cutest thing

When you feed Graham, he likes to hold your finger. It is the cutest thing ever and totally makes you fall in love with him all over again.

2 weeks+

Graham-a-lama is now over 2 weeks old and doing brilliantly. My in-laws are here for one more week, which means I have one more week to rest and use the help while it is here and one more week before Graham and I are left staring at each other all day long :D. They have been a huge blessing and Brett and I are grateful that they are here. It will be good too for me to get to do this thing on my own...Graham and I will be great! He is doing great at holding his head up on his own. He likes falling asleep on you while laying on his belly, and his umbilical cord is starting to get flaky. That thing seriously freaks me out. I hope we lose it soon!

talking about the baby

Graham gets up twice in a night. Brett and I were getting up together, but with Brett being back at work, we each take a turn now. So, we miss telling each other how the turn went until sometime the next day. I found it funny that today, while changing Graham, he pooped on the changing table. I tell Brett when he gets home, and he informs me that Graham peed all over the same changing table. I them tell Brett that Graham had puked on the new rocker chair in his room. Brett then tells me that he puked on the ottoman to the same chair. How cool is our kid! He is too much...and yet completely perfect at the same time.

a little funny

This happened literally our first night home...I have girlfriend's who have boys and they always say that once you take the diaper off, watch out for flying pee. This never happened at the hospital so I didn't even think about it happening once we got home. Well, we are changing a diaper and I am not on my "A"game and a fountain appears out of nowhere. I, who am holding a diaper, start screaming and use the diaper to stop the urine fountain. Well, the diaper was turned over, so the non-absorbent outside was used to "absorb"the fountain. Needless to say, not much was absorbed by the diaper, and most of it ended up on Graham and on the changing table. Brett and I just started laughing and cleaned up the mess. This also happened the next day....(we are slow learners) except this time, he peed on the wall. The wall that Brett went to all this trouble to paint and make perfect. The wall is clean, Graham is clean, and we are more aware of taking off the diaper and now have paper towels handy...just in case.

more photos

a few more from the hospital

Here is the last photo of Graham wearing his hospital outfit and here he is in the outfit we brought him home in. 100% boy!

Here is our family getting ready to leave the hospital...a family of 3!

1 week reflection

We have been home from the hospital for 1 week now....and this whole experience has been more challenging and more rewarding than I ever thought it could be. Bringing home a new baby is exciting and completely scary... not to mention I had major surgery to have this beautiful boy. So recovery is one thing...I can't lift anything heavier than Graham nor can I drive or do stairs...so I am limited in what I can do. Learning how to care for Graham and manage your own pain has been the challenging part. But looking back at photos of Graham at the hospital and looking at photos we just took today, the difference in him is amazing. He looks completely different...bigger, cuter, and more awesome than Brett and I ever thought. And Brett and I are learning how to do this all together...which is amazing for our relationship. I can see why having a child brings two people closer together...we get excited when we realize his cries at 3 am are because he has unwrapped himself and is cold, instead of looking at each other and going, "Now what do we do?"
I am breastfeeding...and that alone is a scary experience. You never really know how much he is getting and it feels like it takes forever to feed. At his first doctor appointment this past week, Graham had gained weight (!) and is now over 8 lbs 3 ozs!!!! This makes me super excited because breastfed babies don't get back to their birth weight until 2 weeks after they're born, and our kiddo managed to regain his lost hospital weight and gain MORE weight within a week!!!! I am making enough milk for him which makes me feel like I am doing a great job!! So this is a super rewarding part of parenthood.
Graham also recognizes Brett and I, and takes huge comfort knowing we are holding him and looking at our faces, another reward. He is sleeping better...3 hours at a time during the night! We feel like this is awesome. He did have one night where he was up from 1-5, crying the entire time. We like to think he found his voice that night, and lets keep the fingers crossed he doesn't have another one of those nights.
Brett goes back to work this week, sad, but something we knew would happen. We will miss him terribly but we will be so glad when he comes home. And not to worry, I am here at home in good hands with my fabulous in-laws, Mary and Neal. They have been a huge help with laundry, making dinner, and being super supportive. I totally appreciate them being here and supporting Brett and I. As I type this, Graham is entertaining them completely with yawning and blowing bubbles all while wearing no pants. That kid is totally a keeper. Uncle Kyle came to visit for the weekend and was smitten, just like everyone else who meets our little man. More to come on the whole delivery experience and hospital stay...looking back on that makes me laugh and cry and I can't wait to share!