The first day we took Alli home was lovely. We were discharged from the hospital just after noon, so we had lots of time to hold her and bond with her before what we knew would be a difficult nighttime. She loved the monkey rocker as much as Tyler had, but her need for it didn't last as long as his did. For the first couple of weeks it was the only way I could get her to sleep while lying flat. When I put her in the crib she would only sleep on her side. It was a difficult night with lots of wake ups, which surprised us because she was swaddled, and I'd often been told that swaddled babies sleep longer. Oscar's mom had given us
Swaddleme blankets with velcro on them to make swaddling super easy. Eventually these worked perfectly, but at first she was a bit too small for them. Pulling them as tight as they needed to be took the hooks past the velcro, so we often had to reswaddle her. She also didn't want just one layer. It took us a few days to figure out she wanted a double swaddle with an additional comforter. The Halo sleepsack with arms was nice too, but it didn't have velcro, so it sometimes came undone too.
I'd brought a book with me to the hospital, the 3rd in a series I was thoroughly enjoying. Since I knew I'd have 2 days stuck in bed, I figured I'd get a lot of reading done. Turns out I'd completely underestimated how lucid I would be after a C section. I really couldn't pay attention to anything for more than about 5 minutes at at time. Because of that, I also fell behind on reading "Congratulation" posts on Facebook, text, and email. At home I was finally functional enough to read over them all, and I was completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love we'd received from everyone. Many people told me they felt extra attached to Allison because they'd been rooting for her and praying for her since hearing about her IVF cycle. It makes me so happy to know she's touched so many lives from before she was even conceived. Everyone was delighted to learn of her birth.
Alli didn't care much for the crib at first since it didn't give her the feeling of being snug, so we looked into getting some sort of tight bassinet for her. After buying a container that could become a make-shift bassinet to her liking, we realized we could just put her on her side in the corner of the crib. She wanted us to imitate the snugness of being held as much as possible, which is also why she liked the monkey rocker. She also loved extremely loud white noise. Sometimes when she was fussy we'd just put the bluetooth speaker next to her ear and it would calm her immediately. She liked it that way and got fussy if we took it too far away, but we didn't want her hearing getting damaged either. It was a constant balance of "how close can we put this too her without it harming her?..."
My little bug among the flowers.
Oscar wanted to get an equivalent picture with Allison as the one
I have with Tyler. It didn't work out as well for him. It was a lot harder to do with her because she wasn't asleep and was super wiggly.
She always looked so teeny and snug in her carseat that week.
She didn't need her wrappings when she was held. The wrappings were her substitute for an adult body to snuggle against.
And she was absolutely miserable when placed in the crib without all her many bundles. We'd sometimes change her diaper in the crib (lowered to the bassinet setting), which was her least favorite thing in the world ever.
What are you lookin' at mom?!
Love those sweet newborn snuggles! I didn't have this as much with Tyler since he nearly always wanted to nurse when I was holding him. He'd smell the milk and get restless on me. Oscar got to enjoy his snuggles. Now it's my turn with Allison!
Football baby!
It always surprised me that she didn't overheat under all her wrappings, especially while being held.
Snuggles with my baby and my furbaby! I love how she looks like she's smiling in this picture.
She always looks so adorably surprised.
Daddy's girl!
Sweet, sleepy girl!
So much cuteness! She totally looks like an owl hooting while she's wearing her owl blankie. We didn't use these types of nighties for Ty, but we use them for her all the time. She wasn't a huge fan of the swing at first, probably because she wasn't bundled, but she likes it now.
Mommy and daddy can't get enough of her!
The many faces of Allison
Once when I left her with Oscar, he put our big bluetooth speaker of white noise next to her while she was highly bundled up in the monkey rocker.
Mommy, kitty, baby selfies. Oscar had gone back to work so I had to take my own pictures. Oscar went back to work the week after Ty was born, and I kept thinking "do you have to?" But Allison was so low key that I actually encouraged him to go back to work. I wanted him to save his PTO for when Tyler was back and I had to take care of both of them.
She lost her umbillical cord on the diaper change after that lovely nap with me and Nibbler. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. I remember seeing it and thinking "what the heck is that? Some sort of bug."
Leela in the baby clothes. She used to sit in that basket all the time and remembered it instantly.
Here we are at the ward Luau! The food and entertainment were fantastic! This was particularly well done for a ward function. People couldn't believe I was already back and walking around after only 8 days. I wore a Hawaiian wrap and Oscar swaddled Alli up in a Hawaiian wrap too.
Janalee couldn't get enough of her.
Love my girly goo!
And one final night with just our baby girl before big brother's return...
(see next post for Tyler's trip to Utah)
The first day we took Alli home was lovely. We were discharged from the hospital just after noon, so we had lots of time to hold her and bond with her before what we knew would be a difficult nighttime. She loved the monkey rocker as much as Tyler had, but her need for it didn't last as long as his did. For the first couple of weeks it was the only way I could get her to sleep while lying flat. When I put her in the crib she would only sleep on her side. It was a difficult night with lots of wake ups, which surprised us because she was swaddled, and I'd often been told that swaddled babies sleep longer. Oscar's mom had given us Swaddleme blankets with velcro on them to make swaddling super easy. Eventually these worked perfectly, but at first she was a bit too small for them. Pulling them as tight as they needed to be took the hooks past the velcro, so we often had to reswaddle her. She also didn't want just one layer. It took us a few days to figure out she wanted a double swaddle with an additional comforter. The Halo sleepsack with arms was nice too, but it didn't have velcro, so it sometimes came undone too.
And she was absolutely miserable when placed in the crib without all her many bundles. We'd sometimes change her diaper in the crib (lowered to the bassinet setting), which was her least favorite thing in the world ever.
Football baby!
She always looks so adorably surprised.
Here we are at the ward Luau! The food and entertainment were fantastic! This was particularly well done for a ward function. People couldn't believe I was already back and walking around after only 8 days. I wore a Hawaiian wrap and Oscar swaddled Alli up in a Hawaiian wrap too.
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