The Many Faces of Sarah

I think I see an accidental smile in the bottom left pic!

One Month

I cannot believe Sarah is already one month old today. Granted the first couple of weeks of her life are a blur but wow, the last 2 have flown by. I'm stealing Leslie's idea of taking her picture every month in the same chair with the same doll to show how she's growing. I adore my baby girl!

Big Girl Baths

Sarah's umbilical cord FINALLY fell off on Thursday so Friday she had her first big girl bath. We had been sponge bathing her on the kitchen counter to try to keep her umbilical cord protected and she HATED it. I would too...it's so cold when you're wet and lying on the kitchen counter! Her first real bath was much better than the sponge baths. She was a little unsure of what to think of this new experience but, I think she probably liked that we kept her warm with the washcloth. I consider it a success because there was no crying...yeah!

One Month Checkup...already??

I can't believe I took Sarah for her first month checkup yesterday. She is technically one month on Sunday but they were able to see her a few days early. She is currently 8 pounds 9 ounces and 21.5 inches. 50th percentile for both weight and height!

The doctor asked if she is smiling yet...umm, no. But she does track my fingers if I put them in front of her face and move them from side to side slowly. We currently have a couple of nicknames for our little girl. The most common one used is Baby. Real original, I know. The others are SJ and Sister (that one is thanks to the sweet nurse at the doctor's office). I love how Sarah responds to our voices. She can be in the middle of a wail and hear Daniel or me talk and she'll calm down...but only for a minute!

She's a pretty good baby with her schedule. She eats every 2.5 to 3 hours. Sometimes she gets fussy between feedings and at first I would think it was because she hadn't eaten enough. There are about 3 things baby girl gets fussy about. Number one is gas (aren't we all fussy about that!). Number two is a dirty diaper (I completely understand!). And the last reason is she just wants to lie on the ground and punch and kick the air. Took me a little while to figure this one out. Nobody thinks a crying baby would want to be put down and left alone but that's usually what she does want. She always stops crying immediately...it's crazy! Also, she is doing pretty well at night. The last week and a half she is averaging about 1 feeding a night...yay! I think I have figured out that if I give her a fully belly around 10 or 11 then she'll not wake up again to eat until around 4. Then I feed her, change her diaper and she'll sleep until 8 or so.

Cousins...9 month old Carter and 3 week old Sarah

So, here we are, 3 and a half weeks into our journey together and I must say that being a mom is a tough job. Thankfully I have wonderful friends and family that help out with advice and whatever else I need. But, most importantly I have a husband that has taken to Daddy-hood amazingly and will do anything for his little girl. It's very sweet!

Using the fish scale to weigh the baby!

We can't say thank you enough!

We checked out of the hospital on Tuesday around 11:30 A.M. We started home and made it to the highway before I realized that I left a very important bag at the hospital. We had to turn around and head back to retrieve this bag! At that point, I had my first of many meltdowns. WOW, to the emotions that come with having a baby! I think losing the security of the hospital staff sank in about 10 minutes after we left...talk about scary!


Thankfully, though, we had a wonderful helper waiting on us at home. Daniel's mom, Connie, was at our house waiting on our arrival. We walked in to the wonderful smell of a roast cooking in the oven and a special cherry dessert sitting on the counter. The floors had been mopped, all laundry was clean and there were lots of groceries in the refrigerator. Grandmommy stayed Monday night through Saturday with us. We never had a dirty piece of laundry lying around, never had a dirty dish and never even had to think about what we were going to eat. She kept up with Sarah a couple of times a day so that I could nap as well! I'm sure that was her favorite part of the week! She was exactly what I needed for the week. I did not want her to leave! But, short of moving her in and hiring her as our permanant nanny, we knew she would eventually have to go. So, a special thanks goes out to Grandmommy for making our first week wonderfully smooth. I really believe we would not have been sane without her. Another thanks goes to Grandpa Jim for allowing Connie to come stay that long with us!

Grandmommy!

My parents came to visit Saturday and were able to stay through Monday. They cooked breakfast for us Sunday morning, kept the baby while I napped and just seemed to enjoy being with their new granddaughter. Dad also helped Daniel cut tree limbs in the yard on Sunday. On Monday, my sister, new brother in law (congrats sister!) and nephew came to visit. It was also the first day Sarah and I ventured out of the house together. We all went to lunch at Las Fajitas and then my family headed back to Oklahoma.

Grammy and Papa

Sarah and her cousin Carter. He's a giant next to her! I can't believe Sarah will be that big before I know it!

So, now we are on our own. Laundry is not caught up and dishes can get piled up at times but other than that, things seem to be going well. Daniel has been an awesome husband and father as well. He helps out in any area he can without any annoyance. I have felt so spoiled but, I'm going to milk it until it stops! Sarah wakes about twice a night to eat then does pretty well going right back to sleep. Good job little girl! We are pretty happy with our new little roommate and are pretty sure we'll keep her :)!



Another quick thanks to all of our friends for checking on us, visiting and bringing us meals. We have been so blessed by having this child...who knew!

She's here!

Sarah Jane has finally arrived! I started having contractions on Saturday, April 24th around 2:30 in the afternoon. They were never super strong until that night around 11. Even then, they weren't regular...or so I thought. By Sunday around noon I gave in and called the hospital to explain what I was feeling. I had several friends tell me I should just call and explain, so thanks to all of them! The nurse I spoke with said to come on in and get checked out. So I took a shower, picked up a few things around the house and ate some lunch. When we got there the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced. She looked at us and said, "Oh yeah, we're having a baby today." Daniel and I just looked at each other and laughed. There was no turning back! They then moved us into a labor and delivery room. After about an hour the anesthesiologist came in and explained that if I wanted an epidural I would need to do it then because she was on her way to the ER with three trauma cases and didn't know when she would be able to get back upstairs. Since I had technically been having contractions for 24 hours Daniel and I decided to go ahead and get it. I was dilated to a 5 at that point and never felt a thing after! I'm definitely a fan of epidurals!

We had lots of family and friends visit while we were in labor which was wonderful because it was a little boring. However, the next 7 or so hours seemed to fly by. At 10 PM our nurse Rochelle said oh you're ready to start pushing. I couldn't feel a thing! She called in the doctor and 30 minutes later little Sarah was here! She said hello to us by crying! They didn't even have to clear her throat to let her show off her lungs! Sarah weighed 7 lbs and was 19 inches long. We are so happy to have her here!

Proud Papa!