Evelyn Leveled up!

Woohoo! Today Evelyn Leia is 2 Months old! Wow time is certainly flying, she has her appointment on Friday to get her 2 month shots (ahhh!). We've had 2 additional doctor's visits due to Mommy freaking out. First time was because she was wailing often and tugging at her ear- so of course I went "oh no! ear infection!". It wasn't. Apparently Evelyn has some reflux issues- so she got put on medicine for that. The next week she had something draining out of her ear, and again I worried about an ear infection- but apparently her bath just managed to make some ear wax super liquidy and it drained out. But we'd rather be cautious and take her early then have her screaming her head off and not be able to see our doctor because of the time of day.

We'll know more development wise on Friday, but as of last week Evelyn is at 10 lbs 14 oz and the nurse measured her at 22 inches long- but when we measured her over the weekend we got 23 inches. So she's somewhere in there. Her 0-3 month sleepers are starting to get a little snug length wise- but the rest of her 0-3 still fit except a couple pairs of pants that are snug. We'd like her to make it a little longer before needing to up her clothing size! 

Movement and mobility wise- she has amazing neck strength. So much so that the nurse and the pediatrician commented on it last week and were thoroughly impressed. She has rolled over off of a prop pillow a few times, and has made it about halfway a couple times before getting stuck and frustrated. If we help her into a seated position she can hold herself there for about 10-15 seconds before she falls over. She enjoys doing the exercise videos with me, and really enjoys being Supergirl. She has also learned that if she is on the floor she can scoot herself around- usually it ends up just being in a circle but she has a lot of fun with it! 

Evelyn is also smiling more often and has started mimicking faces- we've gotten her to stick her tongue out a couple of times now. She is also starting to figure out the giggling sound. While she still cries a good amount (she's a baby after all) she is also extremely talkative and likes chatting with us. 

Other things she enjoys are: being read and sung to, bouncing, and bathtime as long as she's in the water- she does not like being taken out of it though! 

The dogs are also adjusting well. Nico is starting to show more interest in her and Freya still adores her and wants to be as close as possible. Freya REALLY likes to lick Evelyn and we're continually telling her not to- but as Freya likes to lick everything we're not really surprised by this. 

We're constantly amazed by Evelyn and can't wait to see what this next month will bring! 

Ain't it Grand?

After about a week for Elizabeth and I to adjust to our new lives with Elfie (it's growing on me) her other Grandparents flew into town from St. Louis. For my dad, this is not only the first grandchild but the first girl! Smitten barely begins to cover it; he just melted.

While all faces are new to Evelyn, this one was new to us too. Evelyn's Grandmother, Becky, is my soon-to-be-step-mom (henceforth stbsm) accompanied my dad for the visit. Her resume includes 3 grandchildren of her own so she has lots of experience in the art of grandma-ing.

Becky is a huge Civil war buff so she fit right in here in history rich Virginia. We went on a few adventures but mostly lounged around at home getting Evie cuddles. Dad and Becky also helped us make several freezer meals so we'll be good on dinners for a while.

The visit culminated in a "Grandparents Dinner" Sue and Harry came down to visit and have dinner with Elizabeth, Becky, Dad, and I. It was a very enjoyable evening. Fortunately for us Evelyn isn't quite old enough to be completely spoiled rotten yet.

Week 1

This is a bit behind but as any parent can imagine, we've been a bit busy.

Well, much to my surprise, we survived the first week of parenthood. If I am being more accurate we loved every minute of it. During the "every 3 hour through the night" schedule we set up a leap frog system that allowed each of us 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. This has kept us (mostly) sane over the first week.

Lets rewind a bit....

After Elfie (new nickname for Evelyn. Not sure if we like it yet) was born she and Elizabeth stayed in the hospital. A few things about the hospital. First, the nursing staff was uh-ma-zing! They were very polite and friendly and at least acted like they had they cared for us as much as we did. They were very knowledgeable and spent quite a bit of time answering our questions and demonstrating any and everything we could imagine. Second, Evelyn only left the room 2 or 3 times during our stay. She slept mere feet from her mother from the moment she was born. Third, I felt it was kind of a trial run for us as parents where we were ultimately responsible for her care but had "adult supervision" as needed. It assuaged many of my initial fears of new parenthood.

As stated in our last post, Evie had her first blow-out at about 3 AM. Fortunately, this was more than 6 hours after her birth which meant she could get a bath from the nurse. Friday morning Grandma (Susan) came to visit. I picked her up that morning and brought her to the hospital. As you can imagine it was love at first sight.

 

Later that evening, Grandpa (Harry) and Grandma came back for a brief visit. I'm told Harry has a chiropractor which is good because he was wrapped around that finger.

We were hopeful that Saturday would see the Elfs' discharges, but that was not to be. The Pediatric Hospitalist's exam showed higher than acceptable levels of jaundice. This lead to an additional day in the hospital. Elizabeth and I spent a quiet day watching movies and visiting with Sue and Harry.

Sunday came and everyone was cleared to go home! After introductions were made to the dogs we were ready to start this whole "parenthood" thing.

Evelyn got her first in home visitor Monday when her Uncle Alan stopped by.

Evie also had her first pediatrician's visit during the first week, which gave us a good chance to get the feel of the office we picked, and at this point (at the time of writing, three visits later) we are happy with our choice! Their nurse practitioners are all trained to help with breast feeding, which didn't work out for us (Elizabeth is pumping and we supplement with formula as needed), but it's nice to know for the future. Everything else about Evie looked good! Her jaundice went away and she is back to gaining weight instead of losing it! Overall, we would say it was a successful first week of parenthood.