Tis The Season

So much has happened in the last week since we've been home. With the holidays it's made our schedule a little hectic, but it's such a fun time of year. We celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three. We successfully made it to church Christmas Eve (sort of on time), and joined the crowd in the back with the rest of the small children. Harper was awake for the entire service, but didn't have any meltdowns so that was a positive. We headed to Mitch's parents house after the service for the Christmas Eve festivities. We enjoyed a great dinner, and had fun visiting with everyone. Christmas morning we headed back to Helleen's to open stockings and gifts. We all got some really nice gifts, and Harper must have been a really good girl in her first 10 days because she had plenty of gifts to open! It was a fun lazy day just hanging around, snacking on way too many cookies and ending the night playing "Finish That Line" with the Helleen crew. Overall it was a terrific first Christmas with our new baby girl!  

Our Family Photo - Christmas Eve 

Harper's Christmas Eve Dress 

Dad & Harper Christmas morning! 

Mom & Harper Christmas morning! 

Love him! 

Harper and her NDSU swag!

Monday morning we had an early appointment with a photographer to get Harper's newborn photos taken. The idea is to have the babies sleeping for the entire 2 hour session, so the photographer can pose the newborns in adorable positions. They asked that we keep her awake 1-2 hours before the photo shoot and make sure she came with a full belly. We woke her up that morning around 7am to make sure she would be sleeping by the time our 9:15am appointment rolled around. I fed her a little before we left, and we made sure to get to the studio a little early so I could feed her again before we started. When we walked into the studio, Harper was sound asleep in her carseat... so far, so good. The photographer took her out, undressed her and started snapping some pictures. She looked adorable all cuddled up, but that lasted all of 20-25 minutes. We spend the rest of the photo shoot trying to calm Harper down and get her back to sleep. She was wide awake, so the remaining pictures were taken with her wide eyed. We're hoping we get a few photos we like, and should have the proofs in a few weeks. Of course, right when we got in the car to head home she crashed and slept the remainder of the day. It was just another way Harper let us know, she does things her own way.

We've also been very busy with doctor's appointments. Harper has had two appointments with positive feedback in the last week. Last Friday we had Harper's 2-day post hospital appointment. She was already back to her birth weight, plus an ounce. Overall the nurse practitioner said she looked wonderful. We headed back to the pediatrician yesterday for her 2 week appointment. She is now 9lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long. Those cheeks keep getting chubbier and I'm loving it! Mitch keeps telling her she is growing up too fast!

This morning while changing Harper's diaper I noticed her umbilical cord had fallen off. We've been patiently waiting for this to happen so we could give her an actual bath. She still had quite a bit of adhesive left on her skin from the tape the NICU used for her IV and chest tube. Finally we were able to scrub the remaining sticky residue off! She did great, and didn't seem to mind the water. There was no crying - overall she just looked a little unsure of the whole situation. Yes, we were those parents who documented the first bath experience with a few photos!

Wondering what we're doing to her! 

All clean and bundled up!

It was nice to have a couple days this past week with nothing on our calendar. We were able to just hang out all day at home as a family. Our free days consisted of laying on the couch watching Mad Men Season 2 and enjoying a new guilty pleasure we found on VH1... Love & Hip Hop. Don't judge until you've watched it... it's so awful you can't turn the channel. Harper is a great snuggler, and loves laying on our chests. I could pretty much stare at her and Mitch laying on the couch all day, it may be the cutest thing ever. You be the judge (photo below)! Mitch has been such a great support system over the last few weeks, and it's been such a blessing having him home with us. I'm not looking forward to him returning to work next Tuesday, that will be a difficult day! 

So precious! 

We're slowly getting used to our new sleeping schedule. Harper seems to be somewhat of a night owl. Getting her to go to bed initially is the difficult part. She wants to stay awake to make sure she doesn't miss out on anything. Lately she has slept 1 1/2-2 hours stretches at night, with one 3-3 1/2 hour stretch every once in a while. Both Mitch and I are getting more sleep than we were last week, so we're thankful for that! We've also decided she might be the noisiest sleeper ever... there are constant moans and groans coming from the crib, but they are absolutely adorable. We've also discovered she tends to sleep better swaddled, even though she doesn't like not being able to have her hands by her face. You can hear her at night, trying to get her hands free. I imagine as the weeks go on we'll continue to figure out what works, and what doesn't.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and we've realized it will be a little different for us this year. We're planning on hanging out at home, playing board games with a few friends and family. Pretty low key, but I wouldn't want to ring in 2012 any other way. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year! 

Until next time...

The Helleen's