Blessing Weekend

On September 1st, Kylie had her baby blessing in church.  Yes, she is only 3 weeks, but it was the best time for the majority of family to be there.  Scott & I actually planned for her to be blessed on the 8th of September because Scott didn't have to work that weekend at all.  It's hard having family out of state because you want them to come, but don't want it to be a burden at the same time.  Doing it on the 8th would have allowed Scott to be more free, but his family would not have had as much time to visit.  So, we changed it to labor day weekend since Monday was a holiday.  The only thing that was a bummer was that Scott worked the whole weekend, so he hardly got any time to spend with family.

It was definitely a busy weekend and I was super exhausted by the end of it.  Family was here to help, but I felt a little bit like a single parent with Scott working all weekend.  It will be such an adjustment once school starts up and I hope I can handle it.  Anyway, first up on the weekend was my dad coming into town to meet Kylie!  He didn't plan on purpose to be there for the blessing; it was just nice timing.  My dad came into town Thursday afternoon and when Scott woke up from sleeping, we all went out to lunch.  Then Scott went back to sleep before he had to work that evening and dad ran errands with me.  I had forgotten my packet from the hospital that I was supposed to take to the two-week appointment for the PKU, so I had to go back and get it done. Kylie actually did really well with the nurse poking her foot.  The only time she cried was when the nurse was squeezing her foot to get the blood out and then she fell asleep right after.  We then hung out at my house until the evening and dad went back to his hotel.

Friday morning, Scott's family came into town and then rested most of the day.  In the evening, Kylie & I headed over to Brita's for dinner and games.  It was great to meet David & Kristene's daughter, Abrie.  It is so great that things worked out well in getting her and how she fits so naturally into their family.

Jocelyn & Nikki. Kylie really was happy despite the look on her face.

Andrew feeding Kylie.

Saturday I went to the zoo with the in-laws.  All about the zoo is in another blog post.  Saturday night, I went to dinner with my dad and Andrew & Rebecca and their kids.  Afterwards, I went down to Andrew & Rebecca's house to play games.  The kids were able to hold Kylie and they sure  enjoyed it and had fun meeting her.  I copied these pictures off of Rebecca's blog and I love how Kylie has a different expression in every picture.  The kids finally have a cousin on the McKown side now.

Kylie & Taren

Kylie & Annika

Kylie & Sharlynne

Kylie & Caden

Kylie & Andrew

Sharlynne, dad & Kylie

Kylie & James

Sunday was baby blessing day!  I spent the morning getting everything ready for Rebecca for the lunch afterwards.  Rebecca was a saint and left church a little early to go to the house to set up lunch so I didn't have to stress about things being ready.  We had ham & turkey sandwiches, chips, salads and desserts.  It was a pretty easy lunch to put together for 20-25 people, especially in getting help from family to bring food items.  The blessing Scott gave was beautiful and Kylie was beautiful in her dress (Nadine made it when Brita had her first girl).  It was great to have so much family there, but we did miss those who were unable to come.  Sunday night, we headed to Brita's to play some fun games.  We played telephone charades and mafia.  Monday morning, we had breakfast at Kneader's before family took off to head back to California.

Scott, Andrew & Lane

We bought this couch a few days earlier and it turned out to be great for seating everyone.

Lane, Brooke, Brita, Dylan

Nikki

David, Abrie & Kristene

Say cheese!

My cousin Allie & I.

Aaron

Grandma Omer

Kids eating outside

Aunt Becky & Kylie

Kylie with the Fletcher grandparents

Taren feeding Kylie

4 generations!

First Trip to the Zoo

Saturday I was ambitious and decided to go to the zoo with all the in-laws.  I thought it could be fun, but the main reason I went was to spend time with everyone that drove all the way here from California.  Things got hard when I had to feed Kylie and she cried afterwards for at least 20 minutes.  I was sitting on a bench in this small room to look at some type of cat, so it got loud when she would cry.  I just wanted to leave right then and I felt like it was a dumb move for me to go to the zoo.  I felt embarrassed whenever people would come in and wondered what they were thinking of this mom who can't console her baby.  I wanted to break down and cry because it was my fault she was so upset because I took her outside too early.  I wasn't able to calm her down quick enough because we weren't in a familiar environment.  There's too much noise and all she wants to do is sleep! I can't believe I was crazy enough to think things would be okay.  Of course, most of those thoughts came from hormones and being a new mother.

I stuck it out though and Kylie finally calmed down and went to sleep.  Scott called and asked me to come home so he could see us before he went to work again.  I was glad Scott wanted me to come home because I was exhausted.  Going to the zoo sure opened my eyes to how much work goes into taking a baby somewhere. 

Grandpa & grandma Fletcher with Kylie.

Not too excited to see the elephants. The outside sure is bright!

First time seeing a real elephant!

Brita & Jocelyn

Cousins!

Adding Kylie to the cousin picture.

Nikki & Kristene

Dylan on the carousel.

Bird show!

Group shot

Nikki donated some money and was given a free ticket to the carousel from a bird.

For the most part, I did enjoy myself and I'm glad I was able to spend time with everyone.  I wasn't able to see much of the zoo, so we will have to go to the zoo again when Kylie can actually see and enjoy the animals.

Life at Home

It has been two weeks now since we came home with Kylie from the hospital.  I feel like the days go by slow and yet it is hard to believe that it has been two weeks already.  We go in for Kylie's two week check-up today.  I will admit that the first few nights at home were rough.  It is interesting how much I don't know despite all that I researched before Kylie was born.  Raising our little girl will be the toughest learning process I'll go through yet.  Even tougher than all that I've learned about teaching, which is quite hard as there is so much to learn.  I am grateful that I won't have to go through learning how to be a parent alone and that Scott is right there with me.  It is a comfort that we will be learning together.

Lessons learned so far:

1. No one can prepare you for how hard breastfeeding can be.  I honestly didn't think it would be as much of a struggle as it is.  Even with help from the lactation specialists in the hospital, I didn't feel secure in breastfeeding when we left.  Since being home, I am still struggling with it.  There have been many expressions of frustration and tears with this.  When talking with others, it does help a little in hearing their struggles with breastfeeding.  However, it doesn't fix the problems I have.  I am learning to now just take it day by day.  Things have been improved a little and we'll see how things progress with time.   
2. The worry and stress you feel increases x10.  Things became worrisome when we took Kylie to the doctor two days later (we went to the doctor then because we were seeing someone different than the one we saw in the hospital).  Kylie weighed 7 lbs 13 oz when she was born, but two days later weighed 6 lbs 12 oz.  Yes, babies always lose some weight and then it takes 2-4 weeks for them to get back to their birth weight.  One pound is a lot to lose in just a few days though.  The doctor said that was about as much as we want her to lose before things become concerning.  So, we went home and fed her every 2 hours on the dot.  I even kept a log of every feeding and diaper changes.  At the doctor's the very next day, Kylie now weighed 6 lbs 7 oz.  She lost even more weight!  The doctor suggested supplementing with some formula and to come in on Monday to check her weight again.  After supplementing the weekend, Kylie then weighed 7 lbs 1.5 oz!!  What a relief it was to know that she was actually getting something to eat now.  I'm still supplementing and hopefully as things get easier with breastfeeding, the amount of formula will decrease, but the worry we'll feel for our little girl will not.
3. Sleep really is non-existent.   The first two nights were really bad because Kylie was so hungry, she was unhappy and awake for most of the night.  Once we started supplementing, Kylie became much happier and started sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches at night.  A much better improvement over the 1-2 hour stretches she was doing before.  Right now, it seems that she gets really gassy after feeding, so she's not sleeping as well.  I know that there is information out there about sleep training (books and Kyle's sister knows a lot), so I want to look more into doing that soon once we figure out Kylie's tummy issues.
4.  Family & friends are genuinely willing to help.  We had family and some good friends come and visit in the hospital which was very nice.  It was amazing that dinner every night the week we came home was taken care of.  I had gone shopping the week before to stock up on groceries and we didn't really use anything that I bought because we were so well fed.  It is hard for me to ask for help, but it is reassuring that family and friends are here if we need them.
5. Scott is a natural in his role as husband and father.  I am amazed at how much Scott has been a help through everything--from the pregnancy to delivery to being at home. He has been my rock in staying sane.  I truly appreciate everything he's done and I hope I'll be able to return the favor.
6. Kylie is the cutest baby girl we've seen.  Of course, Scott & I are a little biased, but here's some pictures to prove it. :)

We've all been taking naps when we can.

Getting warm after a bath in the ducky towel.

I love bath time!

I'm ready for my close-up!

I love my pacifier.

Ready to head to another doctor's appointment!

Mommy trying to wake me up to eat, but being unsuccessful.

I like to sit in weird positions.

Sleeping angel.