Wednesday, January 30, 2008

More of Miley

Well- to start off- here are some photos from her first doctor's appointment. It was on Martin Luther King Day so Danielle and my mom had the day off so they came with to help out. Danielle was a HUGE help- she is going to make a great babysitter- she was great at holding Miley and got a lesson in changing her diaper.






Miley's current weight- according to my scale is 10 pounds! She's a growing girl- she seems to be getting longer though and not really chubby- she's healthy!

She has been working on her neck muscles- here is a shot of her holding up her head- although she isn't laying flat on her tummy but she's still holding it up on her own. And she is starting to following things with her eyes and head now- it's so much fun to play those little games with her during the day.




We went celebrating on Monday for Miley's God Mother- Bekki- as she passed her Boards!!! We are so happy for her! While we were there we got to spend time with her little buds Katherine and Noah! Or shall we call them- Happy, Grumpy and Sleepy...




She's still changing every single day and sometimes I catch myself thinking back to when she was in my tummy and my experience in the hospital when I had her and it's just so weird to think at where we are now. My how time does fly by...

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Week 3 with Miley Kay

Week 3 with Miley went well. I have now finally tried out all three ways to nurse- I started out with the football hold, eventually tried out the regular hold and this past week tried out the lay down feed which I have now figured out is the BEST way to nurse during the night. She eats much more efficiently- she's quicker, gets more and falls asleep much easier again.

She had her first really fussy night on Friday night- since this really was the first time she had been like this it really got to me- Taylor wasn't home yet from conferences and she was screaming and I just couldn't make her happy so I had to call my mom and dad to come over to help me- they walked in the door- I passed her off and shut myself in the bathroom for a few minutes to cool down. I can't imagine people who are single parents and don't have a support system of family and friends to help them out- I think I would have gone crazy if I didn't have mom and dad so close by and a husband to be there for me at the drop of a hat.

We finally got some pictures of Miley in her bath tub! She LOVES her baths! She only gets a little bit fussy when her bath is over and we take her out of the tub to dry her off.


We had our first outing this weekend when we went to go watch Taylor play basketball- I guess I thought it would be a little bit easier to take her out but I shouldn't have thought that- she is only 3 weeks old! I had to nurse 3 times in the gym and once at Chuggers! I know- Chuggers! But it was either go into a warm building or sit in a cold car.... and when she is crying because she is hungry- I just didn't even care anymore and ran in and tucked myself behind all of Taylor's friends and got it taken care of. But going out sure did wear her out! We got 8 hours of sleep! She gave me two four hour shifts and it was AWESOME- plus a nap today! So I'm feeling well rested!

Taylor gave Miley her first bottle of breastmilk today and it went GREAT! She didn't even put up a fit at all- she took it right away without a fuss- it took some getting use to but by the time her bottle was coming to an end she was figuring out the difference in the swallowing part. I even got to sit right next to Taylor and she kept on feeding- and a few hours later it was time to eat again and she latched on to me with no problem- so I think we've got that all figured out and I feel good knowing that if I had to run an errand now I can and I know she can take her bottle if she needs it.



Pictures of her first doctors appointment to come hopefully tomorrow....

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Miley's appointment

Miley is SUCH a healthy little girl! She weighed in at 8lbs 15oz! They said they look for them to be back to birth weight by this appointment! She's a good eater! And she is now 21 inches long! That's an inch and a half! They said typically they grow 1 inch in 1 month and she did that in 2 weeks! She's growing like a weed! I've been trying hard to get her in all her newborn outfits before her long legs out grow them!

Things at home are still going well, today was the first 'tough' day- she only napped twice and for only an hour each so I couldn't get anything done today and was busy tending to her and feeding her, sometimes breast feeding gets to be a lot- I LOVE doing it and LOVE that she wants her Mommy when she is hungry, but when you are sitting looking at all the things around the house that need to be done and you can't get to them- it just gets to be hard. But I'm getting better at doing things very quickly now so I can get as much done in a short period of time when she gives me the chance, so we are figuring things out.

This weekend is alumni weekend- but Taylor double booked himself on accident, he has a baseball coaches workshop to attend Saturday morning so he will miss his first game for sure- but if he is home in time to go to his second game me and Miley will venture out to cheer on Daddy! So maybe you'll see us out and about- otherwise if you are looking for something to do in between your games pop on over and say hi!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Week 2 with Miley

Week 2 with Miley went great- we are adjusting to each other quite well and kind of slowly getting into a schedule. She usually goes to sleep around 11 or 12- that is- after she naps from 8 or 9 until 10- eats and then has her awake time. Then she has been sleeping 3-5 hours overnight, which is pretty good. Then our day consists of eating some more, napping, watching TV (well, I watch TV), getting dressed, having our daily visit from Nana on her lunch break which is SO great because I can get a lot done and eat lunch myself while she is here, and then we take our afternoon nap until Daddy gets home.

Here are some pictures of Miley hanging out....








Miley with her new friend Kathrine Stay...


And Miley with Joey


She is growing and changing every day- she has gotten longer and stronger. We have her first doctor appointment tomorrow so we'll see how long she is and how much she weighs- I'm sure she has hit that 9 pound mark for sure- but she isn't chunky at all, she has long legs as you can see in a picture of above, so her weight is well distributed. She is nursing very well and this week I have to start pumping a couple times a day and we will introduce a bottle of breast milk this week so we can make sure she will take a bottle when I go back to work. I'm nervous to do this but I am sure she will take it well as she really likes her paci and she has been a good nurser since day one. Taylor will give her her bottle with me out of the room- that will be hard for me to be away while she eats for the first time- but I have to, they say that if I'm even in the room she won't want to take it because she will sense me in there so Taylor will have to fend for himself.

I'll update soon with how her appointment turns out tomorrow. Have a good week and STAY WARM!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Miley's first week

Well, little Miley has a new nickname- Miss Piggy! She sure enjoys to eat! We went and weighed in again yesterday and she was 8lbs 9.5oz! The nurse said they look for 1/2 to 1 oz in weight gain per day, well Miley gained 7 ounces in 4 days! She doesn't look porky at all though- I think she got a little longer already- so she is the perfect little Angel that I always wanted! Hopefully since she is such a good eater now she will continue to be as she grows up. OK-- well- we won't really call her Miss Piggy- she won't appreciate that when she is older- so we call her Smiley Miley- she is FULL of smiles for us every day- I don't care if its gas or not- I just LOVE it when she smiles at me, she does the cute little smile and sometimes the open mouth big smile. She is going to take after her mom and dad for sure when it comes to smiling-- Fun Fact- did you know that both me and Taylor were voted Sweetest Smile in high school.



Well- new things- her cord finally fell off yesterday which is exciting, now we don't have to worry about that anymore and we can finally put her in some of the cute little outfits that we have! We've been really good at listening to the nurses and keeping her in just a t-shirt so her cord could air out as much as possible so we haven't put her in a onesie yet. She is going to get all dressed up today for Daddy so when he comes home from work she'll be in her first official 'outfit' just for him!

Last night Miley slept for 4 hours through the night which was really nice, and then she was only up for an hour and a half until she fell back asleep again, the night before it was only 3 hours of sleep and up for 2 hours and another 3 hours and up for another 2 hours-- I was tired yesterday. Today, I'm feeling pretty well rested, she has been napping for awhile now and I couldn't fall asleep with her so I figured it was a good time to update everyone on here!

Well- she is starting to wake up a little bit and I need to get dressed for the day- so I'll leave you with a picture of what my little Miley is doing right now- her favorite thing- napping on her boppy......

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Our 2nd day at home

Things are still going great at home! Today we got to take our time in the morning and relaxed in bed as a family watching Saved By The Bell and Fresh Prince of Bel-air- those are the only two shows on besides the news that early in the morning!






We gave Miley her first bath at home which wasn't that bad. She LOVED when I washed her hair! She got a little fussy when it came time to take off her shirt and diaper and do her body but nothing to bad, we gave her her paci and she was just fine. She loves to lay on her tummy and was very happy when we washed her back.










We have been pretty blessed so far with hardly having any crying going on in our house, although today my milk really officially came in and it was quite the change to her tummy. She got really fussy and we knew it had to be her tummy but we just couldn't quite figure out which position she wanted to be in, but I know when my tummy hurts no position is comfy. Finally Taylor was able to make her comfy for a little bit as she laid across his arm and then she really let out an explosion! It was the loudest sound ever! So, we changed her and that made her happy only for a minute so we decided we had done everything so we better try feeding again, and since she had exploded her tummy was quite empty and she ate really well. Then in the middle of eating I heard just a gush of yuckiness and called for Taylor to come help quick and again she let out another explosion! We couldn't believe it! So we finished up her feeding and had to change her again- just a little bit more came out and as I was about to put the new diaper on she peed all over the place! Let's just say we've had an eventful afternoon, and now she is sound asleep laying on daddy's chest.

Stay tuned for more Miley adventures. Until then.... have a good evening.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Pictures of Miley















Monday, January 07, 2008

Miley Kay


Here is a better photo of Miley's face.

Since we had her so late on Saturday we get to decide if we want to go home today, Monday or tomorrow, Tuesday. We have asked if we can go home late today, probably around 5 or 6, depending on how the feedings fall. We think we will all sleep better in our own beds tonight but it will be nice to have a full day of just us and her with the nurses at the call of a button.

Taylor just left us alone for the first time, he went to grab himself some breakfast, it's a weird feeling being here all alone with her. I think he missed her the second he walked out the door! We did get some sleep last night and nursing is still going great! I have received a lot of compliments from the nurses that I am doing a really great job and am patient with her, I owe it all to my cousins for answering all my questions and to all the research I've done. I told Miley when she was still in the womb that breastfeeding was what we were going to do so she better come out sucking, and she listened to her Mommy because she is an old pro!

We will post more photos when we get home, I'm off to go and snuggle with my little Miley!