Max's Newborn Photos

We had newborn photos taken when Max was 9 days old. He was a very fussy baby and was crying a majority of the time and did not want to be consoled. He is used to being swaddled while sleeping so we had trouble getting him naked and keeping him sleeping. All in all we got some good photos, I just wish we would have some more of his pretty little face and tiny little body. We are going to try to do some more ourselves when my sister gets into town. 

Sweet Daddy and baby boy

Love his hair

Tiny baby feet. We had to squeeze his feet together with ours because he was screaming so bad lol. The things you can't tell from photos. 

Cute photo, but that diaper has to go

Little baby bottom 

Love this sweet little boy

My little owl. Can't really see the owl hat, but he is still adorable

Can't forget this baby. We tried to get a photo of Molly and Max and that was a no go. 

Thanks to Ashley for letting us borrow this adorable outfit someone made for Kinsley. 

I think this is my favorite photo

He just loves his hands

And his feet. Those are his feet his is trying to eat. 

Auntie Michelle

I love this shot of the nursery. 

Love our little family

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom just left us after spending the week helping us take care of Max. He sure will miss his mima (or Gigi, we might switch her name). They've had a great week getting to know each other better. Happy Birthday Mom!! Miss you !

Auntie's Love

It was great to have my mom stay with us the days after we got back from the hospital and then my sister came in a few days after that. Michelle was a HUGE help and even did night duty with me while David got some rest. She even goes in my closet and does laundry (from start to finish), cleans and does dishes without being asked.  Max is such a lucky boy to have such a loving and caring Auntie who will be back in a few days for a portion of her spring break. We took some photos after the photographer left since we were all dolled up. Enjoy our filmstrip of fun photos we took :)

Max loves his Auntie Michelle!

Hospital Visitors

We had great company while we stayed at the hospital. It was nice to see everyone and they were all so excited to meet the newest member of our family. We also had a lot of people visit us at home and bring us meals that I don't have pictures of so THANK YOU everyone! 

Auntie Stacey 

Cousin Ashley 

Uncle Darrin

Auntie Gina and Uncle Mark (sorry I don't have a photo)

Uncle David

Grandma 

Grandpa

Auntie Lacey

Mima

We even had surprise visitors from my sisters great friends that live next door to them in Texas (they were randomly in ATL that weekend).  Jenny

Josh and Little Melody

I wish I could have taken a photo of everyone who visited us at the house, but we've been blessed with great friends and family near and far that already love Max as much as we do.

1st Pediatrician Appointment

Max went to see the pediatrician for the first time on February 14th. We brought Susan some flowers for Valentines Day and she said that Max was her valentine.

Our pediatrician is Dr. Susan Smiley (thats really her last name) and she is a family friend. If anyone in Gwinnett is looking for a pediatrician we love her and Gwinnett Pediatrics. Max weighed 6 lbs 8 oz which was his weight when we left the hospital, so it wasn't bad news, but not great either. At this point we were at day 5 and my milk hadn't come in still (which is common since I had a c-section, it's a bit more delayed). We were going to monitor his diapers to see if we were getting enough poopy and wet. That evening I noticed my milk had come in and we picked up with the quality of feedings. From there on out Max was ready to eat and there was no need to do any formula at home.

Susan was a little concerned about the jaundice reports from the hospital and his color so we headed to get some blood work done. The test results showed that he was in the lowest bracket for risk of jaundice so we were good! We went back the 17th for a weight check and he was already at 6 lbs 15oz, just shy of his birth weight. At the 22nd appointment he was at 7 lbs 10 oz.

What a big boy! That was a great confidence boost for the nursing department as you really don't know if you are doing a good job. I am thankful to have made it past the 2 week mark and hope to continue on for a long while. He loves riding in his car seat with his bear suit jacket on. I'm glad it's been cold enough to wear it as I got it in a newborn size and it fits great right now.

2 Week Thoughts

Now that Max is 2 weeks old I wanted to share some thoughts from the past 2 weeks. They are pretty random, but I wanted to document them.

• Max was 7lbs 10 oz at our weight checkup Wednesday, up 11 oz from the week before.

• From the above statistic you can see he is eating very well. We are getting the hang of it, although it is still very time consuming. We are feeding every 3 hours unless he is super fussy and we feed him sooner. 

• The soreness from nursing still occurs, I can't say enough good things about the lanolin (except it does stain your clothes so you can use the reusable/disposable pads or not care about your nursing tanks like I do). It's gotten so much better and I hope it continues. 

• We love our pampers swaddlers. We are still in newborn size although he is outgrowing them pretty fast. We have not had any blowouts/leaks or anything yet (knock on wood).

• We love huggies natural care plus wipes the best that we buy from costco in the huge packs

• He is wearing newborn clothes which we had to buy more of (thanks Auntie Michelle) because I really thought the 0-3 months would fit him fine. He will outgrow them very soon though 

• We are loving the sleep and play type pj's for every day use. They are easy for all the diaper changes and feedings since I strip him down to his diaper to feed him since he loves to fall asleep.  

• I have become more active since the c-section and am holding, changing and carrying Max around more by myself. My lower stomach and incision area still hurts, but I am healing nicely. I walk around and really function normally minus the soreness and cautiousness I have from the surgery.

• His umbilical cord fell off (David wouldn't stop messing with it) yesterday

• We had his newborn photo shoot when he was 9 days old with Pam, with Paris Mountain Photography. This was beyond challenging for everyone involved. I was stressed because I wanted him to be a good boy and sleep on command and that just wasn't happening. Luckily my sister was in town and she assisted with keeping Max comfortable and David helped set the shots up. I was just nervously watching from afar. I know we got some good shots even though Max was a bit fussy.  I can't wait to get the pictures back.

• We introduced a pacifier after talking with our pediatrician. Max just wouldn't calm himself down after his initial happy time after feeding before going back to bed. We tried a few pacci's that we had and he loves the wubbanub (soothies) the best. He is still getting the hang of it, but we've had no issues with nipple confusion.

Kinsley Marie

Aiden Myles

Our niece and nephew both had their babies yesterday (1 was early and 1 was overdue). Welcome to the world Kinsley and Aiden.  Congrats to Ashley and Josh! We can't wait to get all the cousins together at the next family gathering (probably Easter). 

Here are some iPhone photos from my camera. He was blinded by the flash on this one. 

Happy boy after eating