"If I stretch out hard enough, I might grow!"


Natalie's pediatrician appointment went well yesterday. She weighs 9 lbs 4 oz! She has been doing great lately, getting out more and more. We took a long walk today because it was finally warm and sunny. She was awake and looking around at everything very attentively but fell asleep just before we returned home.

Here she is unhappily trying on her blessing dress. The boddess is a little big, but I think I will leave it or temporarily baste it tighter. She might be able to wear it again to church when she gets bigger if I leave it.

This Makes Me Laugh

Why, yes! I do have the most mature sense of humor ever!

Poop Monster

2:30 p.m.- Natalie poops. It leaks out her diaper, through her tights and dress, onto the carrier where she sits. I change her into a jumper.

6:30 p.m.- Natalie has a wet diaper. I undo her jumper, open her diaper to clean her, and she pees all over, drenching her jumper. I change her into a sleeper.

10:20 p.m.- Natalie plays around during a feeding, causing 3 milk-drenched burp cloths.

2:45 a.m.- Natalie eats a nice meal. I place her down to change her diaper, and she spits up, soaking the shoulders of her sleeper and her blanket. I change her into a onesie and get a fresh blanket.

9:45 a.m.- Natalie poops while snuggling in bed with mommy. It leaks through her diaper, her onesie, her blanket and mommy's bed sheet. Delightful.

Who knew that babies create so much laundry?!

My Project

Natalie is getting way too reliant on 1.) Being held 2.) Having a pacifier. On the other hand, it's nice to know that whenever she's fussy there are two sure fire ways to get her to calm down.

We have gotten the thumbs up for her to be blessed in church on February 5. I started looking into getting a white dress and they seemed really over-priced. For my birthday, my awesome Dad got me a sewing machine so I decided that I could make a dress for cheaper. I started out looking at the simple pattern on this site: http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/baby-dress-patterns.html and then jazzed it up a bit, making my own pattern from tissue paper. I figured out the sleeves all by myself, added a few gathers at the waist and shoulders and will be putting snaps down the back instead of having it be a pull-over. It's not quite done, but here is my work in progress. I'm so proud of my work!!!

The lighting isn't very good, so it doesn't do the fabric justice. It's an eyelet finish with a cotton weave lining. And the fabric and supplies all cost less than $14. Woo hoo!

2.5 Weeks Old!

Sammy has been doing better than we ever could have hoped for. He is aware of Natalie and will approach her and sniff her, but he mostly just keeps his distance and looks on. He whines when she cries and always comes and sits on the foot of the glider while I am rocking her.

She is already way buff. Here she is on her tummy lifting her head.

She is definitely getting bigger- especially in the cheeks and tummy!

Getting to Know Natalie

We continue to figure out more and more about our baby. For example, she like to lay on her tummy on someone's chest. She will fall asleep peacefully in this position if tired and will contentedly look around from this position if awake.

She likes to be held and sung to when she's awake. She eats far better when we wait for her to wake up and be hungry rather than waking her up to eat. We are working on getting her to get full each time she eats. Sometimes she does well, other times she just snacks and then wants to eat again soon after. She loves to suck, but we are avoiding giving her a pacifier until we are confident that she has learned nursing well enough. It's hard to put her to sleep sometimes and we let her suck our fingers. Sometimes she can find her own.

She enjoys her vibrating chair and Sammy doesn't mind sharing it, though if it is empty he is always jumping up and laying in it.

The weather and my soreness haven't allowed for much walking, but I did make it to the mail box a few days ago. She was not happy when we started, but she fell asleep in the stroller. I take this to mean that she enjoys it. Same thing with car rides. She's fussy when being strapped in then passes out after a while.

Another important thing: At night, she will only poop if you have JUST changed her diaper. With all the changing of diapers, I wonder why we even bother to clothe her at night. She wore a nice sleeper with an open bottom last night though- it was considerably easier than the footie kind.

As of yesterday, she weighed 7 lbs 15 oz, up 12 oz from last Thursday. Micah calculated that her weight gain in the last week in terms of percentage total body weight would be equivalent to him gaining 3 lbs a day for a week. Glad to know that she's getting enough to eat.

She peed all over me at the pediatrician's. I was holding a paper towel between her legs while carrying her to the scale and she managed to pee so much it puddled in the towel and ran onto my shirt. The Dr. says she is feisty. Set her down naked on a cold padded table and she wiggles all over. She already has very good muscle tone and can control lifting her head pretty well. Next appointment is in 2 weeks and the Dr. jokingly said that the next time she sees us, Natalie will be walking. I told the Dr. not to give her any ideas.

One Week

A week ago today, our baby was born at 2:55. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches long. We named her Natalie Rose Jenkins.

It has been a fun week bringing her home and learning how she works. She had a lot of trouble nursing the first few days, but we're getting the hang of it. She sleeps a lot. We have trouble waking her up for her to eat.

Micah has been really awesome. I'm gonna be really lost when he starts school tomorrow and I don't have him around all day to help me!

Natalie is cute. We enjoy loving on her :)

Will try to keep you posted on continuing developments!