One Week

One week ago, on December 1st at 3:50 am, Ms. Noelle Elizabeth made her entrance into this world. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20 inches long. She was (and is) perfect.

To answer some of my own questions from my last blog - she does have lots of dark hair, she seems to have my nose and my eyes (but it's hard to tell so early on), her cry is more of a high pitched screech that goes as quickly as it comes, I only shed a few happy tears when she was placed on my chest, and Cassidy stayed dry-eyed but the joy he felt was a beautiful thing to witness.

I am going to do a separate blog about labor & delivery (not too detailed, promise). But here are pics of us holding our bundle after she was cleaned up. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of when I first saw and held her because we were so caught up in the moment that the camera didn't even come out.




Noelle has been an absolute dream for us first time parents. She rarely cries or fusses and when she does, she typically just wants to be held. No problem for me considering I am adverse to sleeping at night because I miss her. No joke...I actually miss her when she is sleeping an arms length away. So many memories are forever ingrained in my mind already and I will treasure them always. One of my favorites is waking up in the hospital in my recovery room and seeing her being wheeled into the room, eyes wide open, with a little hat on, and my feeling of "I can't believe this perfect little person is mine." However, the best part is the love I feel for her. I've heard it said by others, but "love" doesn't really explain it. My heart leaps out of my chest with each new facial expression, coo, kick of her leg, and grasp of my finger. Breastfeeding, while exhausting, is such a special bond and I am so happy I made the decision to do it and that the two of us (Noelle & I) caught on within a few days.

I have to say that Cassidy has been the best support I could have asked for. He is up with me every time she is up - whether it is to get me water or chat with me to keep me awake, he runs errands, cooks, cleans, took the brunt of diaper duty, and tells me I am beautiful every day. It's so wonderful to watch him with her and see how much he loves her and cares for her. He is a protective papa bear and I'm nervous for the boys that come around in her teens :)

As for her 1 week birthday, we took some pictures today and as you will see, I captured a few of the many faces of Noelle...and they are all cute, if I do say so myself!