Week four - The First Smile

Her precious smile at four weeks!

This week, we had a breakthrough; baby Elise gave mom and dad her first real smile! It has been the highlight of our week, and we were fortunate enough to capture a few great photos of her smiling. She has the cutest little toothless grin, and now mom and dad have gone into overdrive trying to encourage more! As of right now her smiles are very fast and she doesn’t give them every time. But when she does, it makes our efforts more than worth it. I had imagined this moment all the time when I was pregnant. No matter how much I pictured it, nothing can compare to the actual experience. I was overcome with joy when I saw her huge smile! It was the most perfectly gratifying moment; just baby girl and mommy sharing smiles.

We also finally gave in and introduced Elise to the pacifier this week. I held off for the first few weeks, as I did not want to interfere with her feeding routine, cause confusion, etc. On one of her fussier evenings, we finally broke down and tried out the “passy” (I've detest the word “binky) for the first time. It worked like a charm and had us wondering why we hadn’t broke it out sooner! When I first put it in her mouth, she looked up at me and frowned. A few minutes later, she was sucking away without a care in the world. Mom and dad slept great that night and have since used the pacifier as a sleep aid. We will sometimes give it to her to calm fussiness, but for the most part I want her to associate it with sleep.

Daddy also fed Elise her first bottle. I pumped and made her a small bottle just to test out how she would do. It was exciting, as it was the first time he got to feed her. She did well, drinking the entire bottle in no time flat.

We have taken Elise out on quite a few weekend excursions now. We have even taken her to a few restaurants and she does great. We bring the pacifier, just in case she gets fussy, but usually she doesn’t even need it. It has been wonderful to be able to go out to dinner and bring her along without the worry of her crying the entire time. It’s nice to know that we can still enjoy little luxuries; even with a newborn in tow!

Happy girl!

Diaper changing 101

Ok, so I’d heard all the stories of how many diapers babies go through a day, and it always seemed like a mountainous amount. We were prepared to be up to our ears in diapers, and figured it would be one of the more time consuming aspects of caring for a newborn. Thankfully, this has not been the case. Elise does go through her fair share of diapers (on average 7-8 a day), but the actual diaper changing process isn’t bad at all. Daddy has been great about changing diapers these past few weeks. He stepped up to the plate and, believe it or not, wanted to take on the task. Of course mommy loves this as she is already consumed with feedings. Also, thanks to all my wonderful friends and family at the baby shower, we have a massive supply of diapers, which we anticipate will last us a couple months!

While the diaper changing process isn't as bad as we expected, we still have a few words of wisdom for future parents. Diaper changing needs to be quick and fast! Think of it as a race; a race to beat the baby in making you their own personal diaper. If you leave a window of time between diapering, chances are you will get messy. Clint learned this first. He was changing her and she peed. It doesn’t sound so bad, since she is a girl, but in actuality it was just as messy if not more. Though her pee didn’t shoot upward it still shot outward with plenty of distance and landed all over dad. Clint was caught completely off guard. It also happened to me except I got both pee and poop splattered all over. Now all diaper changes are quick and fast to avoid future disasters!

Week three - We are now officially living to serve the baby!

Daddy rivaling baby

This week, has been considerably more challenging than the last two. Elise wants to eat more frequently now and every time she wakes up, she’s smacking her mouth ready to eat. The look on her face is pure comedic gold. She opens her mouth as wide as she can, smacks together her lips and tongue, and often times she even goes cross eyed. Clint and I came up with the only accurate term to describe it; “ravenous”. The one rule is to never keep her in that state for too long otherwise she will lunge out at any skin presented. Clint found out the hard way after she suctioned on to his arm. I think he has a newfound sympathy for me after that experience. Clint finds it amusing to bring her over to me and plop her into my lap saying, “Here you go she’s ravenous again”. Of course I laugh, yet can’t help but feel exhausted as she is hungry all the time. I feel like all I do, for the majority of the day, is feed her, and it is probably pretty accurate.

One of the most valuable baby shower gifts I received, is the baby timer that I keep connected to my hip. I time her feedings, sleep schedule and diaper changes. I think I would probably go mad without it. Thank goodness for the little things in life right? Anyway, I feel like a machine at the moment. I function to attend to her needs only, which is great but she still isn’t interactive yet so I don’t get much in return. Of course I knew it would be like this in the beginning, but it has me yearning for her to be able to look into my eyes, smile, grab my hand, laugh or really just anything to acknowledge my existence. Ok that’s enough venting, I just looked at her precious little face again and I‘m back under her spell.

Holding mommy under her spell

So far mom and dad’s favorite thing over the past few weeks has been bonding with baby girl by letting her sleep on our chest. This is especially daddy’s favorite. He says when Elise sleeps on his chest, with her arms holding him, he feels as if he’s getting a two hour long hug. One of my favorite things is when I walk into the room and see them both asleep in each other’s arms. There is something undeniably perfect about seeing a father hold his baby in his arms, but when it’s your own watch out, because it is overwhelmingly wonderful!

Daddy has also got a kick out of calling Elise his little “cave baby”. When we set her in her baby swing her face and chubby cheeks squish down into her neck and body and she looks just like a little cave mans baby. It is the cutest sight to see. She is our chubby little doll.

Daddy makes a great bed for Elise and Link

Breezing through week two

Sleepy baby Elise at two weeks old

Whew…we survived the first week! Surprisingly, the second week wasn’t so difficult either! Elise sleeps most of the day. In fact, I feel like all she does is sleep. To my surprise, we have already been able to take her out for the first time, and I have actually been able to get some work done this week.

Nights have been more daunting as she wakes up 3-4 times to feed. Feeding her has been; without a doubt, the most challenging part of new motherhood. I feel like we are both gradually getting the hang of it, but I don’t feel overly confident in my abilities yet. I think this has a lot to do with all the information provided on breastfeeding. The hospital tells you to feed your baby every two hours, for a certain amount of time on each side, and that they should be getting so many ounces at each feeding, which to be honest is just stressful and overwhelming. Elise never eats according to these schedules or times. At first, this had me worried. However, I soon decided to set aside all that information and instead follow my own instincts (based off Elise’s cues). Relying less on all the “rules” has made things much better.

One very enjoyable aspect of feeding little Elise is that when she falls asleep afterwards I get to watch her make all kinds of cute reflexive faces in her sleep. This week she has been giving quite a few reflexive smiles in her sleep. It is so adorable and has me looking forward to her first real smile. Her reflexive faces crack me up, because she can go from smile, to frown, to raised eyebrows all in a split second. I captured a few of these moments on video. It is always fun to watch her sleep, mainly to see what expression she will give next.

Thankfully, Elise is a very good baby and doesn’t cry as much as I would have anticipated. When she does, it quickly gets our attention, as it is very distinctive. She does not have that typical, “WAAAA”, baby cry that we were expecting. Her cry is more like a short high pitched yell or squeal. It is pretty funny to hear; she means business!

Spit up is another hot topic this week. I swear that I have a little puke machine for a baby. I’m well aware that spit up is perfectly normal, but…WOW…was I surprised at how many burp clothes I would go through in one day. I had to go out and buy more because we went through so many (hint on the essential baby shower gift).

I also did my first load of dirty baby laundry this week. I was amazed at how many outfits she went through due to spit up accidents. So from now on, I keep a bib on her for at least an hour after feedings. It helps keep her dry, but mommy and daddy often find ourselves changing clothes too. There is only so much you can do to prepare for spit up. Clint gets hit with the spit up far more often than me. I pretty much live with a burp cloth attached to my side, while he takes his chances and often becomes her target. As messy as it can be, her adorable face makes up for it!

My first bath

Elise had her first bath this week! The doctors told us to sponge bathe her up until her umbilical cord falls off. Her cord just fell off the middle of this week, so we got the green light to give her a bath. Grandma and grandpa were there with us to document it all. We expected her to cry and fuss but she didn’t. She absolutely loved the water and was content the entire time. We got her all clean and then bundled her up in her pink hooded bath towel.

This week was also Fourth of July, Elise’s first holiday! Uncle Colin came up, from Santa Barbara, to visit his new niece. We got the entire Pierce family together for a July 4th BBQ (Elise’s first BBQ I might add). We went outside and set off fireworks with all the neighbors. Elise slept through the entire thing. Not a sound fazed her. I guess this is where the old adage sleeping like a baby comes from.

Elise's Toes - July 4, 2009

The first week, and the joys of new parenthood!

First Photo of Newborn Elise Liana Alessandro!

I have to start out by exclaiming, “This is my first time writing as a new mommy!". This past week has been a whirlwind of new emotions and experiences. Clint and I were finally united with our beautiful baby daughter, Elise Liana Alessandro! At last getting to see and hold the baby, we have come to love and adore over the past 9 months, was just incredible. This entire time it seemed like such an unreal experience and now it is our treasured reality. I can’t even begin put the experience into words. I think I went through every possible emotion imaginable with Clint right by my side.

After two days in the hospital, we were finally able to go home as a family of three! It was an amazing and exciting day. We had our first experience strapping little Elise in her car seat for her first car ride. She just seemed so tiny, fragile and beautiful. I sat in the back with her, shielding the sun from her eyes. I just couldn’t believe she was ours and now we were taking her home. From here on out, we would be on our own, learning everything as we go!

Fortunately, we had lots of help from both grandparents this week. It made things much more manageable. Although, as we soon learned, all she really does is sleep, eat and dirty her diapers. Daddy was great about helping with diapers and getting mommy through the difficult nights.

Newborn Elise doing what she does best; sleeping!

I must admit, I was riding a wave of adrenaline the first week. I don’t think I slept much at all. I had plenty of opportunities, as she slept so much, but I just couldn’t. I wanted to do more to take care of her. I wanted to watch her sleep. I didn’t want to leave her alone. I had to make sure I was feeding her enough. I just wanted to do everything imaginable for her. I realized this is what motherhood is; the desire to do everything to enhance the life of your child. I cried multiple times, not because I was sad, because I was overwhelmingly happy to have her in my life. I held her. I rocked her to sleep. Clint loved seeing my maternal side and was with me every step of the way. This week we both became parents. We will forever look back on this time and cherish it.

Three day old Elise - Home at Last!