Mommy and Baylen at 11 wks old :)
On January 4th 2010 at 5:20 pm we brought our beautiful baby girl...Baylen Kate ...into this world! She was exactly 3 weeks early and weighed 6 lb 2oz and was 18 1/2 in long. Absolutely perfect! I could not have asked for a better pregnancy and delivery experience. Everything went very smooth and there were no complications. Exactly how I always hoped it would be! Update: Baylen is doing great. Reaching her milestones just as she should and of course growing like a little weed! We are currently still learning to hold our head up and she has definitely mastered smiling. :) She goes to bed smiling and wakes up smiling..I love it!! Mommy is doing great too! Finally getting back to my normal self again. I feel really great since I have started running again..Its going to be so good to get on an everyday routine soon. As for daddy, he is doing wonderful too!! He is loving every minute! He has been so great to us throughout this whole experience. I look at him in a completely different way now. I have always loved him with all of my heart , but when he became the father of our daughter I just can't help but to look at him differently..in a very good way :) Sometimes I just take a few moments when Jeremy spends time B and I just watch him. Every time I am awed and it reminds me of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful and loving husband. I have been so blessed to have had 12 weeks of maternity leave because over the the past 3 months I feel like I have formed such a special bond with our little Baylen. We have had some of the best times together! Heres a glance of my time-off week by week..
The first two weeks of my leave were by far the most special to me because Jeremy was able to take a two week paternity leave to be with us. The beginning was tough because everything was so new. We chose to breast feed and neither of us had any idea what to expect! It was great that we were able to experience everything in the very beginning together. We had lots of care and support from family and friends who visited. At times it was quite tiring, but I loved every moment of having the company! Especially visits from our parents, grandparents and my brother Matt and his wife Linsey :)
During these first two weeks Baylen experienced lots of "firsts". She had her first bath at home and she loved it! Bath time is one of my favorite parts of the day! Baylen also had her first snow! It actually snowed the first week that we were home with her. She quickly received the nickname of our "little snow baby!" At 5 days old, we were off to the doctor for Baylen's first well checkup. She weighed 5 lb 9oz at this visit. At this time she was exclusively breast feeding ans had lost some of her original birth weight. At her two week check up she was back up to her birth weight, weighing in at 6lb 4 oz!
At 9 days old Baylen had a visit from her first friend, Lillian Catherine. We had a blast taking pics of the girls! They will forever be best buds!
At two weeks, Jeremy kept Baylen for the first time alone and I went out for lunch with one of my best friends, Lindsey. We had a great day getting our eye brows waxed, some Las Palmas, and a little shopping! It was finally great to have some "me" time..I am truly blessed with great friends!! :)
Week three was tough because daddy had to go back to work. Of course I cried because I was so spoiled from having him with me for two solid weeks! I was so grateful to have my family who came and stayed with me to help, especially my mom and dad. I think they were over nearly everyday for a little while , but I was so appreciative! We also had Baylen's newborn photos made this week. Elizabeth Harris came to our home for the photo shoot and did an amazing job! (www.elizabethkharrisphotography.com)
Week 4, 5, and 6 I really just took the time to rest , relax and enjoy my time off with Baylen. Occasionally we would go to town and shop, or have lunch dates with great friends, but mostly we just stayed home because it was so cold out! Week 4, I was due to see Dr Freeman for a post delivery follow up appointment. (It was so weird being at the office and not being pregnant!) Everything checked out fine!! Week 5 was a big step for us because Baylen starting sleeping in her crib like a big girl! Up until this point she slept at our bedside in her pack-in-play. She got to where she wasn't sleeping well so we figured it was time for all of us to be more peaceful while we tried to sleep.We have a video monitor so we were able to watch her all night. Its the best decision we ever made because she loves her crib now and sleeps on average 8 hours at a time! Later this same week was especially hard because Jeremy had to go out of town on a storm team with Georgia Power. He returned on Valentines day just in time for a nice dinner at Blue Fin! When Baylen was 6 weeks old we had a weekend of beautiful weather so we had a family day out at Berry with a picnic and fun with the dogs! We also had sweet time with Amy and Lillian and Grammy and Pawpaw while we were there! Week 6 was just an awesome week! We decided to start Baylen on her bedtime routine. Each night around 730-800 we started giving her a bath, rocking her and giving her a bottle and then laying her to bed at around 830. She now sleeps until around 430 am with this routine! We also had a special visit from my best friend Casey. She lives in San Diego and was unable to be in town when Baylen was born, so this was the first time she had seen her. We were able to spend lots of time together while she was in town including lunch, shopping and a trip to the movies!
At the half way mark I started trying to figure out how I could be a stay at home mom with my little angel..(i think everyone does this!) It didn't take me long to realize that in this lifetime it wasn't going to be possible because I like to shop, shop, shop way too much :) At this time, I knew in just 6 short weeks I would be returning to work, so i wanted to spend as much time with Baylen as possible!
March 4th, Baylen turned 2 months old (so hard to believe!)and I was due for another appointment with Dr. Freeman. Its routine to see the doctor at 4 weeks and 8 weeks post delivery at North West GA Womens Clinic.. Like my first appointment, everything checked out fine and I was cleared until my next yearly appointment. Dr. F couldn't believe how much Baylen had grown! After my appointment we had our first lunch date with our great friends Tonya and Jenna Rowland at Duffy's Deli. I am so loving that my baby girl already has so many friends :)
On March 5th , myself and one of my bestest friends Amy ,and her friend Emily went to Cottontail's in Birmingham. We had a great time and I bought Baylen some really cute things!(I'm definitely ready for Christmas Village in the fall! ) This was the first time I had been gone from Baylen all day but I'm definitely glad that I didn't take her because it sure wasn't a place for strollers! Kuddos to the moms that had them! hehe :)
At 8 weeks we decided to take Baylen to church for the first time! She did very well and slept nearly the entire service :) Bay also met my uncle Mark for the first time this week. He has been on active duty with the National Guard in Afghanistan (for the past year) so we took a trip to Cedartown to see the troops come home home to their families! We also had Baylen's 2 month well-visit with Dr. Cordle for her first set of vaccinations. (Of course I cried!) We received a good report that Baylen is doing well and developing fine for her age! She weighed a whopping 9 lb 4 oz and was 22 3/4 in long!!
After 8 weeks of breastfeeding, we decided to switch to formula. After much thought and research we chose to start Baylen on Enfamil Premium. Nursing was the best decision I could have ever made for my daughter. I loved the closeness and bonding, but it was very hard and I knew that with my job in healthcare it was going to be very difficult to keep up with all the pumping. After making the big switch, she tolerated the bottle very well. (I was very surprised!) We decided to use BornFree bottles and I have been very pleased. They are a little pricey but cut down greatly on spit-up, gas and (supposedly) ear infections..
As my time off from work slowly dwindled down, I decided to take it easy the last few weeks , enjoy the sunshine, and just get everything in order to return to work. The past 10 weeks off had definitely spoiled me ,so I knew that when the time came I would not be ready to go back :( We mostly just stayed around the house and played , napped and played some more! At 11 weeks, we spent quality time with great friends! My best friend Lindsey had Spring intersession so she was out of school :) We spent some time together and had lunch at the new Bella Roma with Baylen (it was very yummy!!) We also had a coffee date with my friend Jacquline and her beautiful daughter Lillian Allaire.. It was so great to catch up and chit chat about the girls :)
On March 20th we had Baylen's Easter pictures taken out at Berry College with a live bunny and 2 live baby chicks! We had a a great time and the weather was beautiful! Of course Grammy and Paw Paw decided to join in on the fun. :) The pics turned out great and I will hopefully have them soon to post..
I could not have asked for a better maternity experience because as you can see I had lots of precious time with my family and our sweet baby girl :) I'm not excited about leaving Baylen ,but I am very thankful to have my sweet mother who will be keeping her everyday while I work. I love my life and I am exactly where I want to be! My family and I are truly blessed beyond measures :)
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