1 week as parents

Well here we are after 1 week as parents. By the time you read this Iris will be 1 week old! It has been quite an amazing week. There is something about this time of year that seems to bring amazing events into our lives. Iris was born 9/22 this year. 5 years ago on 9/23 we adopted a hurricane Katrina rescue,  Soleil. If you don't think that changed our lives you have not met Soleil:) 38 years ago on 9/25 Alisa was born. On Oct. 5 we will celebrate our 13 year wedding anniversary. I am sure there is some numerology or astrology theory about why we are blessed with so many wonderful celebrations in such a short period of time. (I am just trying to keep up.)

I had planned to take Alisa on a picnic on the beach for her birthday but we decided it was a little too soon for Iris's 1st beach day:) We had a quiet dinner with family at home and couldn't have been happier just looking at Iris.

I am amazed at how fast Iris is changing and growing. She has started to follow movement with her eyes. The stump of her cord fell off yesterday. She went outside for the 1st time on Alisa's birthday. Monday she went on her 1st car ride to her 1st pediatrician visit. While at the pediatrician she was weighed in the lay down scale for the 1st time where she promptly pooed all over it. Fortunately the diaper bag was stocked with wipes and diapers. She weighed in at 5 lbs 15 oz which is just shy of her birth weight. That means that she is getting great nutrition from the nursing. Yay!  (Which is its own adventure that could fill this post by itself. And again I say to all fathers, stop what you are doing and go tell the mother of your children how awesome she is.) So Iris is growing nicely and should be at her birth weight by the end of the week.


Today we also received the furniture for the nursery. Yes, I said received. For those out there who are pregnant, "don't wait." We thought 1 week before due date would be plenty of time to set up the nursery before the birth. Wrong. It is much more difficult to assemble furniture while trying to keep up with demands of a newborn. Ditto for any preparations that need to be made before birth. Do it by end of 7 months.

Over the last few days I had some of those "parent realizations". 1st-This child relies on us completely for her all her needs. That is no small responsibility. 2nd- I love her more than I thought I could love anything besides Alisa. In the middle of the night I had a few seconds of panic. I woke up and looked over to make sure that Iris was breathing. And just for a few seconds I couldn't see her breathing. That was the longest few seconds of my life. And in those few seconds I realized that it is true what people say about parenthood. "It is like walking around with your heart on the outside of your body." I never understood before. It is one of those experiences that can not be seen or heard but can only be felt.

Photos from the weekend.