So Innocent

She's so precious and innocent.  I (Jeff) can't stop snapping photos of her.

Even though she is so sweet, she is still a girl who likes to amuse herself by taunting her parents.

Statements like this, make her grimace and say "Taunt my parents, Never!!" like in the picture below

She will deny it, but it's nonetheless very true.  Just a few weeks ago, I would have read this post and said to myself, "Oh no, not another poop story. Why is every new parent obsessed with the pooping habits of their child?"  Well, it's because pooping is pretty much the only means babies have of amusing themselves...

well besides sucking their fingers.  So for all those who don't want to read another bowel movement story, I'll post about something less gross next time. Last night, she had a great time, pooping all over the towel and Angela's hand, while Angela was talking to her mom on the phone.  At midnight, she dirtied 5 diapers in thirty minutes by strategically placing her bowel movements and bladder voids just far enough apart to necessitate a new diaper, but not long enough to actually get the clean diaper fully attached to her bum.  

These innocent faces were just minutes after she had performed her greatest prank yet.  I had just pulled off her diaper and was lifting her legs to put a new diaper under her when she spotted my head through her legs.  She took careful aim, and FIRE!!  A stream of feces flew 3 feet totally covering me, the towel, the carpet, and everything in between.

This picture she seems to be saying, "Oh Dad, how could you accuse me of such antics."  Well I guess it's cause it seems like something that I probably did once.

We love you Christine, every moment, every smile, every laugh, and even every dirty diaper!

First Week

First, I wanted to say thank you to everyone for your kind words you've texted/emailed/posted in the comments on the blog and on facebook. Your sweet thoughts have made us feel so loved and thankful for our supportive friends and family!

I'm here to report that 10 days have passed since the birth of sweet Christine and we are still alive and doing well. This last week was hard. Nobody mentions how painful recovery is after childbirth and I wasn't quite prepared for it. I tore during labor had to have several stitches so that made everything worse. But seriously, it felt like I was hit by a bus. No energy, sore and achy everywhere, organs stop working, and the cramping of a uterus shrinking down to regular size HURTS. I'm not seeking pity here, I just want all of you who have not had children yet to know about this. All I heard about was how hard labor would be, but with an epidural it's a breeze- the only discomfort I experienced was being thirsty. It's the recovery that people should tell you to prepare for! I think if I had been expecting to feel terrible after birth I might have dealt with the pain better. Luckily my Mom was here to take care of all of us and with the help of medication we survived. I am starting to feel much better now. Sorry to be negative, but I feel it is my duty to inform the future mothers out there. Please know that things haven't been all bad around here. Being a mother is WONDERFUL! I can't describe the incredible feelings of having a child! The love I feel for this little baby is overwhelming. I just love to hold her as I sit in the rocker and stare at her.

I didn't realize until I uploaded all these pictures that Christine has her mouth open in almost every one! What can I say? She LOVES to eat ALL THE TIME! Christine is nursing so great! The first day was difficult as we both were figuring out what we were doing. But now we rock at it!

As for sleeping habits, Jeff and I aren't sleep deprived yet (but we did have lots of Grandma help last week). Christine has figured out her days and nights and has her awake time during the day and sleeps well at night. Last night she fell asleep at 9 and woke up to eat twice- each time after eating she fell right back asleep. I'm not expecting this to always be the case and I'm sure just bragging about what a great sleeper she is will jinx me so that it will never happen again.

My favorite moment of her first week was her first bath. It was just a sponge bath since she can't get a real bath until her umbilical cord falls off, but I LOVED it! Her skin is so soft and smells so sweet. Christine didn't love it as much as I did- as you can tell by the picture.

Christine LOVES being held by her Grandma. We were so lucky to have my mom stay with us last week, and I'm really going to miss her! I'm a little nervous to start doing things on my own this week. Luckily we also have GiGi and she's coming to the rescue!

Coming Home

Friday night was a long night.  I guess Christine thought that she was born first thing in the morning, when she was actually born at 8:17 p.m.  So she was most awake start about 8 at night, and then became very sleepy at about 7 am.  So we'll have to work with her to switch around her biological clock.

Angela was brought this breakfast on Saturday morning.  We're really not sure what the person was thinking that threw the small cherry tomato and the sad, wilted sprig of parsley on this plate.  Were these garnishes meant to make the blueberry muffin and waffles look more appetizing??

Here we are getting ready to go home.

We had to wait for the nurse to bring a wheel chair for Angela.  I'm not sure why this is hospital policy, since she was perfectly well enough to walk around.  Well, regardless, we got to bring her home!  It was incredibly strange driving home and realizing that we had a baby in the back seat.  I just can't wrap my head around the idea that this is my daughter!

I think the skirt Angela made turned out great!

Once we got home, we had to rush Angela's Dad off to the airport.  On the way up to the airport, the Houston police department decided that there was no need for anyone to travel northbound on highway 59 on a Saturday!  So they just shut down that side of the highway.  It was ridiculous!  Luckily we still got to the airport in time.

Here she is in her pink night gown.

After all the work and waiting, I can't believe she's here.  She is already bringing such joy into our lives.  She can't wait to meet all of our friends and family.

Day 2 at the Hospital

Here she is! I had no idea how much work is involved in taking care of a little infant.

Luckily, Angela's parents were here on day 2 in the hospital to hold the baby, so Angela and I could take

some naps.

We're trying to decide who Christine looks like.

I was born with pretty dark hair like Christine.

I think she definitely has Angela's eyes, though. 

One nurse told us that that the red spots on her forehead are Angel kisses or Nevus Flammeus, and should go away in a few weeks.  I think they are already fading.

  Her yawn makes my heart melt.

Well regardless of who she looks like, we love her!

The Family Meets Christine

Well after having the baby, I felt like we entered a whirlwind.  There were so many things they wanted us to do, and we had people to call, and I wanted to hold baby... but they rushed her off to the nursery to have her bath and physical.  After waiting patiently for four hours, Christine was finally brought back to the room and everyone got a chance to hold her.  Although, I had to convince the nurse to let us have even these few minutes for everyone to hold her.

Here's Grandma and Grandpa (Angela's parents) with baby.

Here she is with GiGi (my mom).

And here she is with Pa Bruce (my dad) and Amy (my sister)

Baby also got a new friend "Tangie Bear".  Sorry the picture is blurry; I didn't want to use a flash, so the shutter speed was really slow, which made the picture a bit blurry.  Christine says, "Thanks GiGi, she loves her new teddy bear."

Thanks to everyone who texted congratulations and came and visited us.  We're heading home today!