If You Don't Know

This is an open family newsletter.
It's to be sent off to family members and friends who live far away that I have not been able to keep updated as much as I should. Mostly it's for the New Englander's and Denmarker's in Erik's family.

(Some of this is stolen from my other blogs...)

Hello All!
I’d like to start this out by sharing Elaine’s first couple of days with you, and then we’ll get to our updates.
We went into Texas Women’s hospital February 3rd as early as they’d let us; the thing with inducements at this particular hospital is that there are so many births taking place there that natural births take precedence, of course. So what you have to do is call in, starting around 8:00 in the morning and you leave your name and number and tell them that you would like to be induced, if your doctor has sent an okay ahead of your call you will be put on the list. We were told to expect a call anywhere from two to ten hours… but our prayers were heard when we got a call only one hour later! We took our hospital bag and jumped in the car for the forty minute drive downtown where they had me all set up and ready to go in record time.
My mother, angel that she is, made sure to capture all of the important moments. (At my best angles too. )

After only 7 minutes of labor; pushing labor, that is, Erik shouts "It's a girl!" and I start crying just as Laine does too. I am a blessed woman, don’t I know it.

We tried to breastfeed but Laine had trouble latching on at first and the doctor told us that the muscles in her cheeks were not developed enough to allow for breastfeeding and after she lost some weight, a little over five ounces we started her on formula. While at home we kept pumping so that she was on a half and half diet, but eventually we had to give it up, which was incredibly disappointing but we all soon got over it, especially when she found out that she didn’t have to fight for her food anymore. And mommy was happy that daddy could help with the midnight feedings! He was excited too, even if he didn’t look like it.

Dad was the first one to get a day off, the local soccer team the Houston Dynamo were having a scrimmage before their season began to which Erik was so giddy about there wasn’t much saying no, and we survived well enough on out own. But we did take a picture just to rub in his face later. Ha!

You know come to think of it, he doesn't watch a game without her any more.
I must say that Erik is the most amazing father. He does so much to help me that sometimes it seems like he does most of the caretaking of Laine himself and it’s me that’s helping him. I’m lucky that he wanted to be a father. He looked forward to being a parent just as much as I did and he’s not taking any of this experience for granted. He understands that we have to recognize the value of everything about her infancy because she won’t be like this much longer. He is even aware of the beauty of the sound of her cries; he knows that sound will change soon. I have a greater appreciation of him as my husband the more I see him with our daughter.

Now for the updates. A lot has been happening in the last few months and I’m going to try to update on all of it. We have been doing a lot of first lately, but I guess that’s what the first year is all about, huh? And everything is happening so very fast.

When March came (too soon), I had to return to work, for the first week I didn’t know what we were going to do, we split up Laine’s week between family and friends, one of which (my super amazing best friend) was kind enough to help me with my separation anxiety by hooking up a web cam to Laine's bassinet so that I could watch her while I was at work.
But at the end of the week we decided it was time to start Laine at daycare. She began attending the la Petit Academy; an amazing daycare with knowledgeable experienced childcare experts that impress me to no end. We love our Miss April the most. And on most Monday’s and some Friday’s my mom with go get her early to spend time with her; which turned out to be really nice for me in that I no longer needed to rush through traffic to get to the daycare before closing time.

April came and we had a professional photographer come by the house and take some photos for us, they came out amazing!

We have since lost all of our dark curly hair and have replaced it with a much lighter blonde. We still have one or two curls in there too, at lease I am not giving up hope on them coming back. Fingers crossed!

Easter was wonderful this year; Erik ordered a bunny costume online so she was able to be the Easter bunny for the egg hunt!

And then we changed into our pretty dress for church.
In May we took our first airplane ride to Midland, Texas to see our Sydney, my brother's new beautiful wonderful wife, graduate from Texas Tech in Lubbock. Laine is the BEST traveler ever. She slept during the hard parts, like security checks and take offs and landings, and for the rest of the time she was awake and a joy to be around and to care for.

May also had us swimming for the first time at Tricia’s house. I forgot to pack her swimsuit so we went naked and loved it. Gran got in the water with us but I think Laine was more interested in chewing on grandma’s fingers than she was in the actual water at first, but she did take to the water really well. We spent the majority of the time trying to keep the sun off her and then dad came out with the smarts and got us an umbrella.
June brought with it Laine’s four month check up, she was fourteen pounds and twenty-four inches and that meant that in two months Laine had grown three inches and gained three pounds! Apparently the average is around nineteen pounds, so I don’t know if she is behind or if this is just her pace, but I’m going to go with the “everything-is-fine-and-my-baby-is-perfect” outlook on the situation.
We were given permission to start on rice cereal at that check-up. She did so well with it. She didn’t have the problems swallowing the cereal like we were told she would, she doesn’t spit much out, and the only time it gets all over her is when something makes her smile when she has her mouth full. Due to the fact that she's got me and Erik standing over her and applauding each bite she takes that happens a lot.
We started on veggies a few weeks later. Actually, let me back up. First we started her on fruits, applesauce, bananas and pears. She is not a fan of pears, but if we mix it with the rice cereal she does fine.
Anyway, she got sick with some major congestion and coughing so we took her to go and see the doctor again, just two much too short weeks after her four month checkup. I think she remembered the three shots she had received the last time because she wasn’t too happy to be there again. But we learned that she had gained two pounds! We got some decongestant and infant Tylenol and after about a week she made a full recovery. During the time she was sick we took her off the cereal and fruits and afterwards we started on veggies. Anything green seems to be her favorite.
She was officially into size two diapers June 10th. This little one has thunder thighs like you wouldn’t believe. She wears size 6-9 month clothes already, but it fits lose on top and tight on bottom.
And her personality is really starting to come out now. Funny,but it's looking alot like my own at the moment.

We are working on sitting up, rolling over and crawling. She seems to be giving all of it equal attention and effort.
I’m pretty sure she’s going to start teething soon; all that drooling and gnawing on fingers has to mean something other than she’s hungry.
Overall everything is great. Laine is the apple of our eye and the pig in our sty. Parenting is fun work and we are enjoying every minute. Hopefully we will be able to see you all soon, but in the meantime be happy, be healthy and be safe.
Much Love,
Amanda
(and Erik and Laine)