Daddy’s Girl

The last few days have brought out the daddy’s girl in Kennedy. She wants to hang out with Mommy when she’s hungry, but when she’s fussy, Daddy is the one who can calm her right down. After confessing to Shelly that I was developing a complex, she reminded me that this is not necessarily a bad thing…after all, at 2am when she’s yelling….she gets handed over to her Daddy! And I confess, it is the sweetest thing to watch her with Andrew. I’m not sure who looks more pleased…Kennedy is pleased that she avoided being put down in her bed and gets to snuggle instead, and Andrew is pleased that he gets to snuggle with Kennedy.

Kennedy loves swinging and happily sleeps in her swing as well as hanging out there while she’s awake. Don’t worry, she doesn’t spend all her time there!

Kennedy’s big brother, Chestnut, checks on her frequently to make sure that she is doing just fine and is clearly rattled when she is upset. He does not, however, appreciate it when she spits out her pacifier in his direction. He puts this in his “not okay” category.

Far beyond Chestnut’s “not okay” category was Hurricane Sandy…he clearly put that in his “hate it” category. He braved the outdoors only as much as he had to, and otherwise hung out at Mommy’s feet. (At least he wants to hang out with me!) We camped out in the family room last night just in case, but everything was just fine when we woke up this morning. We have lots of leaves down in the yard, but we never lost power and all our trees are still standing!

I still feel like we’re settling in to life with a newborn. Sleep at night is the hard part, and I definitely struggle to accept this new normal of napping through the night rather than truly sleeping. As I get better at letting myself nap during the day, hopefully the nights will feel easier. We are still loving getting to know Kennedy, snuggling with her and laughing at all the funny faces she makes and the crazy situations we’re encountering together.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Two Weeks Old :-)

In honor of Kennedy’s second full week of life, she decided to see if she could wear all of her clothes in one 24 hour period by peeing, pooping and spitting up and forcing a wardrobe change. Though she did not completely accomplish her mission, she did get quite close!

We have been lucky enough to have Kennedy’s Grammy here for the last week and Kennedy has loved it!

We had her two week checkup at the doctor yesterday and she weighed in at 7lbs, 14 oz and both her length and head size have increased since birth. Percentage wise, her head is quite large compared to the rest of her. Clearly she’s making room for a big brain, as she’s already smart enough to force us to change her clothes (and ours a couple of times…) multiple times a day.

Without further ado, pictures!

 

One Week Old

At 2:59 pm today we celebrated Kennedy’s one week birthday! We celebrated by taking pictures, of course.

 

According to our bathroom scale, Kennedy has regained all the weight she lost and added more. Our calculations put her at 7.8 lbs, which would be AWESOME if that turns out to be the case at her doctor’s appointment next week. She is eating like a champ and well, her diapers indicate that all is well….our washing machine has been running at least one load a day of baby clothes…and blankets…and the changing pad cover….

She’s started staying awake for long stretches during the day which is helping her to get some good rest at night. I won’t go into detail here just in case Shannon’s theory about talking about sleep turns out to be true. I’m not risking it just yet….

Needless to say, we’re truly thankful on this Thursday. Hope you all are doing well and thanks for being patient with us on returning phone calls, emails and desires for more pictures!

Day 3!

It’s been a big day around here. Kennedy made it out to the pediatrician’s office, took a bath, tried out the Moby and continued to work on growing big and strong.

Kennedy weighed 6lbs, 13 oz at the doctor’s office today, which is nothing to be concerned about…especially when you know that she decided she needed to eat on the hour every hour from 10pm-3am last night….clearly she’s dedicated to this eating thing…

And now, pictures.

Day 1 and 2 :-)

As promised…PICTURES!

 

 

Of course this isn’t all of them, but I wanted to provide a quick sampling of Kennedy’s life thus far. Looks rough, huh? We are loving every minute!

She's here!

Kennedy Grace made her way into this world at 2:59 today. We are so in love with her and we just can't stop staring at her! She is off getting her hearing checked now but so far has passed all her tests with ease and was even called an overachiever at birth for her extra pink color. We promise to post so many pictures of her that you'll be sick of looking at her quite soon, but for now we're settling in for our first night as a family of 3 people and one very special fur brother. Big thanks go out to Granddaddy and Grandmomma for taking care of the fur child tonight at home! Thanks to all of you for your love and support today. We are so blessed.

“We’re gonna have a great jump today!”

39 weeks, 3 days…and counting.

At moments during the day I think that it’s INSANE to think that we will be holding Kennedy in our arms by Friday of this week. Other times I am so frustrated that I haven’t gone into labor yet that I could scream. As most of the readers of this blog know, I’d really prefer to go into labor on my own rather than needing the induction. However, when your doctor says, “I just don’t want to risk it,” you simply ask where to sign up for an induction and remind yourself that the goal is a healthy happy baby and a healthy happy mommy.

I have had a few “moments” and thoughts this week that I feel I should probably report:

- I have NO idea how people who are Biggest Loser big put on underwear in the morning. Seriously, how could they possibly? Trying to bend over and manage to hook it on your foot is insanely difficult.

-I now find it funny and ironic that many maternity shirts have cute little ties. The ones that tie above the belly….Lord help you if you forget to put the tie into the loops prior to putting the shirt on because it’s not going to happen. The ones that tie at the bottom of the side seams…haha…there’s no tying those yourself so here’s hoping you’ve got your mom around to help…(thanks, mom)

-Your 39 week pregnant self is always bigger than that space you THINK you fit into.

-Don’t be ashamed to ask someone else to pick up the tiny thing that fell to the floor…once you squat down to grab it, you WILL regret doing that.

-I will miss being the only one who knows when Kennedy has the hiccups or when she’s awake or sleeping. Soon I’ll have to share all of those moments.

-On the other hand, I won’t mind sharing some of her well-placed kicks with others.

Here’s hoping that the next thing I post is that I’m in labor and on my way to the hospital….