2 Weeks Old

The past couple of weeks with Gabrielle have been a busy blur of learning and adjusting so I thought I would jot down a summary of her little life before I forget. Gabi turned two weeks old yesterday on Thanksgiving, and it seems that she has gone through so many changes already. In the hospital it seemed that she was a rather content baby - she didn't like to have her diaper or clothes changed, but she was comforted pretty easily. The couple of nights I was in the hospital Gabrielle went to the nursery at nighttime so I could get my rest and she was brought to me every three hours so I could feed her. That seemed like a nice little set up...but then we came home. Our first night with Gabrielle was rather sleepless. She was up until about 1:30am either wide awake or crying. We figured out that she didn't like the dark so we ended up putting her bassinet in the bathroom with a bright nightlight (don't worry - the bathroom is attached to our room and two steps away from our bed). That is still where she sleeps today. I am dreading the transition to her own nursery and crib...I'm not sure when we'll attempt to make that move.

Our sweet little angel definitely has a feisty side that she especially likes to show in the evening. Pretty consistently so far, she will fuss from about 5:00 or 6:00pm until she goes to sleep. Now, some nights are worse than others, but she definitely has a temper. If she is unhappy she is not shy about letting everyone know. That being said, there are so many good things about her too. After she gets done eating or is falling asleep she will get the goofiest look on her face and break out into the biggest smile ever! I don't know where that grin comes from but it is priceless :) After I get done feeding her I will sit her upright on my lap to burp her...while I'm doing this she will hold both of her arms straight out in front of her and get this surprised bug-eyed look on her face like she is so confused as to what is going on. She discovered her hands at four days old and has loved them ever since! She is all about her hands - sucking on any part of them she can manage to get in her mouth, holding onto her little cheeks, and (I've only seen her do this once so far...) reaching up to her head and petting her hair. So cute! Her eyes are getting more alert and focused each day. They started out closed most of the time and pretty googly-eyed if they were open. Now she is looking at more and more and seems so interested in the world. I know her sight is still very poor but she loves to look at anything she can see. She seems to especially like lights - light bulbs, the computer, windows. When she is busy looking around her mouth is always busy also for some reason. As her eyes move back and forth her mouth is busy making oohs and opening wide and sticking her tongue out. She seems to be more and more comfortable with being awake, too. For quite a while we felt like she had three modes - eat, sleep, and cry. Now she is getting better each day with being awake and content, which is nice!

Overall, she is a pretty good sleeper. We had a period of a few nights around a week old where she did not want to go to sleep at all. The moment you would set her in her bassinet she would start screaming inconsolably. After numerous attempts to remedy the problem, we (I) were forced to deal with this in the "tough love" fashion of letting her lay there and scream herself to sleep. Luckily for Nick, he was sick with a cold at this time so he was automatically on the couch at night anyway. Hopefully that stage was temporary because our little lady has been a great sleeper the past few nights. I've stopped swaddling her and she seems fine with that. When she was 13 days old I got up at night for one of her feedings and she had managed to wiggle herself to be wedged horizontally in her bassinet as opposed to being vertical like how I put her to bed. She will get wake up about every three hours to eat. Yes, that seems like a lot (especially when you're the one getting up to nurse her every night) but her tummy is so little still and I know that in time she will go longer and longer between feedings. We have been supplementing an ounce or two of formula here and there, but I'm still doing my best to nurse her almost exclusively.

4 days old

Gabrielle's first real bath...she hated it!

11 days old