Grammie & Bopper Come for a Visit

Cuddling with Mia.
Look at those folded fingers.
Getting ready for her 12 day check-up with Dr. Davis. Our goal was to have her close to her 8lb 3 oz birth weight. We surpassed that goal... she weighted 8lb 9 oz.
Laying on a mat, fascinated by the rocking swing. She HATES that swing when she is actually in it.
Focusing on the rings above her.

We've been saying that she has Papaw Jim's hair. Here, I think that she realized that he eventually lost his...
Grammie & Bopper came for a visit.
She doesn't look too happy here... I think it is the Florida shirt :)
She is sleeping so good.
Pearl wasn't sure what to make of all of this.
So peaceful.
I walked into the room, and this is how they were standing. Those are my baby pictures they are examining.
It took dad a few holds to look this comfortable with her.
Two proud grandpas. I have a feeling that if Dad won't buy her a mocking bird, diamond ring, or looking glass, then one of these two will.
She is pulling on Papaw Jim's finger.
Her fingers look so tiny!
We gave up on swaddling her. She wants those hands O-U-T when she sleeps, and she has let us know that.
Some good-bye cuddles with Grammie.

Cora's first week at home

Cora's first week of life was full of milestones and visitors...

Meeting Gramdma M!
Meeting Great Grandma Iris for the first time. This was Grandma's first great grandchild, so she was especially excited to meet her.

Aunt Heather... the first time that Heather touched my belly to feel her kick, Cora kicked in response. I said that it was as if she knew "Aunt Heather = TOYS!!!"

Cuddling with Cousin Ellie

Of course, Mia was also in town getting some extra cuddles.

Me! Mia! Grandma M.! Heather! Julie! Ellie! Cora! Landon took a picture of this room and begged for some men to come visit. He was feeling a little overwhelmed by women.

All of this socializing is making me sleepy!

With her Mia and Grandma M.

Howard & Vicky Rudd sent the neatest flower arrangement. This was in a miniature "little red wagon" (I am sure that this will tote around baby dolls in a couple of years) and it came with a Radio Flyer tricycle. We love it... and we are sure Cora will, too.

An edible arrangement from Grammy & Bopper... I love the chocolate covered strawberries!
Cuddle time. This was just a couple of days after she was born. Her face looked so much more mature by the end of the first week.
More cuddle time with Mom!
Heather and Julie gave me a very special birthday present - a Tiffany's charm bracelet just like they all have. My first charm: a baby girl profile with Cora's name and birthdate.

While Aunt Heather was in town she completed these canvases for Cora's room.

An upclose look at Cora's first piece of art.

I call this "Vintage Daddy" - it was Landon's onesie when he was a baby.

This was Cora's first "Daddy's Home!" moment. September 13th. It won't be long until she is big enough to pitter patter to the door and throw her arms around his legs!

In Ellie's hand-me-down bloomers. Too cute!

What a cute little bottom!

An up close shot of her cute little face.

Some final cuddles with Grandma M before she left.

There is a series of commercials for Madden College Football 2010 called "Take your Madden Back". In one, a dad pretends like he is spending time with the baby but really sticks the baby in the swing and turns on his PS3 to play Madden... The commercial could have been shot in our living room.

I saw my first two major milestones when she was one week old. First, she now "sees" the mobile hanging above her changing tray on the pack & play. All week long we've been talking to her soothingly while changing her, asking if she sees her little friends. We always call them by names (most frequently, we name them little Catie Gullett, little Eyla Rhodes, and little Annabelle Allison... but sometimes they are called Simone Trementozzi, Toby Cantrelle and Baby Boy Reetz). On Saturday, it was clear that she was beginning to focus on the little bears - the first thing on which we really noticed her focusing.
She also found my ponytail on Saturday. My hair had stayed up in a bun most of the week, but on Saturday it had fallen into a loose ponytail. In the evening she reached around and found my ponytail, grabbing a handfull of hair. Maybe as she gets older I'll find that a little annoying, but right now I LOVE feeling that little tug as she is being burped!

Checking out the mobile during a diaper change.

Other milestones from this week...

BREASTFEEDING! It took us until Day 5 of life to really start to figure it out. Before that, we had been on a bit of a roller coaster together, with me thinking things were going great Day 1, concerned because I had not quiet mastered latching on without a nurses help on Day 2, concerned because I had barely mastered latching on WITH Landon's help by Day 3 (while engorged), stressed because I was convinced that I was getting mastitis by Day 4 (who knew that milk forms lumpy little water baloons as it comes in? I didn't... and completely massaged all of my milk out one night in a hot bath trying to conquet mastitis!), and finally able to latch Cora on, by myself, by Day 5. But by the end of her first week of life... I think we had mastered it. Am I sore? Very. Do we have ourselves on a schedule? Not quiet. But we are getting there.

SLEEPING! Unbelievably, our baby comes as close to sleeping through the night as a newborn little baby possibly can. Most nights we feed her around 7, then again around 10, and put her down all swaddled in her crib after that. She usually sleeps for 3 to 5 hours before waking us up, and then 3 to 4 hours after that (which the pediatritian says is fine at night, since she is gaining well and seems to be getting plenty to eat). Perfect baby!

MAMA'S SLEEPING! But that doesn't mean I am sleeping for 5 hours straight. Of course, I wake up frequently and squirm over close to her co-sleeper to make sure she is still breathing. I admit it - sometimes I poke her. I am having to take frequent naps during the day.

DADDY'S ROLE! He's the master swaddler, and Cora was probably 5 days old before I started changing her diapers.

Cora Jane's first two days

Cora's first picture. We couldn't believe she had so much hair - and such perfect little finger nails.

This is a little blurry - it was just moments after she was born.

Just moments after she was born.

With Dr. White.

Right after birth. I kept saying that she was so tiny... but she was over 8lbs. Not that tiny!

We were so fascinated by her cute faces on her first day.

Happy momma to have such a sweet, healthy baby.

Trying to decide what to name her.

We love Cora Jane!

Meeting her Mia and namesake, Mary Jane.

Meeting Papaw Jim. Notice Landon's feet in the corner... we had scrubbed the deck the night before, and this was before he had only taken a quick shower before bed. I didn't realize how dirty his feet still were until I saw this picture!

Hello world!

Her first bath.

"I'm not sure that I am going to like this!"

All nice and clean and cuddly.
This bracelet was a present from my Mt. Pleasant shower. My girlfriends came with a packet of beads that each are associated with health during childbirth and recovery. As they passed the bracelet around the circle, each made a wish for the baby. For example, one stated that she had loved watching her (now college age) daughter learn and hoped the same for me. Another said that she hoped Landon would be a good coach... She was talking about during birth, but I thought that she was talking about later in life, like during Little League. My mind started racing, and I thought, "Oh, he is really competitive... I'll have to make sure he doesn't take it too seriously!" The bracelet broke a couple of days before I went into labor, and I convinced the Beaded Venus to rush order fixing it because I was having labor pains. Maybe the bracelet is to credit for my easy labor!

I was surprised by how immediately familiar Cora felt. On that first day, it was as if I knew that she was going to be a girl and what she was going to look like and we had known each other for a very long time. We kept saying that we couldn't believe that she was ours... but we also couldn't believe that she had been ours for only a few hours.

Cora was born on opening game day. Fortunately, it wasn't a big game as UTK was playing UT Martin. It is a good thing she was born early in the morning or she may have never heard the end of it. She and her daddy caught the game online in the hospital. I imagine the purchase of a mocking bird, a diamond ring, a looking glass... he is absolutely wrapped around her little finger.

Landon preparing to fight off the boys in 15 years.

Daddy's little girl.

Going home - wearing the same dress that I wore home from the hospital.

She looked so tiny in the carseat. I cried when the nurse gave us instructions about what to do if she turned blue when we got home. I was completely caught off guard by how vulnerable I felt for her in the car driving home... and we only had to drive one mile (2 red lights) to get her to our house.
I had visions of getting dressed-up to bring Cora home from the hospital. I had an outfit in my bag, and I was going to fix my hair. I meant for Landon to be wearing a collared shirt. Ha! Our first night in the hospital was not a comfortable experience. I had a natural birth, so there really wasn't much need to monitor me --- yet a nurse came in every 2 hours to take MY blood pressure and check my temperature. I wanted to sign a form saying that this was completely unneccessary (and if anything was causing my blood pressure to go up). Yet she wasn't coordinated with the nurse who would come in to do the same vitals on Cora. Add to that my learning to breastfeed (thus waking up every 2 hours), and I practically got no sleep. Plus, we wanted to make sure that Cora roomed-in with us. I declared that if Landon and I were able to get Cora to latch on even one time without assistance on Sunday, then we would go home. That latch happened around supper, we quickly discussed whether it was too late to try to head home, decided it beat spending another interrupted night in the hospital, called in the nurses, threw our stuff in a bag, and texted mom to tell her we were heading home. Our front door picture wasn't what I envisioned... but it probably looks more realistic this way...