The Honeymoon is over....

Not to say that we don't ooh and ahh over this little one, he is still the main attraction at our house and we love him dearly... but this is HARD WORK! The last few weeks everything has still been very new and exciting... now I'm trying to figure out how to change a diaper without getting in the firing range. Our little guy has had a diaper rash for a few days now which means a prolonged time of the diaper being off... which increases my chances of getting a little something special on me. I feel bad for him, it looks so red and bad. He has been very fussy the last three days. Maybe the diaper rash has something to do with it? He has started wanting to eat more often... every hour, hour and a half. Which is really draining on me, especially at night. I feel like a zombie during the day. I've been trying to sleep when he sleeps, but often he sleeps when I'm driving and out doing errands :-( At the end of the day the little smiles and coos we hear make it all worth it. He is just so adorable. We kiss him as much as we can, knowing that one day he will be a teenager and that will just not be cool. Oh I'm off to get a little rest before Nathaniel needs to eat again.

He's growing!

We had Nathaniel's two week checkup this week and we are pleased to report he is 8 pounds 11 ounces and 23 inches! It's hard to believe he grew two inches in two weeks. He is doing well and sleeping quite a bit (sometimes this coincides with normal night time hours). He's also pooping a lot which I suppose is a good thing. I'm making sure Ken is getting his fair share of diaper changes :-)
My two week check up is this week... hopefully I have been shrinking (not growing!). I'm anxious to feel like myself again. We have been more active over the last few days and it feels good to be out and about. Mentally I'm ready to start working out but physically I have felt pretty sore just after walking around the track so I'm trying to listen to my body and take it slowly.
We have been so blessed to have friends and family provide meals for us the last two weeks. It's been so helpful not to have to think about what to make for dinner. It's also fun to have people visit briefly and check in on us.

My sweet little boy

Pictures

The neighbor kids were so excited to see little Nate come home from the hospital. I guess they were asking about him all week long. Each of them went through their baby books and picked one to give Nathaniel. How sweet! They each made him a card too that said they would like to be friends with him.


This is a picture of my friend Bonnie and her little guy Andrew who was born in September. We are hoping they turn out to be best buds!!!

Smiles

Yesterday I witnessed the most adorable moment. Ken came home from work so Nathaniel and I came downstairs to see him. When he saw Daddy he gave him a biggest smile, not just one, not just two, but three big grins. It was so precious. Ken says we can keep him :-)

Every evening I hand off the little one to Ken for a little bonding time. It is so precious to see Nathaniel in his arms. Together they watch Nightly Business Report so Nathaniel can learn all about the stocks in the news.

Out and about

I've been feeling a little housebound so I thought I would try getting out. Today I ventured out with Nathaniel to a bible study at church and then a quick stop at Costco and Babies R Us. I think it was too much. Oops! Nathaniel was exhausted by the time we were driving home. I felt like it was a big accomplishment to get him in and out of the car and moving around a bit. We've been naping all afternoon.

More Mommy Medals

First medal for getting out and about by myself for an hour yesterday! Ken encouraged me to take some time off and so I went and gassed up the car and ducked into Fred Meyer for a few minutes. It seemed to go really well. Meanwhile at home Daddy and Nathaniel were fast asleep. They didn't even know I was gone!

Second medal for leaving Nathaniel with a sitter for about 1.5 hours. Ever year we take Ken's neices out to dinner for their birthday. Laurel's birthday was a week ago and we had to postpone dinner until yesterday. She chose to go to Red Robin and we decided that it would probably be healthy for me to let Ken's sister babysit while we were out. It sounds like he did just fine. We came home and he was sound asleep. She said he had been awake for about 45 minutes and the other cousins (7 and 3yrs) enjoyed watching him and interacting with him. At dinner I kept asking Ken if I should call and check in on them but we resisted the urge. He did just fine... and I got to hold him when we arrived back at their house.

Two big steps for me before he was two weeks old!