Monday, December 17, 2012

settling in

Week 43: first full week with a baby! But we'll start with a picture of the other little "honey badger." That Sunday, we had a nurse home visit in the morning to make sure we were on the right track, since we wouldn't be going to the pediatrician until Tuesday. Then in the afternoon, we spent more time hanging out in the nursery with the grandparents and Dan and Carmen, playing Pass the Evan. Luckily, we had several balloons leftover from our homecoming the day before, and they were great for keeping Elsa entertained. Their helium had lost its effectiveness, but Elsa didn't care. She especially enjoyed having all the balloons dropped at once from above her.

295/366 party animal


On Monday, I made sure to take a picture of the flowers that Carmen had put in the nursery, since I hadn't done that the day we got home. I also included the card they gave us and the stuffed squirrel that Elsa brought to Evan when they visited us in the hospital his first night. Evan had his first sponge bath that afternoon too, but I was too busy doing the bathing to take pictures myself. Steve did that job for me while Evan demonstrated the power of his lungs.

296/366 baby!


I dressed Evan in his whale romper on Tuesday, and it happened to match the Detroit Tigers bib that his Aunt Carmen gave him. This was mid-World Series, so I had to take a picture of him in it. Of course, Evan's probably more of a Giants fan, since that's his home team, but Aunt Carmen is from the Detroit area. Growing up in Lansing and not being much of a sports fan, I've never really been attached to the Tigers myself.

297/366 tigers bib


Prior to Tuesday's Tigers bib shot, I had Steve help me with my last weekly portrait. I wanted to get one final shot of myself with the baby and without to finish off the pregnancy series. So I set up the tripod and camera and had Steve press the button on the remote for the pictures of me holding Evan. Somewhat unfortunately, I realized later that one of the joints on the tripod hadn't been tightened down, and the horizon—the picture rail—gradually traveled upward as the camera drooped. By the time I noticed that the composition didn't match those of my previous weeks' photos, I had already put everything away and changed out of my photo outfit. I would have to re-shoot the next day.

I say "somewhat unfortunately" because Wednesday's pictures actually turned out better than Tuesday's—and not just because the composition was right this time. I somehow looked much less pale at 6 days postpartum than I had at 5 days. I thought it might have been nice to take the picture during the previous weekend, closer to the actual 39-week mark, but this was also when I was able to finally find the time for it. We were too busy coming home from the hospital that Saturday and getting adjusted that Sunday to worry about taking the weekly photos then.

Also, I'm aware that I'm probably making many enemies right now, but I have to say how surprised I was by how quickly I lost the baby weight. I was fully expecting "9 months up, 9 months down" or at least about 4 months down and then hanging on to the last 5 lbs or so until I stopped breastfeeding. But I was wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans about 3-4 weeks after giving birth. I actually tried a couple pairs on at the 1-week mark and found that the slightly bigger pair (purchased around 9 weeks pregnant) fit great, while my skinniest ones were a little too skin-tight. Of course, I ended up wearing the yoga pants exclusively for another couple weeks anyway... They were much more comfortable as I was still recovering. Now, the skinny jeans fit fine again. I think I'm only about 2 lbs heavier than I started! My stomach isn't quite as flat as it used to be, although it's even better now than when I took these pictures. And for the first time in my life, I have quite the rack.

298/366 39.5 weeks


Moving on, there was Evan's 1-week birthday on Thursday. I delayed eating lunch for a few minutes just so I could take pictures of him at 1:09pm, when he would be exactly a week old. He was napping in his crib, so I just put his owl in with him.

299/366 one week


We had our first outing with the stroller on Friday afternoon, when we walked to Mitchell's for ice cream with Bruce and Bonnie. Upon returning home, we met up with Carmen and a skunk who looked a lot like Elsa. After the skunk decided that she couldn't fit in the basket of our stroller, she settled for pushing it through the park with a little steering help from Steve. (This was prior to Halloween, and Carmen was trying Elsa's costume on her.)

300/366 a walk in the park


Last, Evan's due date was that Saturday, and I finally managed to get the shot I was looking for for his birth announcement. I had tried a couple days before, but I hadn't quite been able to get him into the right pose. This time, I was a lot more successful, and I had Bonnie to help me hold up the ends of the blanket for the background. Evan was 9 days old and not getting any younger, so I was afraid I was going to be pushing the limits of his newborn sleepiness and pose-ability if I didn't get these shots done soon enough.

301/366 birth announcement

1 comment:

  1. What a very special week that was...and I was there. BSD

    ReplyDelete