First Impressions

Now, you all be sure to tell me when you get bored of me talking about my beautiful new baby daughter! The first few days of life were pretty relaxed, some feeding, a lot of sleeping, recovering from the trauma of birth..we thought, this is a piece of cake, isn't she great! Condell even brought us a special celebratory dinner for two, steak, champagne, etc, on the evening before we checked out.

We had lots of visitors, AJ's US god parents, friends and of course Nanny Jan. Towards the end of the second night, Addison still hadn't peed, a big no-no in new baby land. Apparently they are supposed to have one pee per day old, although I am not sure how long that rule applies, cos adults would spend all day on the toilet if it kept going! The doctor advised us to feed her formula on the 2nd night, to be sure she was getting enough food, and sure enough, about 3 hours later she wet her nappy.

Great, I thought, not too much. So I started to change her, and forgot the cardinal rule..don't leave a newborn without a nappy, cos sure enough, her second and much more substantial pee of the day came, all over my sofa bed and me!

We were to go home the next day, Monday, after everything and everyone had been checked out. The first two nights had been pretty relaxed. Addison was sleeping well, feeding well, all the tests were normal, etc. Here she is all packed up to go in her borrowed (thanks Hazel) car seat. Here are a few more pictures of her first few days before arriving home. I warn you there are topless shots of me here, so it is not for the faint hearted :-)

Once we got her home, it was a different story. Invariably, the first question anyone asks me is "Are you getting any sleep?" I have to say that I am, but that is not because Addison is sleeping well, quite the contrary, Lorraine has been up most of the night the last two nights, trying to get her to feed properly and sleep properly. Apparently all babies have a tendency to "cluster feed" and "cluster sleep". AJ has hers around the wrong way. She sleeps all day long and feeds all night long.

I have been helping and giving bottles when I can, but despite my man boobs, breast feeding just really isn't something I can pull off! So there have been all sorts of techniques employed to assist with the feeding, and help Addison get what she needs. My favourite thus far is the Duff Beer Baseball Cap addition, to supplement her diet until the breast milk comes in fully! I might have to take that to the next Cubs game with me.

Speaking of the Cubs, did I mention that she was born the day after the Cubs clinched the Division Pennant? My good friend Steve ran straight off to the store and bought me a Cubs Division Championship shirt. Here are Addison and I enjoying (sic) last night's game.

Anyways, enough rambling for now. Here are a few more pictures from her first week home. Including one of her favourite activities right now...yelling her head off every time someone wants to change her!