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. 
