WOW! Where do I start? I can't believe I'm a new mommy! I always dreamed of this time in my life, and now that it's here, I'm overwhelmed with joy. I find myself staring at Caleb and just tearing up multiple times a day. He is such a gift from the Lord! It truly is hard to find words to express what I feel!
Caleb is a strong boy. When he is eating, he tucks his sweet little arms and hands under his chin, it's the cutest thing! He's also a kicker. He loves to have his hands outside of his swaddle so that he can suck on them and knock the pacy out of his mouth multiple times during the night. He kicks his socks off all the time as well. He loves to be cradled and held anytime of the day, but does so well going down for a nap. He's a talker. Once he's eaten, he loves to just sit and chat it up, very wide-eyed! I love when he looks at me, even though I know he can't see who I am, he knows my voice and that is one of the best feelings ever! He talks a lot during the night, which makes it hard for me to get sound sleep, but at least he's not screaming! He's a very content boy, the only time he fusses is when he's hungry, or when he's getting a diaper change. Other than that, he does not cry at all, PRAISE THE LORD!!! He loves being held by daddy and daddy loves holding him. As soon as Aaron walks in the door from work, he takes Caleb out of my arms!
Today I read him his first book, "You Are Special" by Max Lucado. As he sat there and stared into my eyes, I barely made it through the book without soaking the pages. That book has been one of my most favorite books for a very long time and I always dreamed of reading it to my children. By the end of the story, Caleb was asleep in my arms and I just sat there and thanked the Lord for this tiny little blessing. I never knew I could love something so much, I feel so often like I truly am just going to explode just watching him as he is eating, or with his hiccups, or even making a dirty diaper, it's just so stinkin' cute! When he sleeps he is all grins and smiles. I love watching him sleep for that reason alone. I'm still working on getting a great picture of his smile and will upload it as soon as I do!
I thought I was emotional during pregnancy, but man, I had no idea what was coming. Tears flow very easily now, mostly because I'm just so overwhelmed with joy, thankfulness and gratitude for this amazing blessing, but every once in a while, I have to admit, I'm overwhelmed by lack of sleep and that causes me to be a little over emotional (this has only happened during the night when I'm trying to make a bottle with one hand while holding a screaming baby in the other hand, who has a very stinky diaper and won't take his pacy because it doesn't have milk coming out of it!).
We are bottle feeding as well as I am pumping and feeding him whatever supply I can get. When Caleb was born, we found out he had Jaundice, so as soon as we got home, we had to start supplementing. At the time I was "breastfeeding" but didn't realize that my milk supply had not come in. After a visit from my lactation consultant we decided that it would be best for me to pump and then feed whatever supply I could get, to Caleb in a bottle, in addition to a formula bottle. I'm thankful, in a weird way, that he had jaundice, or I don't know that I would have known that my supply was so low. We are still praying that my supply would multiply and that I could go back to just breastfeeding, not only for the financial benefit of it, but because I truly desire to have that experience with him. No matter what, though, I'm thankful that Caleb loves to eat and has taken to the bottle so well. We've had no other feeding issues with him, and so I will just keep pumping as long as my body is producing even the slightest bit of colostrum/milk.
My mom got in town Monday and I can't tell you how wonderful it has been to have her here helping. She even let us get out for a couple hours Monday night. I don't know that I've ever been so excited to go grocery shopping at Target! I think we might have a date night sometime this week as well. I still haven't decided how long I want her to stay, but she has said she will stay however long I need her here. She has already made us dinner and that has been a huge blessing as well. Thanks mom, you rock!
Well, I'm going to stop there. I know this is a long post, and I apologize, but I wanted to document a lot of our first week at home events. I've added a ton of my favorite pictures taken during the first 10 days of Caleb's life, and I do plan on posting his labor and delivery story here pretty soon. Enjoy the pictures!!
He loves to make this "mad/confused" face quite often, it's so cute!
Asleep on Daddy
Heading home from the hospital all bundled up!!
My precious little bear!!
One of my favorite pics taken of our sweet little guy so far!
Daddy and Caleb!
Enjoying a nap at the hospital
Sleeping at home. He sleeps the same way I do, with both hands tucked up!
Another sleeping position, apparently, this is how I slept as a baby with my hands folded up...So cute!!
Precious little sleeping baby!
Face time with Daddy!
Watching TV with Daddy
Sleeping like a champ!
This is the best picture of his grin/smile I have gotten so far. I'm working on getting a better one though!
Touchdown!!
I think this is my favorite pic so far. He was sleeping on my legs and I just couldn't resist!
Sleeping on Daddy, again!
Trying to eat his hands (he's usually very successful at this!)
Sleeping on Mommy!
One of our first family photos!
This is actually our first family photo. I was crying such tears of joy and relief that he was finally here!! Our sweet family of THREE!!! Thank you JESUS!!!
Be Blessed and Encouraged!
