The Crawford Family: Week 3....Lots of Firsts

Happy 3 Weeks!!

Our 3rd week with Kaitlynn started on Thursday, September 3, 2009 - her actual "due date." We are so excited we did not make it until then. We have enjoyed spending time with our daughter and getting to know her cries, sounds, and expressions over the past 2 weeks.

On Friday, the 4th, I experienced a lot of firsts with our daughter. Kelly left for work as normal, but it was a different day - I was absolutely alone with Kaitlynn and no help. The morning went smoothly - she took a long nap after her morning feeding at 8:00am. After she woke up around 11:00am, I noticed she still had a lot of "junk" in her right eye. After wiping it away, after a few minutes it would start accumulating again. I ended up calling our pediatrician who wanted me to take her temperature with a rectal thermometer. I had never done that before which of course made me start crying! Kelly was on his way home so I waited for him before attempting. With his help, we took her temperature and thankfully it was normal. We were scheduled to go to the office at 1:45pm that day. Before heading to the pediatrician, we had to get Kaitlynn in her car seat. I had yet to do this on my own and still didn't want to either. Kelly got her strapped in and we headed out the door. I sat in the back with Kaitlynn while Kelly drove us to the doctor. Thankfully there was nothing seriously wrong with her except for a blocked tear duct. We were given some prescription eye drops to use for the next 5 days. We were also able to get her 2-wk. weight appointment done as well. She made it to her birth weight and actually continued gaining weight! As of Friday, September 4th, Kaitlynn weighed 6lbs. 10oz. All of my worries and fears with breastfeeding are gone! God answered my prayers and calmed my fears as soon as I saw how much she had gained. I am so excited that our daughter is so close to the 7lb. mark. She's growing!!

Kelly decided to drive himself to work after the appointment, which meant I would be driving our daughter home from his office = another first. Friday was my first day driving Kaitlynn around. I also went back and got Kelly from work after his day was over. I mastered the car seat, and getting it in the car! I also feel very comfortable driving miss Kaitlynn around and look forward to the many outings we'll have together!

Our first Labor Day Weekend with Kaitlynn started off very relaxing! I headed out to pick up dinner from Longhorn and some prescriptions for both Kaitlynn & I. We ended up renting State of Play from On Demand to watch on Friday evening. It felt like old times being able to relax at home with my husband on a Friday evening. Kaitlynn snuggled up with her daddy, and Willa Grace did the same with me during the last half of the movie before the 4 of us headed to bed. Everyone slept GREAT on Friday night even though by 6am, Kaitlynn was awake for one of her 2-hour sessions. However, my amazing husband got up with her and let me sleep until 8:30am - her next feeding time.

Saturday was spent enjoying more time together. We had an amazing breakfast - Blueberry EGGO waffles, watched Man vs. Wild (Kelly's idea), enjoyed some company from David, Michelle, & Riley McGinnis, took Willa Grace & Kaitlynn (for the 1st time) walking, and of course watched tons of football - GEORGIA and ALABAMA. Unfortunately, Kaitlynn wasn't able to wear her Clemson & Alabama outfits yet, but she should be able to wear them closer to the end of football season!! However, Kaitlynn wore NB pants for the first time today! They are still a little big on her in the legs, but finally fit her tiny waist! She also had a huge appetite all day on Saturday & throughout the "sleep" hours....she wanted to eat every 2 hours, sometimes ever 1.5 hours!! She got herself back on her 3-hr. feeding by Sunday late morning though. Saturday's feeding wore me out - I think that's all I did all day & night - feed our daughter :)

Kelly & Kaitlynn - 1st time in pants!

Kaitlynn in an outfit other an just a onesie!

"More pictures??"

Practicing the Pledge - getting ready for sports games with her Daddy!!

Sunday was quite relaxing as well. We had some Pillsbury Biscuits for breakfast before heading outside to take Kaitlynn on a walk for the first time! We would have gone for a walk sooner, but with my C-Section, walking more than inside the house has been a challenge. Kaitlynn did great!! She was in & out of sleep during our walk - didn't fuss at all. She had just been fed, so I'm sure being content and full helped! :) Willa Grace did well also - she went about the walk as normal finding sticks and pine cones to play with. Our normal 15 minute loop inside our complex took us about 25 minutes since I cannot walk very fast these days. After walking Kaitlynn & Willa, we came inside and decided to finally try out her swing. She did really well especially since we added her double headrest in it to support her head since she's still so small. She stayed in it for 45 minutes for her first time and went straight to sleep!! I'm so glad she's gaining weight and slowly getting bigger than "preemie" size so we can do some things with her outside of just holding her and using her bassinet. Kelly grilled out some hamburgers for lunch - a nice way to spend some time over Labor Day Weekend!! We spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. We're slowly getting used to getting out and doing things with Kaitlynn - definitely different though, but a good different!!

Getting ready for our walk!

Mommy & Kaitlynn - ready for our walk!

Willa Grace waiting very patiently for our walk!

Kaitlynn trying out her swing for the 1st time

Up close & personal

Sunday afternoon & evening were a bit rough for both Kelly and I. We believe that Kaitlynn was experiencing one of her "growth spurts" and going through cluster feeding where she wanted to eat every hour or so. This was hard on me since she is breastfed, but we managed & made it through. She also didn't sleep at all yesterday afternoon from about 5:00pm - 12:30am so she could have also been just completely exhausted = where all her fussiness was coming from. Thankfully, God blessed us with a good nights rest - she ate about ever 3.5 hours throughout the evening which allowed us to get some much needed rest.

Monday rolled around - we actually stayed in the bed asleep until 9:00am! Of course we were up throughout the night with Kaitlynn's feedings around 12:30am, 3:00am, and 6:00am. But, it was nice rolling over for the last time and seeing that it was 9:00am before finally getting out of the bed! Kaitlynn also spent most of the morning sleeping between her feedings. We took her out again around 10:00am for a walk around our complex. It's definitely been nice getting out once or twice a day with Kelly and walking our two baby girls. Today was also our first "restaurant" outing with our daughter. We were planning on going to Chick-Fil-A for their free sandwich if you were in your sports apparel, but once we got there it was ridiculously crowded! There were absolutely no seats, so we headed across the street and ate at Willie's Mexican. Kaitlynn did great - she slept in her car seat the entire time. It probably helped that she had just eaten before we left :) Kelly spent Monday afternoon sleeping while I played with Kaitlynn! She actually stayed in her swing for an hour that afternoon - the longest session we've had of swing time so far! She's slowly getting used to other things besides being held or sleeping in her bassinet. Later that evening we had a visit from Amy Anderson from our Sunday School class - we missed seeing Nick! They are due early December with a little girl! After Amy left, we some some of the dinner she brought - Mexican Chicken Casserole....*AMAZING* and then headed out for another walk with the girls. After Kelly gave Kaitlynn her evening bath, we spent the rest of our Monday evening relaxing on the couch & watching the golf match that Kelly DVRed that afternoon.

Kaitlynn's 1st submerged bath!! She enjoys it now that she stays warm!

Kaitlynn after her bath

Special time with daddy!

Labor Day Weekend slowly came to an end! I always hate seeing our long weekends come to an end...I enjoy having Kelly at home so much! Kaitlynn did well again (crossing fingers) sleeping on Monday night - she ate around 12:00am, 3:00am, and 6:30am. I'm not sure how long babies take before they start sleeping even just an hour longer, but Kelly & I are definitely looking forward to that at some point!

Tuesday 9-8-09 was my "official" day at home alone with my two girls. Last Friday was supposed to be my first time, but things happened - Kelly was home by 11:30am - and my "first day" alone ended quickly. However, Tuesday did end up being my first day alone. Kaitlynn napped until 10:00am, I fed her, and then took my two girls out for a walk. YES - both Kaitlynn & Willa. Kaitlynn was in her stroller and I had Willa on her leash. No worries - I did try this over the weekend with Kelly so I did have some practice underneath me. However, I walked them during a time when most people in our complex with dogs were at work, so it worked out pretty well...until the unexplainable happened! As we were almost back to our house, Willa's leash snapped in TWO! Yes...TWO! She was detached from my hand. Thankfully she was confused with what just happened and didn't move. I had to push the stroller and walk her by the collar back to our home. Luckily we had another leash on hand - an older one until I could get out in the next few days to pick up a new one. After our walk, Kaitlynn had some "swing" time - she was wide awake from 10:45 - 12:00, so she got into her swing for about 45 minutes before Kelly got home for lunch. He came home around noon for lunch - it was great seeing him as always. He loves coming home and being able to spend an hour during his work day with his three girls. That afternoon, Kaitlynn & I headed to see daddy at work! Everyone in Kelly's office was so excited to see her. Kaitlynn ended up sleeping all night from about 6:00pm - the next morning which gave Kelly and I some time to spend together!

In the car - heading to Kelly's office!

Proud daddy!
*Kaitlynn slept the entire time at his office!!*

Wednesday rolled around and my mom came back down for the night.

Nana Watson & Kaitlynn - 3 weeks old!

I took Kaitlynn & Willa walking around 10:00am and then after her 11:00am feeding, we headed to Panera for lunch, then a trip to the bank. Kaitlynn did great again being out in public after her feeding. We've learned that that's the best way to get out with her for about an hour or so - feed, then leave :) I got a "cat" nap in for an hour in the afternoon, then headed out to dinner with Kelly for a date night! We went to Atkins Park which is where we first met. It was so nice finally getting out just the two of us. We were gone for 1.5 hours and Kaitlynn did great at home with Nana Watson! We forgot how much we'd missed spending time together over the past several weeks, and how hard it has been to even spend time talking to each other at home with Kaitlynn. Right now she takes up every ounce of our time and we revolve around her since she's not yet into a routine. It was so wonderful spending time with my husband and just sitting around talking for a while!

Ready to go out!
*1st date night without our daughter*
(Thanks Nana Watson!)

**Kaitlynn ate at 10:00pm, 2:00am, and 7:00am**This is the best she's done yet and we were thrilled!**

Willa's normal night-time position!!
*Precious*

Love my baby girl

Thursday.....Happy 3 weeks to Kaitlynn!!
My mom is staying until tonight - around 7:00pm or so once traffic dies down. I'm planning on getting out of the house and running a few errands this afternoon while she stays at home with Kaitlynn. Clemson plays Georgia Tech tonight here in Atlanta....big game!!

Here are a few extra pictures from this past week!!