The First Few Days

Beautiful girl.

Ellie and Daddy.

Miss concerned face.

Big feet!

Ellie seems to be adjusting to life really well. She is a fairly happy baby so far and she sleeps and eats well. Seth and I, however, are beginning to feel just a tinge of the strain of being sleep deprived, functioning on an infant's "schedule" (haha) and still working on physically recovering from the birth process.

My mom was here the night before Eleanor was born and was wonderful about just hanging out at our house while we were at the hospital. Anyway, it was a blessing to bring Ellie home and be able to focus on her without having to think about food and dishes and laundry. Thanks Mom! She went home Monday night, however, so Seth and I have been on our own... the quiet space is nice before the next visitors come, but I suddenly found myself really overwhelmed.

Seth has been GREAT through this whole process. He was my "birth coach" - as we were planning on a fully natural childbirth and had taken Bradley classes - and was a fabulous partner, companion and decision-maker with me through labor. He is dedicated to shifts of care for Eleanor and has so far kept me from changing a single diaper! He sings to Ellie, makes up silly rhymes for her and just generally makes us both feel like princesses. While I'm feeding, he is careful to make sure I always have water handy and is happy to bring me snacks, books, etc. He even cleaned the whole house yesterday! I am incredibly thankful to have such an involved, loving and thoughtful husband - he's wonderful. Right now, he's holding the sleepy-one so I can blog. :)

Eleanor had her first visit to the pediatrician two days ago. It was an adventure trying to be ready for the appointment at a specific time. We also made a rookie mistake and somehow managed to forget to grab the diaper bag on the way out the door. I guess, though, of all the places to be headed without extra diapers, the doctor's office/hospital is one of the best. :) She now weighs 8 lb, 7 oz, only down about 5% of her birth weight. I guess breastfed babies usually lose about 10% of their birth weight over the first few days, so this attests to her voracious appetite. Her appetite has helped her battle away the jaundice as well, so all in all, she's doing great.

Today we had the excitement of a visit to the lactation specialist at the hospital, which was very helpful. Then we headed out to run a couple of quick baby-related errands. During our outings, both yesterday and today, we met several other newborn babies. Eleanor is HUGE compared to them! People kind of look at us funny when we say she's only a week old. I also find myself a bit jealous as I look at their heads and realize Ellie's is about twice their size!

Eleanor is learning so many things so quickly - I'm amazed at the progression of life even over just a week's time. She is getting better every day at holding her head up when you place her over your shoulder. She is now obviously focusing on our faces. She is also experimenting more and more with all her facial muscles. We are tickled with all the new ways she's found to stick out her tongue, wrinkle her eyebrows, scrunch up her nose and practice using her "smile" muscles. We can't wait until she can actually smile at us (on purpose)!

Eleanor has also been extremely spoiled by presents today (and so has her mommy and daddy). We woke up to 3 packages on our front step and just got another beautiful flower arrangement delivered to our door. Thank you thank you friends and family. Ellie is slowly acquiring some "girly" outfits. :)

Well, I'm off to Ellie feeding duty. We'll post even more pictures soon. Much love to you all!