The Waddell Family: Our First Week Home

We finally all seem to be doing well, and have been home now for over a week! And what a wonderful week it has been. Jeremy had to go back to work on Monday, so it was just me and Cora Leigh at home this week. We are so blessed that Cora has been such a good baby. She sleeps at night (for the most part) except for when she wakes up to eat. She's not a very fussy baby, though she is a grunter. She normally wakes me up at night grunting when she is ready to eat, so I am able to get up and take her to eat before she gets really upset. This also allows Jeremy to get better rest at night since he has to get up and go to work.

It was really hard for Jeremy to leave us on Monday. I think he called me four times, and usually I just talk to him at the end of the day. He loves to come home at the end of the day and spend time with his family. I usually let him have his daddy time with Cora Leigh in the evenings since I get to spend all day with her.

I was somewhat productive during the week. I was able to get laundry done, clean the kitchen, and catch up on my email. Cora does great sleeping in her swing or her bouncer so she can be with me wherever I go. I even managed to get a shower every day but one! I'm pretty sure that I shower much more quickly now - I hate the idea of not being able to go to her if she gets upset for any reason.

The biggest challenge that I've found this week is trying to find time to do things around feeding times. You don't realize until you have a baby how much time is spent during your day feeding the baby! We had good friends bring us meals this week, and feeding time ended up falling when people got there 2 of the 3 times. Of course, everyone was very understanding, but you still hate to run off when you have company.

Cora Leigh was 2 weeks old on Wednesday, so I had to take her to the doctor for her checkup. It was our first outing together just the two of us. I managed to get to the doctor's office a little early and thought I was doing really well. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab the diaper bag....just one of those things you're not used to having to carry around. When we went to weigh Cora, I saw that she had a wet diaper (though I changed her just before we left). I was going to change it when we got back to the exam room, and that's when I realized - no diaper bag. Unfortunately, they didn't have any newborn diapers there, so she had to be wet until we got home. She checked out great at the doctor! She had gained weight and was up to 6 pounds, 5 ounces - far exceeding her birth weight! Everything else also checked out good. We don't go back again until she is 2 months old. It scares me a little bit to think that no one is going to check to make sure we're doing okay for another 6 weeks! I guess they think we're capable of taking care of her. Here's Cora Leigh before we left for the doctor. She was very excited! :)

Jeremy's parents came to visit this weekend and got to spend some quality time with their granddaughter. The rest of Cora's umbilical cord fell off on Friday, so she got her first real bath on Saturday. It went much better than her sponge bath! She was a little fussy at first, but then was fine for the rest of bathtime. Here's a picture of her after her bath and a picture of her with her Nana.