Many things fascinate me now that I'm not solely thinking and living for myself. For starters, I'd like to meet the Mother who has a hot cup o' joe before noon (not after it's been heated 3x) and give her a high 5. Because let me just tell ya, I haven't had a steaming cuppa since Adlee was born. I've resigned to pretending my coffee is an "iced coffee" from Starbucks and not from yesterdays pot!! Honestly though, Miss AJ has been pretty good to me. She's latched like a champ from the get go and eats well. Too well I feel like, Lord Mama needs a feeding break. I don't want to complain b/c I'm blessed to have even produced, and not have to supplement or pump from the get go but it's ALOT to be feeding every 1:30-2 hours (or less). I must have nips of steel b/c I haven't even needed the cream everyone swears by...or Adlee just latches well, who knows! This week AJ has begun to comfort feed more so there's still time for that to change. Her gas/colic has increased and her fussy nights are off the charts. Which leads me to my first "I will never do that as a parent" statement/situation that has already blown up in my face: Co-sleeping. WOOPS! Legit, it's the ONE thing I swore I never wanted to do (and truly I don't want to) but she just will not sleep in her bassinet or crib or anywhere that isn't elevated. We've nicknamed her 'Piglet' in our household for the obvious reasons, she snorts like a little piggy when she lays flat. Sister just cannot breathe. We've put towels and blankets under her bassinet mattress, we've rolled up blankets and sandwiched them around her to lay her on her side. We've swaddled, we've shushed, and at the end of the day, what they say is true. It's all about survival in the beginning, so co-sleeping we shall! I figure at less than three weeks old we aren't creating any habits she'll remember, so lets just hope that come 3 months she's blissfully sleeping OUT of our bed! Day time? She will sleep anywhere, go figure. Just like she did en utero. 9pm strikes and she is ready to par-tay... good times!
Miss AJ has been out and about with us from the get go and has already met so many of her adoring fans! We've tried to keep as "business as usual" and just bring her along so to not alter life 100% and to have some sort of normalcy. It's worked well for us so far. Many people prayed for her and encouraged me throughout this journey and it's so rewarding to see them love on her in real life now that she's here! All of our hospital visitors were so kind to come and see us and dreams became reality when Gram & Ray and Mamaw & Papaw got to hold her. It's such a blessing to have both sets of great grandparents in her life, at least on my side. Sadly, Blair's grandparents have all passed on. So these pictures and moments with them mean so much to us.
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| Gram & Ray! |
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| Papaw & Mamaw |
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| My first love holds my first babylove <3 |
Some hospital visit shout outs to some very special people who I never want to forget made the time to stop in and see our sweet girl....
Her bestie {or future bf} Weston stopped in for snugs and brought her flowers, and her cousin Evelyn sent a teddy bear. So thankful to have my Sister from another Mister, Steph, at beckon call for all questions I no longer have to Google! Major bonus to being one of the last in the group to have kids. I cannot thank her enough for all of her kind gestures and for sending me special goodies along the way for AJ. She is very much appreciated.
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| Steph & West |
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| Sumo man meets nugget |
Another special hospital guest was my favorite nurse Flo who was a huge supporter of ours and truthfully one of the reasons Adlee is even here. Flo was the nurse I spoke about during our IF journey who I got so close to, and eventually broke down to when things weren't sticking to the wall that the doc was just launching at it. She was the one to take an extra second to review our medical charts and caught the missing link as to why we weren't conceiving. I will never be able to thank her enough for all of her love and support. Seeing her holding our little girl was an absolute surreal/dream moment. Oh I love her so! {I have no idea how I didn't get a picture of them, I'm sure I did... Maybe that's the anesthesia talking from that day?! Sigh, well I have a mental image of them together I'll always cherish}.
Brittany has been such a supporter in my life and has cheered me on this journey from Day 1. She is one special Auntie to our little girl and she loves her to bits already.
Of course Grandparents & Megan and Isaac wouldn't have missed meeting her on her birthday! Can't you just feel the love pouring out of these pics?! I'm surprised they don't have faces of horror considering I was on the other side of the camera, ha!! But seriously, if you saw me on D day you'd have not recognized me. Thank you 5 liters of Lactated Ringers! ;) Happy to say 20 of the 40 has come off in 2 weeks. The rest, well we'll get there eventually!
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| The Grandparents! |
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| Poppy Dan |
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| Mimi Shawn |
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| Grandpa Jimmy |
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| Grandma Vicki |
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| Aunt Megan & Cousin Isaac |
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| he loves her to pieces & has already made up a song about her titled "Abbie"...lol! |
All of her Auntie's and Uncle's on the Albright side brought us dinner one night and got to meet their first niece! They look pretty smitten to me. Adlee even gave a pep talk to her soon-to-be cousin, Baby Boy Lutmer en utero! We can't wait to meet him in July!
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| Quinn, Jeff, Paige, Baby Lutmer & Trent |
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| Uncle Cody |
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| Auntie Arden |
Last but not least are Andrew, Allie & Holly. Andrew has been on the scene since middle school in my life and has also been a cheerleader through this journey, along with Allie and Holly. Allie is a dear friend and colleague and Holly and I volunteered in the NICU together. She's been a huge ear to me. Many a day of us holding those precious preemie's rocking away in our rockers at Dayton Children's just dreaming of the day I'll have a lil stinker of my own to rock.
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| Andrew |
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| Allie |
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| Holly |
And here we are... real life... with our little girl. These are the days and I'm loving every single second of them (diaper rash, witching hours, cluster feeds, cold coffee and all)! Pinch me!
Until next time.....
XOXO,
Andi
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