I don't have this good of a memory, but I wrote things down in my planner and put a couple of notes in my phone along the way. I quit doing it as much as we got further along though... so I'm sure my post will get shorter and shorter and become mainly pics along the way.
Saturday, June 27th, Brandon Jones, a resident a year ahead of Colt, and his wife, Angela, brought us dinner and a gift card to the house. I had never really met either one of them so it was definitely very sweet of them to think of us! Dinner is definitely the BEST gift you can give new parents. I never knew it before, but now I will definitely be aware of it when our friends have babies. Afterwards, Tina and Riley stopped by for a visit to see Kinley.
Some pics of Kinley with Daddy on that Saturday
This is inappropriate but we were going through Cards Against Humanity cards while Tina and Riley were here. This one said "doing the right stuff to her nipples." We thought it was fitting. At this point in the game breastfeeding was still painful.
Colt and Kinley hanging out on Sunday, the 28th
And Kinley and I on Sunday night while dad was working
Monday I got a flower delivery from one of my favorite clients at work. It was a nice little surprise.
Another pic just because I wanted to remember her little legs and feet. She still has long little toes, but now our legs have rolls!
Anna brought us dinner on July 1st. It was homemade which was so great. She made a casserole, a salad, and cookies that Colt devoured in one setting before dinner.
Kinley's newborn pictures were also that night. They had been scheduled later in July after her expected due date but when she came early, we had to find a time to reschedule. The original date that we had rescheduled to, we were actually still in the hospital. Luckily, this date worked. She was still a little yellow from her jaundice in her pics.
Kinley and I before we left for her newborn pictures. I was still wearing maternity shorts at this point.
A few pictures that Colt snapped of her working the camera in her photo shoot.
My mom gave me my coming home outfit that I wore home from the hospital back in 1985. It swallowed Kinley because I was a much bigger baby than her, but I bunched it up in the back and took some pictures of her in it. 30 years difference... she's a much prettier newborn than I was.
July 3rd Colt was off and I think Brianna was out of town so Josh ended up coming over and having dinner with us that night.
Get ready for picture overload of Kinley. I have so many pictures that I think I am still going to post week by week, at least at first.
We came home from the hospital on Saturday, June 20th. During those first few days, we called Kinley our little squeaker box because she was definitely that. She also would pucker up and do her little stretching. Both were the cutest. I think everything with a newborn is the cutest though... Even when they poop on you. There were several times those first few days and weeks that Colt and I got peed and pooped on. One time when we first got home, I think it might've actually been that first Monday night home, I was looking real close for some reason and she squirted poop all over me and my dress that I was wearing. I also remember another time where she squirted all over Colt, his foot and the rug, and I know those weren't the only times. Fun times and lots of laughs!
Dede and David stayed the night Saturday night and Dede cooked us dinner. She cooked us lunch on Sunday as well before they headed back home. Colt and I did another Target run while they were here. We figured it would be my last outing for a while and that I better enjoy it so we left a bottle with Dede and David while we made a quick trip.
This was us bathing her on Saturday night when we got home from the hospital. This wasn't her first bath. We had given her a quick wash rag bath the first Monday we brought her home from the hospital to get all the sticky tape and band aids off of her too but we didn't get any pics of her that first time.
It looked like she was smiling on Saturday night. She was happy to be home from the hospital.
Sunday, June 21st
That Monday Colt had to go back to work. He had a 10am-10pm shift that first day. When he got home from work after his first day back, he came home and told her how much he had missed her. Every time he would come home, he would tell her how he missed her and he would give her goodbye kisses when he was going in for a shift. It was the sweetest. Evidently he had also been bragging about her on the phone to his Grandma Linda. She said he told her "just wait until you see her, she's perfect." I think he was and still is pretty proud of her!
Monday, we also had Kinley's follow-up appointment with Dr. Drigalla, her pediatrician that day at 1:15. It was my first outing with her by myself. It definitely took me a little longer to get out of the house there at first. Since they were doing a heel stick to check her belli level, they went ahead and did her newborn screening at the visit as well since I was already there and they were already sticking her. By then, her heels were so torn up that they couldn't find a spot on her foot anymore that wasn't scarred. That prior week when we were at the hospital, since they had ran out of surface on the bottom of her feet, they had actually started doing straight sticks in the top of her foot so she was even bruised there. At Monday's appointment, she weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. (4th percentile) so she was an ounce over her her birth weight at 10 days old. Her belli level was 14.2. It had been 13.5 when we were released from the hospital that previous Saturday so the doctor was concerned about that. They scheduled another visit for Wednesday for us to come in for a weight and belli check. She also had a hip click so we were referred for a follow-up ultrasound a few weeks later. On Monday, Matt and Whitney also came by for a short visit to meet Kinley.
Monday, June 22nd, hanging out with Mom
On Tuesday, Kinley's umbilical cord fell off.
I took a picture of her afterward and sent it to Colt about whether she was going to be an innie or an outie.
This was his response. Haha. Since then, she's definitely an innie.
Some more pics from Tuesday, June 23rd.
Her little feet and hands just because they were so tiny. I still love looking at her little feet.
She definitely doesn't have all that extra skin on her legs anymore.
Lucky trying to check things out
Sleepy and trying to wait on dad to get home from work
Wednesday, I took Kinley in early that morning for her follow-up visit. She weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz. (4th percentile). She was still about 19.5 inches long (23rd percentile). Her belli was 13.3. Luckily, that was better and it would be her last heel prick for a while. We had an additional follow-up visit scheduled for the next Monday but luckily we were able to cancel it a few days later since everything looked good the rest of the week and weekend. On that Wednesday I was supposed to be attending my breastfeeding class. Obviously it was a little late for that! I remember thinking it was funny when I saw it in my planner. I mentioned that I started pumping and feeding her bottles while we were in the hospital. I was a little worried about her going back to breastfeeding, but we didn't really have any issues. She went and still goes back and forth from breast to bottle with no issues. We did have to use a nipple shield and actually kept using it until around Thanksgiving when she suddenly decided she didn't need it for some reason. This was around the same time, she also quit taking a paci.
Even though sunlight doesn't do a ton for jaundice, the doctor still wanted me to either sit by a window or sit outside with her for just a few minutes a day so we did. Don't worry we weren't out there but maybe 5 minutes suntanning.
We used the diapers that everyone wrote on at our Temple baby shower!
Some more concerned brother pics from Wednesday, June 24th
That week, I got several thoughtful personalized gifts in the mail. The top one, Tasha, a co-worker that lives in Oregon, made herself. It was a blanket, a rattler, a bib and several burp rags. Then we also got more personalized burp rags from Tammie Dickson and a blanket from the Runnings.
Thursday, June 25th, before going for a walk
And another pic from that night
This was the next day on Friday, the 26th. She was mesmerized by her sleep sheep.
Other things from that week...
I attempted to go walking with her and both dogs and was unsuccessful. We got all tangled up and I turned around quickly and took the dogs back home. We've since gotten the hang of it but it was a mess at first.
One day when Colt walked in from work, I was sitting on the couch hands free pumping. He laughed when he walked in. I said "what do I look like a cow." He just laughed and didn't respond so I took that as a yes!
Lucky worried about her and still does. When she cries, he cries and it's the weirdest howl that he never had done before. He mainly does it when I'm in another room. It's like he's trying to tell me that something is wrong and she needs me. I've got it on video so I'll post it when I get to it. One night in the beginning, when Kinley woke up crying in the middle of the night... I guess I didn't get to her quick enough because Lucky woke Colt up pawing at his face! Alex on the other hand, could really care less about Kinley. Especially there at first, she would go to the spare bedroom and go to sleep when Kinley started crying. It's almost like she was irritated or inconvenienced by her.
I'm not sure if these were in that first week, but if not, they happened in those first couple of weeks of sleep deprivation...
I woke up at 8pm one night and I thought it was 8am. I started panicking because I thought I had missed 12 hours of feedings.
Another night, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking Lucky was her. Lucky was laying next to me and she was in the bassinet.
We got home from the hospital on June 20th, just in time to celebrate Father's Day the next day on the 21st. Kinley, with a little help from mommy, made this and gave it to her daddy on Sunday morning.
And here is a picture of Kinley all bundled up like a burrito on Father's Day!
