Family's Back in Town!

Today actually was Steve's first day back at work since Quinn was born...but I didn't have to be home alone!  My Mom, Nana, and Grampy all came to visit (they got here last night), so there have been lots of hands to help around the house!  Which is amazing...since the days have been going by so quickly and I really don't get much accomplished despite my best intentions!  Just having the help with cooking and cleaning...and having someone to hold Quinn so that I can have a shower and spend time looking half decent...is great!

I actually was able to go have a massage today while leaving Quinn home with her Nanny and great-grandparents.  The massage was definitely needed and a nice getaway, although I missed Quinn the whole time.

Looking forward to our "Meet and Greet" with Quinn tomorrow!!!

Steve's Getting Ready to Go Back to Work...

So Steve's getting ready to go back to work tomorrow...I'm not exactly looking forward to that because I've loved having him home with me and Quinn!  I keep thinking about all the things that are easier with 2 people and 2 sets of hands and wondering how I'll be able to do it on my own!  I guess I'll have to just be more into putting Quinn into her swing!

Quinn has her 2nd cast on to correct her foot.  The doctor was very pleased with the progress that she made with the 1st cast, so she'll only need to have one more cast put on!  She also has to have her Achilles tendon released so that she can move her foot better - it's only a minor incision for this though.  After she's done with the casts, then she'll be put into a brace that she'll wear 23 hours a day for 2-3 months and then only for nighttime and naps until she's 2-3 years old.

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Marathon Feeder on our Hands!

I don't know if Quinn is going through a growth spurt or what...but the last 24 hours have included marathon 3 hour nursing sessions!  She'll eat, then fall asleep, but as soon as I move her to cuddle or pass her to someone else to cuddle, she wakes up and starts rooting and then eats again!  It's crazy!  All of this nursing is making me even more hungry than usual and more thirsty than usual.  I honestly don't know where the little piggy is putting it all because she's still so tiny!  Steve has to keep bringing me food that I sit propped up on the nursing pillow (I'm good at balancing bowls of soup and cereal!) and eat across Quinn...I'm surprised she's not full of crumbs!!!

Needless to say, I'm hoping these crazy feeding sessions don't last too long...they're exhausting!

Baby Passport Photos Are Ridiculous

Quinn and I are going to be going to Arizona in November for a week and so the little miss needs to have a passport.  Fair enough, I get it...but how the hell are you supposed to have a 2 week old behave well enough for the photo requirements?  Why do they need to have a photo when they're this young anyway?  Ontario health cards for babies don't have to have photos on them.  The requirements for baby/child photos are for the "child to have a neutral expression (no smiling or frowning) with the eyes open and mouth closed...no hands are to be seen in the photo".  OK...so how is Quinn supposed to magically obtain head and neck control so that she can hold her head straight without our help?!?  We took her to Wal-Mart (aka the "Forbidden Place") to get her photo taken and every time her face looked perfect, you could see the edge of one of mine or Steve's fingers near her neck to hold her up.  Quinn finally had enough of trying to sit pretty and we had to give up.  We did get a picture out of it, but we're not expecting the office to accept it (her colouring looks a little washed out and her tongue is sticking out).  I'm going to blow a gasket at the office next week if they don't take it!

Other than this fiasco, it's been getting a little bit easier still!  We were able to have lunch at Boston Pizza and Quinn slept through the whole thing.  Tonight we're attempting a sponge bath for her (we can't submerse her in a bath because of her cast) after the next feeding, so we'll see how that goes.  We've been trying to get this bath done for a few days now but keep running out of time!  Fingers crossed she doesn't hate it too much...we really need to get the dried milk out of her hair...she's a messy eater!

Mama's turn for snuggles...best nap ever!

Getting the Hang of Things

We went to see Grace for Quinn's 2 week checkup this morning - she weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz...but we know that this is a little skewed because of her cast, but Grace was very happy with her weight!  She said that Quinn should be up to her birth weight by 3 weeks and she's already done this by 2 weeks!  Even though she's not technically 2 weeks until tomorrow.

After our appointment we took Quinn to my work to meet the rest of the staff.  Everyone was so happy to see us and it was so great to show her off!  We also picked up our gift from our friends out west...just need to put it together tonight!  It's called a Mamaroo and is a new type of baby chair. Can't wait to try it out!  Quinn really likes her swing, so the new chair/swing should work really well!  I had her in her swing this afternoon and made some brownies...felt like a regular stay-at-home mom! :)

Having a little snooze in her playpen

We're both starting to pick up on Quinn's little cues and things now too.  So we're definitely getting to know our little daughter!  These cues are especially useful surrounding nursing which is making that so much easier.  Here's hoping it continues!

Nursing Success!!!

Yesterday we decided that we would go to a breastfeeding drop-in to get some more insight into nursing.  Things had been going quite well throughout Friday until we went to get her cast put on.  The ortho guys said that we might have a bit of a harder night that night and boy did we ever!  Quinn didn't feed that well (we had to use a syringe) and that continued through to the morning.  So we went to the drop-in...and the lady who was there didn't really shed too much new light on the situation, but did reassure me that nursing can take a few weeks to really get going.  Then when we got home and it was time to feed Quinn again it was like a little light bulb had gone off in her head - she did it!  Now it's been 36 hours of nursing without having to use the syringe/feeding tube rig we had.  Such a difference!  I think that we finally figured out how to get Quinn in a comfy position that she likes and also she's starting to give more cues about when she's hungry.  Before we used to have to wake her up, strip her naked to wake her up, etc., in order to get her to eat every 3 hours.  Now we seem to be on a better schedule and she's waking herself up which is so much easier - especially because I can nurse her without having to strip her naked and re-dress her afterward.

I've come to discover that nursing is like crack...such a relaxing experience now! :)

Quinn Meets Alexandre!

Yesterday Darcy and Carole came over to visit and brought Quinn's "boyfriend" Alexandre to meet her!  Alex was born a week before Quinn, so we thought it would be kind of fun if we took pictures of the two of them together once a month to see their sizes relative to each other.  They were both good as gold for the picture and it was great to see some friends as well!

And to all of our other friends who want to come visit, we promise we'll be all set soon! :)