March | 2013 | Our Armstrong Family

Look at those adorable bare arms and that grin!

My sister was gracious enough to come to our house and take newborn photos of Griffin this week. What we thought would be a 2 hour session turned into about 4 hours as Griffin was so good and such a little poser! We setup a space heater and had the room all warm and cozy, as he was naked, and right on cue just prior to the first photo – he poo’d on one of the props! It was rather funny, really, and since this wasn’t Amy’s first round at the newborn rodeo she says it happens at every one. Kinda funny. She was able to capture tons of super cute photos of Finn as well as the three of us together. Here is a teaser – I’m going to do a separate post with all of the photos she captured.

Kevin headed back to work this week so my mom came down to stay with me for a few days to help throughout the day. I must say, the recovery process was more lengthy than I had anticipated! I have been a slow moving vehicle for this first week for sure. I don’t know why, but I thought I’d be back at normal speeds by now and I’m just not. Sunday night, the night before Kevin’s first day back at work, Finn was up every 1-2 hours to feed. That can wear a person out pretty quick! It is really nice to have my mom around during the day time and she has been wonderful at making food at every meal for me to eat. It’s kind of like a four-star restaurant around here!!

Breastfeeding was going ok, but I was just really uncomfortable so I decided to call the woman who taught our breastfeeding class. We loved her at our class and she does private consultations. She is very kind and compassionate, kind of like a warm, sweet grandma-type. She was able to come to our home and give me some great pointers the same day I called her. She was there for almost two hours. I picked her brain as much as I could and she helped me with a feeding. It was great – I only wish I had done it days earlier! Everything she suggested worked like magic! Sign, relief.

This week our friends Jennifer and Chad brought a lovely dinner along with an adorable outfit (that Kevin is modeling below). We also enjoyed a delicious dinner with Paul & Megan and their kids Nick and Sam. We are getting spoiled around here. We enjoyed having all of them over and they spent some time cuddling with Finn. My mom ran around and did a few errands for me picking up some things that our lactation consultant suggested. As I am on antibiotics she suggested taking Acidophilus pills as well as grape juice (works the same as cranberry juice for a UTI, apparently) and some polysporin ointment for nursing. Sure am glad my mom is here to help!!!

Tuesday night I had little sleep as Finn was up at 11 pm, midnight, 1 am, and a bit after 2 am. I was exhausted!! But later Wednesday morning we had our final weigh-in at the pediatrician. My mom headed there with me. Griffin has been feeding really well (as noted above, ha!) and his check up backed that up! He checked in at 7 lb 10.4 oz, up from 6 lb 14 oz just one week ago, exactly. To celebrate we headed to do a bit of shopping at the Carter’s store – Finn’s first retail experience.

After helping for the past several days my mom headed home. Somehow I didn’t manage to take photos of my mom with Finn while she was here! I guess I was sleeping or something….. We very much appreciate all of her help throughout the past 2 weeks! Our latest routine is for me to get a good nap from the 8-11 pm hour and Kevin is on daddy duty. Then he heads to bed for the night to get a good rest before work and I take the night shift. It has been working out pretty well. I really like having the cosleeper right next to our bed. Makes it easy to hear when Finn wakes up and relieves my anxiety when I can just rollover and check on him in an instant. We’ve been keeping our room at 70 degrees using a space heater so it is nice a toasty. He seems to sleep really well.

Thursday was my first full day home alone with Finn. Last night he ate at midnight, 3 am, and 7 am – a pretty decent night! His little cheeks are getting chubby and he is a sweet little cuddler. When Kevin got home from work we went out for our first family outing. We went to our “regular” spot in Powell, Easy Street. Finn was content the entire time, almost two hours, while we had pizza and burgers and watched the OSU basketball game. We had him dressed appropriately, of course, in his OSU outfit, hat, and booties. His name, in utero, was Buckeye – you know!

Friday was Kevin’s first Friday home with us. Our game plan is that he will be able to work from home for a handful of Friday’s. Finn continues to eat and sleep well. He nurses about 5-10 minutes on each side before he falls asleep. I ran my first errand without Finn today – it felt kind of funny to be out and about and not be pregnant or have a baby with me! And tonight we gave Finn his first bath at home. He absolutely loved it. He just laid there like a happy little guy.

We have had a nice first week at home! Kevin has had the week off work so he has been around with us the whole time. We have had several visits including our good friend and Pastor, James and Laura, and our good friend Megan. My mom has been quite helpful and made us wonderful dinners. Nursing is taking me some time to perfect, let’s say, and Kevin is being quite the trooper helping me get it all figured out. He gets Griffin ready and gives him to me for the feeding, then takes him when I’m finished. Kevin has also been on “night duty” staying up or sleeping with Griffin in his nursery while I sleep in our bed. That has been wonderful and allowed me to get an hour or two of peaceful, non-worry sleep! We each sleep when we can get it!

Wednesday, March 20, was our First appointment at the pediatrician’s office. Griffin checked in at 6 lb 14 oz, up from Monday’s discharge weight of 6 lb 10 oz. I was a happy momma! It was a fun visit – Griffin spit-up while laying on the exam table, and then when we changed his diaper he peed all over! It was a busy visit, let’s say! But in the end he checked out great – the doctor said everything looked really good. My milk came in today – right on time according to all of the books and doctors. And while I was feeding Griffin at 1 in the morning he had his very first audible and non-meconium poop. I was by myself nursing him in his room and it startled me it was so loud! Then I had a giggle fit for a minute or two as it was just the most loud and unexpected thing! He had the cutest face when he was finished, like he was so happy, it was rather cute.

And don’t worry, we fixed the straps on his legs before we left in the car. We’re newbies, you know!

We hosted a birthday dinner to celebrate Amy’s birthday. Amy, Andy, Graham, and Rowan came over along with my mom and dad. My parents prepared a lovely dinner and then we had dessert and present time. It was a fun evening and there were a couple of times I was laughing so hard I was in pain, literally, as you can see below. Griffin slept in his carseat/stroller through the whole thing!

When Kevin changed Finn’s diaper at 6 am on Thursday, (his 6^th day) he noticed that his umbilical cord had fallen off! That seemed pretty early to me, as most everything we had read said 10-14 days, and when we were at the Pediatrician’s office on Wednesday mentioned the same time frame. But it looked good. My mom came down to help out and it has been wonderful as she has stayed the night too. My dad also also been a few times and they have made us some delicious meals! My parents left Thursday morning to head home for a few days and Kevin’s parents came later that evening to visit. We enjoyed a nice dinner with them.

On Friday, Kevin had to go in to work for a bit so it was the first stretch of time where I was home alone with Finn. He did great (and so did I!). He ate and slept the entire time – I mean, really, what else would a baby do? I had to head in to my doctors office for a follow up. Turns out I have a urinary tract infection from the catheter, not all that uncommon. I am on some antibiotics for the next several days. My lower legs and feet are also crazy swollen, I guess that happens sometimes after delivery and my doctor wasn’t overly concerned about it. It is the craziest thing ever as I can barely wear flip flops!

Friday was also the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament so we dressed Finn in his OSU attire (the first clothing we bought when we found out he was a boy!) and got him game ready.Millcreek sent a lovely fruit and flower basket along with a box of chocolates – it was so very thoughtful. And here are some other photos from our first week at home!