're putting the car seat together this weekend, and packing the bag tonight and tomorrow. So, let me revise my statement: as long as you arrive after this weekend, we'll be ready for you. Mostly.

Beat it

It finally happened last night!

After months of trying, and waiting patiently, and continuous effort, it finally happened.

No, your Mom's belly button didn't turn into an outie. It's still an inny. Although, it is a weird one...sometimes it protrudes more than others. But, overall, it's an inny.

No, you weren't born. It's too early for that!

Yes, "LOST" came back on, but that's not what I'm talking about.

What I'm all excited about went down like this:

After LOST was over, I tucked your Mom into her new bed (the couch) and sung you a lullabye. Then I put my ear to your Mom's belly to try to hear your heartbeat again.

After several ear placements (and several iterations of you pushing against my face), I finally heard a heart beat.

Convinced it was not your beat, but your Mom's, I started tap the rhythm out on your Mom's arm.

Not knowing what I was doing at all, she said "What are you doing?"

"Is that your heartbeat?" I asked.

She put her fingers to her neck to check her pulse.

"Nope!" she replied.

And with that "nope," I knew that the loud, strong heartbeat I was hearing was actually yours!

I've been putting my ear to your Mom's belly for at least 10 weeks- because the books all said I should have been able to hear your heartbeat. And for 10 weeks, I never heard it.

And finally, last night, I heard your heart pumping blood through your body. I've heard your heart many times on the Doppler, but to hear it with my naked ears- now that was something special. Even more special than the premiere of "LOST," if you can imagine that!

So, be warned, I'm putting my ear to the belly again tonight, for a chance of hearing your ticker tick once more.

The Curious Case of Belly Button

Your Mom's Belly Button just keeps getting more and more curious. She was sure a couple of weeks ago that it was going to pop from ( to ) , and so we started Belly Button Watch 2009. The crowd has been gathering every night with bated breath and front row seats, waiting for it to pop to an outy...but as you can see, the crowd has lost it's interest.

You see, we don't even know what Day of the BBW it is, but I do know that that thing is STILL an Inny. But, it's becoming a very weird inny. You know what the bottom of a balloon looks like when it's tied off? Well, of course, you don't know what it looks like right now. Maybe a little bit like a spleen? I don't know. Here's a picture of one:
So, that little purple tip really is a good example of what your Mom's belly button looks like.

It's shallow, it's textured, it's flat, it's rubbery, it's the top piece of a bulgy, round orb.

Don't believe me? Fine. Take a look at this and tell me it's not the most curious belly button you've ever seen. Now, the belly button is remarkably hard to take a picture of, so you may have to use your imagination a little bit.
But seriously, is it going to pop or just keep getting more and more shallow? Is it going to start talking to us? Is it going to wink? I don't know! But, we'll keep monitoring the situation. Hopefully something more interesting will happen with it (like a POP..OUTY!) so the dogs' efforts wont have been in vain.

So, even though this is supposed to have been the month of your Mom's fastest growth, we still have a shallow inny on our hands, and a curious one at that.

But, we do have an ever-growing belly. In fact, I think the belly even grew from last week to this week. (Thanksgiving food certainly must have helped).

What do you think?

WEEK 25


WEEK 26

And maybe sometime soon, your Mom will have one of these protruding from her shirt: )