Newborn Alina's First Week

Alina at one-week-old - she's our little baby doll!

Sleepy baby, tiny footsies

Bonding with mommy, plus her very first birthday cake

The past week has been an indescribably wonderful experience. We feel the most immense joy and happiness that our beautiful and healthy newborn daughter, Alina, is now here with us. Alina is such a little doll! She rarely cries, sleeps most of the day, and makes the sweetest little baby faces that draw plenty of smiles from us. She's awake maybe 2-3 hours during the course of a day and when she is I make sure to have the camera ready. Of course, I've taken tons of photos. Alina is a super photogenic little one. I have so many favorites from her first week, that it was hard to choose which to post. We are just so in love with her!

Cutie pie Alina - already posing for photos

Showered with love and enjoying her first week

Even though it was just two short years ago that we brought home our first newborn, it's amazing how much we've forgotten what it was like and also how easy it is the second time around. With Elise, I remember feeling overwhelmed by my emotions and on top of that constantly critiquing everything I did. It was all new to me, and while it was exciting it was also a bit much to process. Having a newborn again, I find myself calm and at ease in everything I do. I'm more relaxed and taking time to just enjoy her and shower her with love. Right now, I feed her every two-three hours, change a few non-messy and non-stinky diapers, clean up after spit-up, take tons of photos/videos, cuddle with her, and that's about all I have to do to make her happy. I also find myself in awe of just how tiny she is! I've been carrying Elise around for the past couple years and she is now over 30lbs. Holding our fragile little 8 pound Alina has really put things in perspective. It's like holding a little baby doll and I absolutely do not want to put her down.

Proud big sister Elise! She loves her so much

Alina's first bath - big sister helped out

Elise has been an absolute ANGEL around her new baby sister! She has been so interested and helpful in taking care of Alina. She even helped give Alina her first bath. I can tell that they are going to be the best of friends. Elise has already taken on such a nurturing role. The cutest thing is when Elise tries to calm Alina from crying by patting her head and saying, "It's ok baby sissy, don't cry". The first time she said that, my eyes welled up with tears of happiness. It was just the sweetest thing ever to see how much empathy and love Elise has for her baby sister. I know that Elise will take the best care of her and set a great example for her to follow!

Newborn Alina doing what she does best; sleeping :)

Favorite new mom moments

Making her smile, touching her soft velvety skin, carrying on babbling and cooing conversations, helping her stand up and use her little legs, hearing her laughter, dressing her up, giving her a bath and watching her content in the water, hearing daddy tell her how much he loves her, taking countless photos of her cute expressions, spanking the baby powder on her little bum, sleeping with her on my chest, looking into her beautiful innocent eyes and seeing a bit of myself looking back, singing to her and watching her stare up at me in awe, kissing her forehead and chubby cheeks, listening to her explore her vocal chords and make all kinds of adorable sounds, seeing how much her little mad face looks just like me as a baby, running my finger across the little dimples on her hands, the challenge of changing her diaper while she squirms all over (she thinks it’s a game), offering her my finger to grasp and hold, watching her cute little personality emerging, holding her up and dancing with her, watching her and daddy sleep, patting her back to calm her down, wiping away her tiny new tears when she cries, loving every moment with her; knowing she is the best part of Clint and I.

Ten weeks along...Our little water baby!

Elise loves her baths

Elise just had her two month checkup. She now weights 11 lbs 9 oz and is 23 ½ inches long. She is in the 75th – 90th percentile for her weight and height measurements. Elise’s pediatrician even commented on how alert and healthy she is. We also discussed doing her first vaccinations and ultimately decided to wait until her next checkup. I couldn’t bear to give her the eight shots suggested. She is still so little right now and I figured waiting a few extra months won’t do any harm.

One thing Elise loves is her baths! Clint and I recently took some adorable photos of our little water baby. She smiles, coos, and sometimes even sticks out her tongue to taste the water. It is so funny watching her do this. Bath time has become a fun activity for mom and dad. Even when Elise is cranky and fussy her baths always seem to calm and relax her.

Smiling after her bath

After her baths, I enjoy swaddling her in her hooded pink bath towel. This is the only time she likes to be swaddled. Usually she kicks and pulls off all her blankets. I also love dressing her up and brushing her hair. She gets the cutest little ringlet curls after her bath, but they usually dry out to be straighter. I’ve had fun in my attempts to “style” her hair. After considerable effort, I finally got bows to stay in her hair! I have given her a single ponytail and pig tails. She has had a full head of hair since the day she was born, yet it is just now long enough, and filled in, to pull up in cute little bows.

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