3 Weeks

Yes, it has been more than a month since I've posted here. As most (if not all) of my very few blog readers know, my baby daughter was born the first week of August. When I started this post, she was three weeks old (see picture) and the best baby in the world. She is now four weeks old and still best baby in the world (even if I am her mom). As a first-time mom, I'm completely enchanted by her and all her accomplishments. My apologies in advance for the decidely bragging-on-my-baby turn that this blog is about to take.

TGM was born early on a Thursday morning. It was only the second delivery of the day, but I understand it stayed busy for the rest of the day with a full moon. TGM and I were released on Saturday morning.

While we were still at the hospital, Joyce from clogging was our first visitor. She came by with flowers, gifts, and took pictures. SC was our second visitor and the first of our families to see and hold TGM. D and her fiance Greg were in the area and were able to visit us in the hospital and hold TGM before they had to leave town.

Just hours after we brought TGM home on Saturday, my parents and sister L arrived from Kansas. They stayed for just over a week. They were wonderful help--getting TGM and I ready for church and various outings through the week, making meals, and completing various projects around the house (painting, bathroom leaks, dryer vent, etc)! With the help of my parents, we were even able to take TGM to clogging that first week to show her off there. Their stay included TGM's dedication at church on Aug 16. Mom had even brought from Kansas the dress I wore for my baby dedication, so that TGM could wear it for her dedication.

D and Greg made another overnight stop during the week my parents were here. My parents (Grandpa and Grandma :-) watch TGM while JM and I had a double-date with D and Greg--breakfast at Bob Evans.

When my parents and L left on Monday, Jer was staying for the week and JM was taking a week of vacation, so I enjoyed another week of having help around the house. And for three days later in the week, JM's parents visited and got to see TGM for the first time.

After two weeks of help, a week ago this past Monday was the beginning of TGM and I having the days on our own. As I was eating breakfast that first day, I got to see her working on her eye-foot coordination. As she was looking intently at one of the toys over her rocker chair, she stretched and waved her foot around until she hit the toy.

On Monday - Wednesday of that week, we ended up in the afternoon or evening visiting Rachel with her two girls--the younger daughter (Rowan) is just 5 days older than TGM. Through the day on Wednesday, Rachel and I kept calling and comparing notes--Rowan and TGM were both sleeping more than they normally did and were waking up to feed within 30 minutes of each other, even though we weren't together until later in the evening. We were concerned that with all the sleep, they would stay up all night, but they both slept for at least 6 hours that night. That made the third night that TGM had slept for at least six hours starting around 11:30 or 12:30.

Thursday, I took TGM out for the first time on my own. We went shopping at the grocery store. She was very good.

Friday, I took TGM to PHC for the afternoon and showed her around there. She was again very good, though by the end of the afternoon, she was getting fussy despite recent feedings and diaper changes.

Saturday was another very big day for TGM. We took her for her longest drive to date--more than 1.5 hours up to Shippensburg, PA for the Corn Festival. We left at 7:30 in the morning so we could be there for a 10:00 AM performance. We then spent the day wandering up and down the length of the festival with its many craft booths. It was around 3:00 when we headed back home. That night, she outdid herself and slept from 10:00 PM to about 6:30 AM.

Sunday was another big day for TGM. Our church met out at Watermelon Park for an outdoor worship service, including a baptism service for several of the kids and teens that have recently become part of the church. It was great to see this event bring out some of their parents for the day as well. Again, TGM was leaving the house around 8:00 AM and we didn't leave the park until after 3:00 PM. Sunday afternoon at home, she was sucking her thumb for the first time as she fell asleep and took a nap on my lap. She has chewed and sucked on her fist since she was born, but I had never seen her with a thumb or finger in her mouth more than momentarily until that day. I haven't seen it since as well.

Also on Sunday afternoon, a couple of the girls we were taking home were saying that there were tears in TGM's eyes. I wasn't where I could look at that time, but later that day and a time or two since then, I have seen a tear or two rolling out of the corner of her eye.

Monday - Wednesday this week, JM's mom was down to visit TGM again and Margaret came with her. While they were here, David decided to move into his room here at our house after staying at his uncle's for the past couple of months.

When JM's mom arrived, she immediately began exclaiming how much TGM has grown and changed in the past week.
She is holding up her head more, especially when I'm burping her.
Her eyes are turning a lighter blue. They started out what I called midnight blue. They changed to a stormcloud blue and are headed for something even a bit lighter now.
JM says her hair is getting redder. I sometimes agree and sometimes think it is just the light. I do think it has grown a bit--it brushes the collar on some of her outfits.
Her newborn-sized outfits are getting a bit snugger and some of her bigger outfits are fitting a bit better. She's taking up more room in her crib hammock and in her rocker chair.

On Tuesday this week, I called Rachel to compare sleep patterns. Tabitha hadn't taken a nap longer than 30 minutes all afternoon--mostly just cat naps of about 5 minutes. I figured she'd slept maybe a couple hours total all afternoon. Rachel confirmed that Rowan was following the same pattern--a 2 hour nap in the morning and then cat naps all afternoon. Their sleep patterns the night before had even been pretty much identical--down at 10:00, up at 4:00 just for a feeding, then up at 6:30 or 7:00. It's a bit odd to us how in-sync they seem to be.

This ended up a LOT longer than I'd intended. But maybe I'll be able to post some shorter pieces now that I don't have this need to catch-up hanging over my head.

And I'll work on getting some more pictures too.