Loving this girl

It’s amazing how quickly a day goes by with a newborn. She pretty much only gets up one time at night….usually around 2 am. I’m usually up for about an hour and a half and then she’ll get up again around 6:30 am – and right now, I go back to sleep after that feeding for about an hour. But, I swear the day FLIES by.

It’s also amazing how hard it is to get ONE task done – like showering, or folding clothes, or vacuuming, mostly because when she’s sleeping, either, I want to nap, or I have time to get a bath, the awesome relaxing kind – but then you feel guilty and realize if you want to be able to dry your hair you should probably get out before she wakes up wanting to eat again.

The dogs have gotten used to her—kind of. They are pretty jealous of all the attention she gets, but they haven’t been aggressive at all, and that was my fear with the little dogs. When we first brought them home (b/c they stayed at their Mimi and Papa’s for a few days) they couldn’t figure out what was going on. Here they are meeting her for the first time…(and Luke and I don’t look as rough now…we were REALLY tired here). Gus kept hiding, and mostly, it was under Makena’s crib…really odd. Howie didn’t really care.



I’m pretty sure, because of the medicine that drugged her, that it affected my milk supply, and she realizes how easy it is to suck from a bottle. I haven’t completely given up boobing yet. I want to keep doing it for a while, to try to help her build up immunities. It’s frustrating because she was so good at it and caught on SO quickly and she LOVES it. It’s so sweet how calm she gets when she latches on…It was SO HARD at first. It hurt like bloody hell. I cracked and bled – and called my mom when I didn’t think I could take anymore and almost gave up, but I worked through it and it’s SO much better right now and is almost completely enjoyable. One boob produces WAY more than the other (the stupid boob doesn’t produce as much), but now, I boob, and then she’s usually STILL hungry because I think she’s going through a little growth spurt – so I feed her even MORE from a bottle. (Needless to say...our “feeding sessions” take FOREVER, about an hour to boob and then 30 minutes from a bottle). I was concerned about overfeeding her, because I have a little piglet on my hands, but the doctor said I shouldn’t worry about that right now and just feed her when she’s hungry. I do like chubby babies. I just don’t want a fat kid. Know what I mean? Bottles are VERY convenient. Yesterday, I braved the germs and went to Walmart (and completely forgot to get one of the major things I was going to get… so now, I have to go back) but, I boobed before I went and just knew she’d be fine for ONE hour…luckily, I’d made a bottle and brought it w/ us for ‘just in case’. She started the inconsolable hunger cry that isn’t appeased with just a pacifier, because she's smart and realizes it’s a trick after a few sucks. So, I whipped out the bottle and threw it in her mouth. She was so satisfied; she fell asleep sucking it and had formula ALL over her face, but I didn’t want to dry it off while I was shopping for fear of her waking up and wanting to be held. I should’ve taken a picture and put it here, but I felt like a bad enough mother at that point…(I covered her chin with her blanket so strangers couldn’t see the mess).

She LOVES being in her sling. I received this at a shower and didn’t think I’d ever use it b/c the first time I used it I felt like she was suffocating but she LOVES being right by my side and snuggled so close.

We LOVE our little swing. My lil’ lamb, so tender. The swing rocks either front to back (like a normal swing) or side-to-side, which is our favorite direction. It has this cute little mobile on it with a mirror in the center and plays the sweetest music. Makena is so happy in it and often naps here.

We’ve had TONS of visitors. It’s been so sweet. I guess it’s kind of a mixed blessing. It was VERY overwhelming at first. I was/am SO ready for things to slow down and to be able to do nothing at night (as far as entertaining or feeling like I HAVE to make myself presentable). Makena has lots of people that love her and care for her and I’m grateful for that.

Her hair is so healthy and shiny...and she gets the greasy-ness from her momma. I have to wash my hair daily or it looks like you've fried bacon on my head. I'm sure partly because we hold her and love on her, that our oily hands and faces make her hair get dirty...but I have to wash it quite often, or I can easily do this. I LOVE YOU MAKENA, silly girl!

We dressed up to go to Walmart. It was a little cool outside, so she got to wear her warm, cozy outfit. I tried getting a picture with her eyes opened...(and only accomplished this because the flash woke her up). Poor girl, I'll let you nap now.

I love all the faces babies make...(I ESPECIALLY love her poop face, but I haven't gotten a picture of that yet).