Mia is One Week Old!

Well, we've made it a week! Jason ended up with 5 days at home with his new family--his 3 personal days flowed right into the weekend. He was great with keeping Nate occupied while Amelia and I found our breastfeeding rhythm. They went to the Bass Pro Shop with Papa (and came home with strawberry fudge); HEB for groceries (and came home with a balloon for Mia); the garden centers around the neighborhood to pick out colorful perennials for the back fence, herbs for the garden and two small trees for visual interest. They actually found Amelia variety tomatoes, too! The boys planted the namesake vegetables and the rest of the greenery Saturday afternoon (see photo of Nate watering his sister's tomatoes).

Sunday, we were planning to make our big family debut at church; but I woke up not feeling quite up to the challenge. My milk came in Saturday night (yes, "Elsie" is back). I don't know if that drained my energy reserves or what. We opted to stay home and not push our luck.

On Monday Amelia had her post-hospital, 3-day well visit with Dr. Grant. My MIL, Jeanie, came down for the morning to watch Nate. She even took him to Jim's Restaurant for a special corn dog meal and cinnamon ice cream! (He'd really wanted to go to Jim's Sunday night for supper for some reason; so she scored big Granna points!)

Here are Amelia's well-baby stats:

• Length: 20.75 inches (a bad measurement at the hospital, or she's grown an inch already!)
• Weight: 8 pounds, 4 oz (back above her birth weight)
• Head cir: 13.75
• A slight touch of jaundice, but within the range of "normal"
• Her first shot...Hep B

Yesterday was my first official day alone with the two kids. It was an extended day, too, since Jason had the night call shift on his pediatrics rotation and didn't make it home until 7:30. I rallied my inner super mom and got everyone ready for MOPS by 8:45 (including a shower for me and a second morning feeding for Mia!) I'm glad I went. It was nice to wear real clothes (as opposed to the maternity shorts and nursing tanks I'd been wearing all weekend) and chat with the girls! I really wanted to go to get Nate out of the house and into his "normal routine" (if normal even exists anymore). Amelia stayed in her sling the entire time (even for her feeding), so anxious, well-meaning hands were kept away from her until next MOPS meeting--I promised they could hold her next time! We made decorative flower pots and planted some annuals. It will be a test to see how well I do nurturing two different things at the same time! I thought it appropriate that one of the Bible verses available for our flower pots was 1 Peter 2:2, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."