6-7 Weeks

Natalie's started to "coo" and "ahh" quite a bit, which is just adorable. I've noticed that she's most "chatty" in the mornings, right after she wakes up. We have little conversations every morning :)

We try to do "tummy time" with Natalie at least once a day. It's recommended to place young babies on their tummies frequently so they can exercise their neck and arm muscles. But this obviously is not a problem for Natalie, since she's been holding her head up pretty much from day one! Sometimes she'll tolerate tummy time for a few minutes, but for the most part, she just ends up crying in frustration. Once we turn her over onto her back, she's back to happy again. Hopefully with some practice, she'll find it more enjoyable!


She's also started to enjoy bath time and even looks forward to it. I think she's noticed our routine as well. Usually every other night, we'll set up her whale tub on the bathroom counter, lay out a new diaper and a pair of jammies, and then bring her into the bathroom with us. Even if she's crying beforehand, she always calms down as soon as we place her in the tub. Of course she'll typically continue crying once she's out of the tub (maybe because she's cold?) but we usually follow the bath with her last feeding before bed, which calms her down once again.

I'm also happy to report that Natalie not only took a bottle from Daddy with little fussing, but she slept for five hours straight, three days in a row! Everyone tells me to not get used to it, but it sure is nice to get a little bit of sleep!

Baby's 1st Christmas

We had a few busy busy days of Christmas festivities this year. It started with dinner at Dad and Sally's place on the 23rd. It was the first time many of Sally's family met Miss Natalie and it was fun to show her off to everyone. We sat down for dinner, although I had to excuse myself to feed baby shortly into it. Luckily Eric and my Dad brought my plate and root beer over for me to enjoy in the meantime. Then we opened a few gifts- We gave Dad and Sally a few framed photos from our family photo shoot, which  I think they enjoyed. Natalie received a couple cute outfits, a pink rattle, and a carrosel toy that plays music. Eric was happy to get a voucher for his 2011 fishing license and I got the one thing I oh so wanted from my list- my newest addition to my (small) Circle of Love collection. This piece, called "True Joy" is a modern statue of a man and women caressing a new baby in their arms. I just love it! I'm glad someone tracked one down for me, since it's an older piece of the artist's collection. It was perfectly fitting for our first official holiday season as a family of three. Thanks Dad and Sally!


On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Fleming's house. We had fun toting Natalie around in her little red and white Christmas footsie pajamas. I even found a little red headband to match her outfit! She actually napped a little while we ate and then after dinner, there was the annual Christmas gift exchange. Before we left, we handed out wallet size photo frames of our beautiful baby and little boxes of peppermint bark that I had made. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.


We work up early Christmas morning to spend a bit of time together as a new family. Eric had the great idea of stuffing Natalie into her own stocking and taking some pictures of her under the tree, which turned out adorable! Then we each took a picture with Natalie in front of the tree (unfortunately Natalie grew tired of wearing her stocking come time for Eric's turn...). This year, our Christmas tree has accumulated a few more ornaments, since we also enjoy the tradition of collecting them from places we travel to or important things going on in our lives. We added a cute shell from Pismo Beach that we found when we were vacationing on our babymoon. And then of course, we have our favorite addition for this year- baby Natalie’s ornament!




Sadly my annual tradition of freshly-baked cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning did not come to pass this year... so we baked a batch of Pillsbury instead and fed the four-legged kids their special Christmas breakfast (organic vanilla yogurt).  Then opened gifts. Santa brought Natalie her first movie, Disney's Fantasia, and we bought her a lovely book called "How Do I Love You." Eric and I exchanged a few small things before we got ready to head over to yet another festivity- Christmas at Don and Karen's house out in Brentwood (Aunt Kit's sister and their side of the family). I had another outfit all ready to go for Natalie- a little red footsie outfit that Uncle Greg and Aunt Vicki sent from Texas that says "Baby's 1st Christmas."

The customary gift exchange at Don and Karen's house is always fun, eventful and takes forever! Aunt Kit just loves Christmas and playing Santa with her little hat, handing out gifts to all. Everyone was very generous, as always. Natalie received lots of new clothes and a few cute pairs of shoes. We also met Eric's cousin's new baby, Amare, who was born just three weeks ago. We had fun taking a few pictures of the babies together. We can tell already that Amare is going to be TALL just like his Daddy! He and Natalie appear to be just about the same size! While everyone opened gifts, a few people enjoyed passing around the new babies. Before we had dinner, we passed out more wallet photo frames of Natalie along with more peppermint bark. Everyone just loved her cute little pictures. While we ate, Natalie and Amare took a little nap on the floor together.


I was a little bummed that we didn't really get to spend any good time with Elaine, although we were both really busy with all of our usual festivities and house hopping to do. So, on Sunday, we went over to her place and made pizza for everyone. It was nice and relaxing to just hang out and recoperate from the previous days events. We gave Elaine and Andrew a giftcard to Lowe's, since they're always working on some kind of house project, and gave baby-in-waiting a book called "Counting on Calico" (which Elaine really wanted). They gave Natalie a cute little birdie rattle toy and Eric received a CD that he had wanted.

After all the gift opening, we agreed that next year will be all about the kids! Gift shopping and exchanging can be fun, but it can also be a bit of a headache. And then there's the obligation to buy for certain people and budgets that get stretched a little more than originally planned. So next year, there will only be gifts for the kids. We should be focusing on spending good, quality time with our family and remembering the real reason why we celebrate. And I'm very much looking forward to it!

5-6 Weeks

I had my six-week postpartum check-up with my doctor this week. The good news is that I'm feeling much more like myself! I wasn't really prepared for the unexpected roller coaster of emotions and tears, but I'm happy to report that I finally feel better. The bad news is that my second-degree tear hasn't quite healed, which makes sense because I'm still a little sore. It's not unbearable, just uncomfortable. My doctor reassured me that I am on the mend, though.

I've been working really hard this past week to finish Natalie's announcements. And I'm happy to announce that they are finally complete and sent out to our friends and family. Here's the final product (front cover, inside panel, inside):

Once the announcements were out of the way, I shifted my focus to some last-minute holiday shopping, baking, and a few small crafts. I found some frames for our new family photos- we'll be handing those out to all the grandparents and close family and friends for gifts. Plus, I made some clay prints of Natalie's hands and feet and whipped up a few batches of peppermint bark. I feel like I'm really slacking this year, in terms of celebrating the holidays. We put up our tree a few weeks ago and I've managed to at least set up our new nativity set and put a bell wreathe on the door... hopefully next year I'll be more organized

We've finally started to use Natalie's cloth diapers during the day- but we're still relying on disposables at night. Since her legs are so tiny, she often leaks out the leg holes! I'm sure they'll fit her better once she gets a little chub on her cute little thighs. In other news, we tried giving her a bottle of pumped milk the other night and she didn't want anything to do with it! I'm so glad that she loves to nurse and took right to it from day one, but at some point, she may need to learn to take a bottle. I guess we'll just have to keep practicing!

Eric's grandma is in town from Arizona for a few weeks to spend the holidays with the family. She had the opportunity to meet her first great-grandbaby a few days ago. Both grandmas just love this darling little girl!

4-5 Weeks

News of the week is that Natalie slept consistently last night without her usual 2-3 hours being awake! It was so nice! On the other hand, we've noticed that she's been either gassy or "colicy" lately in evenings. I bought some Mylicon drops, and they seem to help her a little. But in regard to "colic"- I've done a lot of reading about it and I'm not sold on the idea that a baby can just cry for no apparent reason... one thing that has been concerning me lately is my possible oversupply of breastmilk. Sometimes when she initially latches on, it seems the flow may be too fast for her to keep up with. She'll often pull away from me and then milk sprays all over her face! So I'm currently researching how to remedy that situation.

Eric and I took our first real trip out to eat lunch on Saturday. We went to this restaurant called the Counter in downtown Walnut Creek and she didn't cry at all! We parked her right up against our table in her car seat, which was latched onto her stroller. I'm always so anxious when we take her out- I think I'm nervous that I'm going to be "that mom with the screaming baby." But that's yet to happen, so maybe I'm just worrying to much. She's always been a good baby when we take her out for little outings, like the grocery store (so far at least). While we were eating lunch, a lady came up to me, peeked into the car seat and said that Natalie looks like me! That was the first time I've been told so- others usually comment that she looks more like Eric. But everyone reminds us that they change so quickly- overnight it seems. That definitely seems to be true!


Eric's cousin Jason and his wife Christina had their baby boy on 8th. They named him A'mare Andreas. Unfortunately the baby had to be transferred to John Muir after her C-section at San Ramon Regional due to fluid in tiny lungs! So they've been in our prayers. Hopefully he'll be released soon with a clear bill of health.

For this past week, it seems like Natalie wants to nurse about every hour! Sometimes less! It's been exhausting and somewhat frustrating because that means I've been tied down even more than usual. I'm very used to being up an about, getting things done on my time frame. It's quite an adjustment to let things go- like my various projects and most of the housework- while I sit and feed the baby. Perhaps she's going through a growth spurt, or "block feeding" (which I'm also reading up on). I will say, my iPhone sure comes in handy during most nursing sessions! I'm usually researching away or typing an email to Elaine at work (one-handed of course). I've even been ordering some Christmas gifts on my iPhone!

Elaine offered to print some pictures of Natalie for her announcements that I'm still working on, which is great because she has an awesome printer! I've been assembling the cards slowly during naps and they're coming along nicely. I think I may have been a little too ambitious though- I wanted them to be simple, handmade cards, but now they've turned into tri-folds with multiple photos and lots of details. This always happens! It's been fun working on them though. I do love crafting! I sure hope Natalie does too :)

3-4 Weeks

Natalie's doing great, but this kid is definitely not a fan of sleep! We're wondering if she might take after Eric, since he's a very light sleeper. She had one crying fit during the middle of the night earlier this week and we just couldn't calm her down. It wasn't until about five in the morning when she finally fell asleep on my chest. Then Eric had to be up just a few hours later to make a trip out to our Brentwood rental house. The backyard at the house was recently landscaped, but we've yet to lay any bark. And our tenant has a dog, so we want to make sure that all the dirt areas are well covered so we don't have to worry about muddy paws being tracked into the house, all over the cream-colored carpet... I felt really bad that Eric was stuck doing it on one of his seldom days off, but we know it has to get done. And I'm in no shape to do it! With Natalie's nursing schedule, it's hard enough to leave the couch these days! (which I honestly don't mind much- holding such a lovely little human is like nothing else).


It's been hard being at home by myself sometimes. I've still anxious since Natalie is so new and I'm such a novice at taking care of a baby, but it's been getting a little better. I'm very glad when Eric comes home from work so I have some company. We were actually able to make a quick trip over to Trader Joe's a couple days ago- it was Natalie's first ride in the Acura. I sat in the backseat with her to make sure she was alright. I've noticed that she seems to like car rides, which is nice.

On the fifth, I braved the rain to make a trip out to Michael's. And Natalie slept right through it! I've been busy working on her announcements and we needed just a few more supplies. Hopefully they'll be done soon enough... I've decided to send them out before Christmas in place of real Christmas cards this year. I just don't think I'll get around to completing both. But I think I should be able to write up another holiday update letter, which I'll include with the announcement. Better than nothing!

I've also been trying to complete all of my disability paperwork- it is such a process to file for pregnancy disability!! I tried to get everything out of the way before Natalie arrived, but some things had to wait until we had her unofficial birth certificate. So I've been trying to get that done in what little free time I have.

My Dad and his wife Sally came over this week to visit with us. It's so funny to watch my Dad with Natalie- he's so excited to hold her, but then he'll hold her kind of awkwardly like he's never held a newborn before. And then he usually passes her off once she makes the tiniest fuss. I guess you can't blame him much, since it's been a long time since we were that small! Newborns are just so fragile. Sally, on the other hand, is a natural. And Natalie seems really content with her. My Dad brought his camera along and took these a few nice pictures of us while they were here. I've really appreciated the pictures other people have been taking- sometimes I just forget or can't find the time to take them!




We also went over to Eric's mom's house to celebrate Chanukah this week. She made a really nice dinner and Natalie slept through it, which was great! Then we did the traditional Menorah candle lighting and prayer of the night. Grandma gave her this cute little bib, and I actually remembered to snap a picture this time!

Family Photo Shoot

We went to JCPenney yesterday to take newborn portraits of Natalie and to take our first official photo shoot as a new family of three! I had made an appointment with the store in Pleasanton, after hearing some positive reviews about the studio. And luckily our photographer, Jennifer, was great- I was relieved to hear that she has a baby of her own and lots of experience with newborns.

I was really anxious how Natalie was going to react. Lucky for us, she was in a decent mood, so we quickly put her little flower headband on and started shooting as soon as we arrived. Since I wanted some "Anne Geddes" style photographs, she was in her birthday suit and of course she peed on Eric twice! We kind of expected that though. She was a little tricky to pose at times, since she was constantly squirming (as always), but she wasn't crying. She let us pose her for about ten minutes or so before she started fussing.

We took a quick break to feed Natalie before we resumed taking some family portraits. Again, I was really surprised at how cooperative she was! She gave us another five or ten minutes before we knew that she had had enough. Then we previewed the shots in the lobby with another staff member and decided to take the whole CD of pictures home with us. It wasn't cheap, but I was just too overwhelmed to select how many prints and what sizes of all the different poses we liked. And I'm sure glad we did! Here's a few of our favorites. I'm so glad we took the time out of our crazy first couple weeks with Natalie to get these done. I know we'll cherish them forever :)

2-3 Weeks

Natalie’s belly button cord fell off this week! On the 29th, I stumbled upon a shriveled brownish piece of something in her jammies while changing her diaper in the morning. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but then I noticed her belly button was missing its cord. It still looks swollen and slightly raised, but its exciting that its finally gone :)

That same day was the first day I spent at home all by myself without Eric, since he’s officially back at work. I think I did well- I only had one crying episode all day and I started to plan Natalie’s birth announcements while she napped in the afternoon. But I had to send Eric to the store after work to pick up some more diapers and wipes- they go so quickly and we ran out! Unfortunately Natalie is just too tiny for the cloth diapers right now, so we’ve been using some Seventh Generation newborn disposables for the time being. Hopefully she’ll grow into her BumGenius diapers soon!

Unfortunately Eric’s been sick this week- I think he has a bad sinus infection, since this tends to happen around the same time every year., with the changing seasons. He’s up coughing at night, super congested around the clock, and having some bad headaches. Adding to our misery, Natalie was up for most of the night on the 30th- she was just inconsolable for some reason. Even our trusted skin-on-skin routine wasn’t working and I felt terrible that Eric was not only feeling lousy and awake all night because of the baby, but he still had to report to work early the next morning- sleep or no sleep. And then, at the end of his long shift, he calls to tell me that he’s been mandated to work overtime! I was so upset. Luckily Eric called Elaine for me and she came by with soup and flowers. I really needed the company.


Natalie had a doctor’s appointment on the 1st. It was my first time driving since the accident- and also my first time driving alone with baby in tow. I was really nervous! But luckily Kaiser is just a few miles away from our place. Amazingly, we were on time for her 8:50am appointment and she hardly fussed. Her assigned doctor was terrible (we’re not able to choose her pediatrician yet) and Natalie let me know her thoughts about him when she piddled and pooped on the exam table! We’ll definitely be choosing our own doctor very soon. Anyway, she weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 21 inches long. A whole 7 ounces and 1 inch gain in just two weeks! Amazing! I then had an appointment with women’s health for a consult, given my continued “blues” state... luckily I was kindly reassured that my feelings are completely normal and they should subside soon. I never imagined how harsh this postpartum hormone crash would be.

The next day was better. I was actually able to shower while Natalie napped and I also managed to complete two whole loads of laundry. It feels good to be productive. And then later that night, we noticed that Natalie can lift her head for a good 10 seconds or so when she lays on one of us. She’s so strong already!


Our friends Lisa and Peter came by earlier this week to watch a Sharks game with us. And they brought us Chinese for dinner, which was so nice! They took this nice photo of our new little family- we look so tired!

1-2 Weeks

I’m glad Natalie was born during the fall season, but her birth has made planning for the holidays a bit of a challenge. I love to craft and bake around Christmas time, but I’ve really had to limit my projects this year. Plus, I’ve been feeling pretty “blue”- I’m crying all the time! On Monday I cried over the fact that we’ve yet to take Natalie’s ink prints of her feet and hands for her baby book! I wanted to get them done right away.

So on Tuesday, Eric took us to the craft store to buy some baby-safe ink for the prints. While we were there, I found some cute wallet-size frames to buy for Christmas presents. We plan to take Natalie’s newborn portraits within the next few weeks and will be handing out copies to everyone. Later that night, we attempted to take Natalie’s prints- her feet were easy enough to ink and press into her baby book, but her hands were another story! She constantly has them clenched in fists which made it really difficult. The prints of her hands turned out kind of smudged and blurry, which brought on another round of tears. And the ink stained her tiny hands, which made me feel terrible. But I’m glad we did get them done, even if they didn’t turn out perfect.

It’s been nice to have Eric home for now- he plans to be off from work for about two weeks. He’s been helping calm Natalie when she cries for no apparent reason, which I really appreciate. Plus, she’s been up crying nearly every hour at night, which has been the case nearly every night this week. So we’ve been doing a lot of “skin-on-skin” time late in the evenings when she’s upset. We did this in the hospital and I think she finds a lot of comfort in being so close to us. It really must be confusing to be a baby!


On Friday, I had another difficult day. I wasn’t expecting to feel so “off” after she was born- I really just don’t feel like myself at all. My emotions are all over the place- one minute I’m happy as can be, the next, I’m inconsolable. I really am happy that Natalie’s here and that she’s healthy, but at the same time, I’m just so overwhelmed and anxious. And then came the infamous spray poop- Natalie managed to literally spray all over me and the couch during one of her diaper changes. That brought on another crying fit. Luckily Eric rushed over to us to help clean us up. And he brought me some pretty pink roses later to cheer me up while he was out running a few errands (yet another thing I’ve been crying over- no one brought me flowers when we were in the hospital... of all times in a girl’s life, birthing a child should be most deserving of a nice bouquet)!


Despite my up and down moods and “baby blues”, there have been countless times that I’ve looked down at our beautiful baby in complete awe. She is so lovely. It really is amazing that she's here- living, breathing, perfect! I just can't wrap my mind around it completely, and I honestly don't think it's possible. Creation really does testify.

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving

To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, my amazing sister decided to come over and prepare dinner for us, which was so nice! I was feeling okay, but still just a week or so post-partum, both Eric and I were really tired. The last thing we were prepared to do was pack up the baby and try to go to our families' houses, as we typically do. Plus, it worked out so that Eric actually had the day off- since his two weeks off after her birth extended through the holiday.

Elaine brought over a tiny turkey and roasted it in our oven while she prepared the rest of the fixings- stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, and cranberry sauce. While we waited for the bird, we had fun playing with Natalie and dressing her in her cute little Thanksgiving bib and a headband to match. Once dinner was ready, I set the table and we tried to place Natalie in her swing right beside us while we ate, but it didn't last long! I ended up feeding her on my boppy pillow over dinner. At least she was happy and quiet, giving me a chance to eat! Dinner was delicious- Elaine is a fabulous cook!




Elaine also brought individual slices of pie for dessert- pumpkin for me and pecan for her. Since Andrew and Eric aren't terribly fond of pie, she brought them their own pints of Ben & Jerry's instead. After a long day, Natalie and I both turned in a little early for bed after our company left (and even washed and dried all the dishes for us)! My sister is so great. I don't know what I'd do without her! It was so nice to celebrate the holiday quietly while in the comfort of our own home. We decided that I'll return the favor to Elaine come April, when she'll have a newborn of her own and I'll be cooking Easter dinner for her!