4 weeks old!

It is absolutely FRIGHTENING how fast time has gone by since Randal was born. I can not believe she is 4 weeks old. She has changed so much from when she born that its insane! I am enjoying watching her grow and become more interactive day by day but at the same time I want to bottle up all of her "babiness" so she can stay this way. Just this past weekend she started wearing 0-3 month clothes :( This was a true sign that my little girl is growing. She is such a skinny girl but has some long limbs so her newborn clothes had unintentionally become 3/4 length shirts and capris. We dont have another doctors appt until Randal is 2 months so I dont have an official weight of length but I could guess she is around 9 lbs and growing daily. Here is a pic of when she was first born and a more recent one....where has the time gone?!?!

Randal's favorite things

Since day 1 Randal has enjoyed riding in the car. Hopefully this will serve us well when we make the 3+ hour trip back to Kville this weekend. She has recently started to take the pacifier which is great as I was starting to think she was using me as a pacifier....some days I still think she does but atleast she takes the pacifier on occasion now :) Randal also loves bath time especially the sound of running water. She is also pretty fond of her swing and last night I put her on her play mat for the first time and she seemed to enjoy it as well.

Silly Faces

Randal is becoming much more expressive. Here are some of her silly faces:

And I saved the best for last :)

Randal's first beach trip!

Yesterday we took Randal to the beach for the first time :) We made the drive all the way down to Carolina Beach so we could give Randal her first view of the beach while I tried Brit's donuts for the first time.....those donuts are out of this world!!! Anyways, Randal seemed to enjoy the beach as much as a 4 week old could. I figured she would find it calming as the sound of running water seems to calm her down at home. Here are some pics of our first trip to the beach:

More Newborn Pics!

Click here to go to Katie Mathews blog a see a few more of Randal Jean's newborn pics. If we get 15 comments on her blog we get a free 5 x 7 so comment away :)

New Born Pics Sneak Peek

As mentioned in the post below we had Katie Mathews come to the house today for some newborn pics. Below is the preview she sent me tonight :) Arent they great!

Thus far....

Multiple posts below :)

The past two and half weeks have gone by so quickly. Matt and I are trying to savor every moment with Randal as she seems to be changing every day.

Doctors Appointments

*Randal had her first doctors appt the day after we brought her home. She weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and her color was great.

*We then went back at 1 week and she was up to 7 lbs 6 oz. We also had a small triumph at this appt (ha!...let me explain). Randal had not had a dirty (poop) diaper in 3 days when we went to the doctor. This concerned me as I am nursing and dirty diapers are an indicator that Randal is getting the nutrition that she needs. While at the doctor the nurse took a rectal temperature. Because I knew the doctor would be in shortly and would want the diaper off again I didnt do a great job putting it back on....boy was that a mistake. The rectal temperature sure got things moving and we had our first dirty diaper in 3 days and boy was it a good one (aka blowout!). Never did I think I would celebrate dirty diapers. Welcome to parenthood, right ?!?

*Randal had yet another appt at 2 weeks. She was back to her birth weight of 7lbs 9oz at this appt. This was great news as doctors usually ask that you supplement your breast milk if your baby isnt back to their birth weight by the two week mark. She measured in at 20 inches at this appt...I dont think she grew two inches in two weeks...she was probably just more stretched out at 2 weeks old as opposed to right out of the oven.

Sleeping

I'm not going to lie Randal has done pretty good with her naps and nighttime sleeping. Yes, I have had a night or two where I wished she had slept more but overall I don't feel overtired and exhausted. She is typically awake most of the day and feeds like crazy but that all means I can get long spans of sleep at night. The longest span of sleep at night has been 6 hours. This has happened twice :)

Outings

Randal has been great on all of our outtings thus far. We have taken her to Bento Box and to Catch for dinner and I have taken her to Costco, Target, and Belk to run errands. Having such a great baby that allows me to run errands and go out for a nice dinner with my husband has definitly kept me sane :)

Everything else :)

*Randal is currently going thru about 80-85 diapers a week! With her multiple and frequent feedings during the day it is difficult to keep a dry diaper on her.

*Matt and I have been using cloth diapers on Randal since we brought her home from the hospital. Now that we have the hang of them they are just as easy as disposables. PS- Matt is a pro at changing diapers

*Randal's umbilical cord stub fell off at 2 weeks 1 day so we can now give her baths in the infant tub. She seems to like bath time :) Hopefully she will continue to like the water so we can spend lots of time at the beach this summer.

*We had newborn pictures taken today....stay tuned for a link to Katie Mathews blog post when she posts them

*And in case you didnt know I have the CUTEST KID EVER!!!! That's all....

This is one of my favorite pics!...Randal with her namesakes

Coming Home From the Hospital

Luckily we were all able to leave the hospital on Thursday the 25th. The nurses and doctors started the day off telling us we would leave around lunch. Lunch came and went and then we were told we would be discharged "shortly." Finally around 930pm we were discharged. Matt and I stopped by Subway to pick up dinner on our way home. Side note: Matt and I also ate Subway on the way to Raleigh from Wilmington after our wedding....I guess Subway is "our restaurant"....sad but true. Anyways back to the baby. Matt and I were excited to get home to introduce Randal Jean to our fur babies Cobi and Tessa. We had been told by my parent's vet to have Matt walk in with Randal as the dogs are both more possessive of me and seeing me with a new baby after my absence might cause them to instantly resent her. As directed Matt walked in with Randal and I manned the camera. Cobi and Tessa did surprisingly well when they met Randal. They just wanted to smell her and lick her....we didn't allow the licking for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately I didn't realize what setting the camera was on when I started snapping away so we didn't get any great pictures of Randal's intro to the pups but we did get a couple decent ones.

Labor and Delivery Recap

Most of you have probably heard about Randal's arrival from Matt, myself, or one of our parents but in case you haven't I will recap...also this will suffice as my journaling of this event so I have something to look back on.

For about two weeks prior to Randal's arrival I had been feeling uncomfortable, however, I was absolutely miserable come Tuesday February 23rd. I was horribly sore all over and could not find any position that was comfortable. Luckily I was working from home at this point so I was able to walk around the house, sit on the yoga ball, etc in an effort to be comfortable. After my work day was finished my mom and I went to walk to mall. I could barely make it through the mall as my hips were hurting but I was able to tough it out. After returning home from the mall and eating dinner I decided to take a shower in an effort to relieve muscle soreness. Please note, at this point I had come to terms with the fact that Randal would not come on her own and I would be miserable until my scheduled induction on Friday the 26th. My mom left the house around 10 pm and Matt and I sat down to watch the Olympics. Around 11pm Tuesday evening I had my first contraction and from the very beginning they were consistent. Matt and I tried to get some rest but as I drifted in and out of consciousness I could tell my contractions were getting closer and more painful. At 2am Wednesday morning I decided it would probably be a good idea to go ahead and get ready. As I was getting ready my contractions began to come in sets of 5 mins and 2 mins and were getting much more painful. I woke Matt up around 230 am and told him it was time!!! He got the car packed and we were off to the hospital at 3am.

Although going in to labor in the middle of the night is not ideal from an energy perspective it was nice to be able to go all the way down College Rd without hitting a single light :) Around 345am the triage nurse checked my cervix and I was 5 cm dilated. Although I was certain this was the "real thing" I was glad that the nurse confirmed we would not be leaving the hospital with out a baby in hand :)

My contractions continued to intensify and although I wanted to go "all natural" I decided that I would have the epidural. This was one of the best decisions EVER!!! I had the epidural around 6am (I think?...timing was relative until she arrived). I was able to talk on the phone and sleep until the doctor told me it was time to push around 830. After pushing for roughly 30 mins Randal Jean made her arrival at 9:02 AM on February 24th weighing in at 7lbs 9oz and 18 in long.

Matt and I were (and still are) amazed by our little girl. She is absolute perfection and we couldn't have asked for anything more.

Katie Mathews New Blog w/ Randal Jean Pics!!!

The photographer, Katie Mathews, that did our maternity and hospital session with Randal Jean has just created a new blog and has posted about Randal Jean. Click here to go to the new blog. If you scroll down a few posts you will see the Randal Jean pics as well as some maternity pics.

Also, check out the contest Katie Mathews is having....its "The Big Contest" post from the 26th. There are lots of ways to enter so please enter as the prize gets bigger with more entries!!! You do not have to live in Wilmington to enter :)

And just a little update on Randal Jean....she is doing GREAT!!! Matt and I are still in awe of our precious angel :) She seems to be getting a handle of day vs night which is AWESOME!!! We will try to post more pics and updates soon.