First Few Weeks with Bea

Still going well here! At her 2 week check-up, Bea was up to 7lb 13.5oz - just 1.3oz away from her birth weight and enough to make the pediatrician very, VERY happy! I was beyond pleased, I'd been worried that she wouldn't have gained enough weight and they'd want us to supplement with formula, which is what killed my supply with Ellie.  So hopefully everything stays on track and we make it to my next goal - 4 months, which is when I had to give up breastfeeding with Ellie.

This week has also been the first week that I've felt physically fine again. I still feel some pinching/pulling when I sit up from a reclined position, but even that is getting pretty rare and I'm moving around normally now, which I haven't been able to do since mid-summer...it feels GREAT! Since I have been feeling so good this week, I've been trying to get in some little photo shoots with Bea whenever I can. It's kind of a "when the stars align" type of thing, because Bea has to be really sleepy and Ellie has to be either out of the house or napping for it to work. A few days ago, I was able to get some nice shots of Bea in our bedroom, and yesterday I got a few more in the dining room (love the shiny hardwoods in there!). The dining room worked out even better than I thought it would and I'm looking forward to doing more picture-taking in there. I just wish our house was better oriented...the sun goes diagonally over our house, so we don't really get too much direct sunlight in the windows. I really need a flash...and some type of zoom lens, and I'd really like some editing software. Hopefully there'll be some good Cyber Monday deals after Thanksgiving. Anyway, here's my favorite from the bedroom pics, there are more in the September album.

My parents came down for a visit to meet Bea this past weekend and I'm ashamed to admit I took absolutely no photos! I was just having such a good time visiting with them that I never even thought about it....oops! I'll have to get some good ones next time we see them :) Right now the next visit is scheduled for the week after Christmas, but I'd really like to go up to Connecticut before then...maybe for Thanksgiving. Then we're planning to head down to Florida sometime after Christmas, though we're still deciding if we're up to driving it or if we'd rather pony up the cash for plane tickets and a car rental. If we drive, we'd stop at my grandparents' house in North Carolina for a night or two, but we'd drive back up straight through (stopping at their house is a few hours out of the way). I'm not looking forward to a 13 hour drive with the two little ones, but flying and renting a car is pretty cost-prohibitive.  We'll see!