Baby Kaylee's First Week

Baby Kaylee's First Week
July 23-27

 Matisyn holds baby sister as much as possible.  The girls fight each morning over who gets to hold her first!

 Lucas asks to hold her too.  He doesn't last long, but is so happy while he does.  I love how gentle and happy he is with her.  His tantrums have definitely increased this week, I'm sure due to this big change in our family.  He is used to being our baby, and being the center of attention.  But to his credit he never takes it out on baby.  He loves her so much and is so good with her.

 I spend a lot of time feeding and holding baby each day in this spot on the couch!  We call the spot next to me my "couch desk" and I keep all my important papers and "to do" items there!

 I like to be able to look at Kaylee all day because she's the cutest, which means she naps downstairs.  This is her favorite spot to be bundled and swaddled to sleep.  She still sleeps most of the time right now.

 She has had jaundice so we had to take her to the hospital to get her blood taken for a bilirubin test.  It was still high, but since she was eating and having wet diapers the doctor said to just keep doing what we were doing and she should be fine.  It was hard not to worry!  We had her spend a little time in the sunshine of the window just to give her a little help, and made sure she was nursing consistently.

 It was really nice to have my mom here to help this week.  I was able to sleep in each morning to make up for being up at night, which really helped me feel better.  I spent the mornings snoozing upstairs with baby, while my mom took care of the other kids downstairs.  I can't get enough of my baby snuggle time.

 I was able to catch a smile on camera on one of my mornings with her!

 Mike and Alison were in town for her brother's wedding so they were able to come and see Kaylee when she was only a few days old.  They brought lunch and visited with us for a few hours.  As always, it was so good to see them, and to have a chance to talk with Alison about everything.  The first week is always emotional after having a baby, and it was so nice to have my best friend to talk to in person!

 Kaylee flails her hands around and scratches her face a lot, so she gets outfits that cover her hands or socks on her hands to protect her face most of the time.

 She lost her umbilical cord on Monday when she was six days old.

 I gave her a sponge bath when she was six days old.  We decided to stay right by the sun in the window to keep her warmer.  She stayed a lot happier than I remember our other babies being during a sponge bath, especially since she is so unhappy being changed or naked!  The sun really helped her stay calm and warm.  I swaddled her before I washed her hair in the sink, and she liked that part too.  It was fun to have Grandma Karen there to help and big sister Emilyn was the picture taking helper.  She took about a billion and I deleted quite a few, but she did a great job!