Our first month with Amelia

I was really spoiled this time having a baby. Chris gets 10 days of paternity leave, but the office he works in encouraged him to take more if he wanted. He took a few of his vacation days which backed right into Labor Day weekend and ended up having 3 weeks off! Wahoo! He was amazing and basically did everything around the house and taking care of Claire and Maddie so I just needed to worry about healing and taking care of Amelia. It was a good system, especially since I couldn't even lift Maddie for a few weeks. While I know it's good to rest, I realized that I get pretty restless, just sitting in the house all day. I had to do that for a couple of days when I came down with a TERRIBLE cold just a week after having Amelia. (Claire got it when Amelia was just 2 days old and shared. Oy.) After feeling cooped up, I was ready to get out! We of course had frequent appointments with the pediatrician, went shopping, took the kids to the McDonald's play place, went out for ice cream, walked around the mall, went to a church activity, and went to the Baltimore aquarium. We wanted to make the most of Chris's vacation time. It also gave him time to do some projects he had been wanting to do around the house. I did make sure most every day I got a nap to make up for the nightly feedings. :)

5 days old. So tiny!

Maddie loves petting the baby's head.

Amelia at 1 week old

 I must admit, bathing a newborn baby is not my favorite thing in the world to do. They are tiny, slippery, easily pee or poop, and usually aren't a fan of getting all naked and taking a bath. Between that and healing from the c-section, Amelia didn't get her first bath until she was 11 days old. Chris documented the affair though. Maddie and Claire were excited to help, though Maddie got quickly bored. Claire, on the other hand was all ready to help bathe the baby. I was so excited to find the insert for the bath tub you use when the baby's umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet. I had it all set up, went to get her from her bed, got her undressed and discovered that it was gone! (It was there right before her nap.) It had fallen off somewhere. (I later found it on the floor.) So I ended up putting the thing down in the water so she wouldn't be so cold.

Not a fan.

Making faces at our feet.

My little helper.

There's nothing like a freshly bathed baby. Mmm.

When Amelia was 2 weeks old, we went to the Baltimore aquarium. We went earlier in the summer before she was born but it was crazy busy on a Saturday. We thought we'd have better luck if we went during the week. I strapped her on, and we had a great time together as a family. :)

I love the reflection of the frog in this shot.

Amelia at 2 weeks old.

 My sisters both came to visit me for a few hours the last week in August. My one sister had just flown back from a family vacation to BWI, and stopped by before driving back to Albany, and the other sister just spent a few days with our family friend camping in Maryland and stopped by before they also drove back to Albany. It was so fun to show my sisters our new house and introduce them to Amelia. Chris was awesome and cooked up a tasty meal for us all to eat (which was 11 people plus the 4 eating ones in our family.) We had a great time together, as did the cousins! :)

Claire next to Jason holding Amelia.

Jocelyn pulling Maddie and Evan in the wagon.

Michelle, a bonus sister in our family.

Since it was summer, and because we had been out and about already, I took Amelia to church for the first time a little earlier than the others. She was just 2.5 weeks old. Here are my three beautiful girls all dressed in pink!

The morning that we went to church that day, Chris decided it would be really fun to go up and visit his family in PA. We went to the first hour of church, then drove up to PA. We were there less than 24 hours before we had to come back since Chris had to go back to work on Tuesday. It was a short, but fun visit, and it was fun to introduce Amelia to some more family members.

Grammy holding Amelia

Maddie and Alannah. They are so cute playing together.

3 weeks old

Here are a few more of my favorite shots from the month. (Forgive me. I have a hard time not including so many.)

Maddie LOVES holding the baby. You just have to stay close by because when she's done, she just gets up.

Sleepy girl. I always forget how much babies sleep!

She started turning herself sideways. After that, I had to actually buckle her in each time.

I LOVE having my two sisters. I'm excited to see these three girls grow up together and hopefully have the kind of great relationships I have with my two sisters. :) I wonder what kind of trouble they'll get into in the process!

4 weeks old

1 month old

We had a busy month as a family with our newest addition! And we had so much fun too. :)