What a Difference a Day Makes

Or Make that Seven... One Week Later
Time flies when you're having fun, or so the saying goes. Mom and dad are learning that time also flies when you have a little one in the house.  We can't believe that Aurora is already one week old!

Aurora Jane | 8 Days Old

So far we've seen the pediatrician and the midwives for our follow-up visits. Aurora is doing great and has not only gained back all of the weight that she lost after birth but put on weight as well.  As of her one week visit with the midwives she was up to 8 lbs 2 oz and at today's second visit with the pediatrician she is up to 8 lbs 8 oz! With all that weight gain Aurora is now wearing her 0-3 month size clothes instead of the newborn size (how fast they grow)!

Aurora is opening her eyes more and more every day.

Her umbilical cord fell off right at one week and mommy and daddy couldn't be happier about that! (Man, are those things nasty!) With the loss of the umbilical cord we have switched Aurora to cloth diapers and she will be getting her first bath tonight!

Strike a Pose
At just five days old we took Aurora in for her very first photo shoot with Chi at Chi Photography.  Chi photographed Bryan and I's wedding in 2011 and she's been anxiously waiting for the arrival of our little girl for nearly three years (her and everyone else, including mom and dad).

Newborn photos are traditionally done while the baby is sleeping so that the photographer can pose and position the baby.  You'd think that miss Aurora would live up to her name and be a sleeping beauty, and the pictures do show this, but she definitely put up a fight and it took all day to get the pictures that we wanted.  I guess she's a lot like her mamma because the photographer said that she was tense.  We did end up getting all of the shots that we wanted and we look forward to seeing the end result in a couple of weeks.

Here's a quick sneak peek from Chi:

Aurora Jane | 5 Days Old

Oh, mamma
Mommy is doing well so far with a surprisingly quick and easy recovery.  I am almost fitting back into my pre-pregnancy clothes and am down about 25 lbs already!  I've been given the go-ahead from the midwives to begin light exercise and we plan on starting a daily walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. One of the biggest wins this week is that I was able to put my wedding rings back on!  I haven't been able to wear them in months and it's nice to be able to get them back on my finger.  They still fit pretty tight but they're on and it definitely makes a difference.

Of all of the advice that I received about the postpartum period the best by far has been the advice to get up and take a shower everyday.  As my grandmother would say, it's amazing what a difference it makes to get up and "put your face on." Even on days where we aren't going out it truly makes you feel "human" again to get cleaned up and put together. (Granted I'm still wearing sweatpants most of the day, they're just so COMFY!)

Come and Knock on My Door
Miss Aurora has already had a host of visitors in her first week of life. The entire family has been eagerly awaiting her arrival and everyone couldn't wait to get their hands on her.  Grandma and Grandpa Newman are visiting for almost a month and arrived within an hour of Aurora's birth.  We can't even express how great it has been to have the extra hands to help out.  Grandma Newman has been doing laundry (there's plenty of that now!), cleaning, cooking, helping with Aurora, and picking up the odds and ends around the house that would fall by the wayside otherwise.

Aunt Shelley, Uncle Kevin and cousins Ayden and Owen visited just two days after Aurora's birth and helped out with getting the Christmas tree and decorations put up around the house. It was so nice for mommy not to have to worry about decorating for the holiday's this year.

As soon as our first visitors left Bryan's mom and step-dad arrived for a visit with their first granddaughter.  Aurora spent plenty of time with her Mamaw Lynda and Pawpaw Tony.

Aurora Jane Napping with Pawpaw Tony

We are so happy that so many people were able to come and visit (and help out). We are looking forward to a visit from Great Uncle Allan for Christmas and then a visit from Uncle Erik and Claire for the new year.

We're definitely staying busy and are grateful for all of the friends and family that have shown so much love and support for our new little girl.