First Week Home

Nora's first week home has been relaxing for both her and Andy and I. Here is Nora taking a nap with me on the couch.

Nora with the hiccups during "tummy time:"

She has been sleeping well. Usually for 3-4 hours at a time, sometimes 5. During the night she wakes, eats and goes back to sleep easily. She normally has about 2 wakeful times during the day, sometimes for quite a while. Maureen loaned me a book on baby sleep this weekend that says newborns shouldn't be awake for more than about 2 hours at a time though, so we will have to give that a try.

Last week Nora had visitors. Both sets of grandparents came to visit. This weekend many of our friends came to visit (Matt & Chrissy, Maureen & Aaron, Heather & Randy, Ted & Laura and Scott). The men all went ice fishing for that day while the girls hung out at home and ate, played with Nora and read gossip magazines. We had a fish fry for dinner. Good thing Ted had a bunch of fish at home to share with us since the men were not successful in their ice fishing expedition.

Nora has received many presents from our friends and family that we are very grateful for. She is definitely well dressed baby with many toys to play with! Here is a picture of her with her new bear from Aunt Sue.

Andy's birthday was Saturday. I gave him a back hair trimmer (a "Mangroomer") and Nora gave him a photo album filled with cute pictures of her. (You can see it too at http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/index.php?assoc=bksdown You will need: Book ID:S2134580 Password:2520425)

Nora has taken two ventures out of the house so far. She visited her pediatrician on Wednesday morning. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz! On Sunday night she weighed 5 lbs 13 oz. She is gaining weight fast and eating a lot every day. We are gradually transitioning her to more breastfeeding from bottles so I don't have to pump so much milk. I don't mind a few bottles each day though. It gives others a chance to feed her and gives me a break. I have literally about 100 4 oz bottles of frozen breastmilk in my freezer. When she was in the NICU and not eating that much I just kept pumping and storing. We are lucky that she seems to be accepting of both methods of eating.

This morning Nora and I went to get her a Renal Ultrasound to take a look at her kidneys. They are a little larger than usual, but seem to be functioning fine so far. She did well. It is difficult to catpure the pictures on a squirming baby covered with slippery jelly! I fed her with a bottle while the technician got the pictures and that seemed to keep her pretty still. She fell asleep right when I put her back in her car seat and has been asleep ever since (still in her car seat. I figured why disturb her?)

Buster is getting along well with the new addition to the house. He still howls when he wants attention, but he has always done that. (I am hoping to catch some episodes of The Dog Whisperer now that I am home during the day to find a solution to that problem). He did pee in her bedroom. I was afraid that would happen. Andy changed the bag in the diaper bin and set it on the floor. Buster promptly piddled right in the spot the bag had been. I guess we will just have to be more careful and watch him because I don't think we are going to break that habit either. He doesn't pee in the house often, but he will mark his territory if he smells another animal (or baby!).