3 Weeks Old Today

Our first date night since Natalie was born

Grandma and Natalie ready for girls' night

This blogging thing is new to me, but going to attempt to document Natalie's life, not only as a keepsake for her to read when she gets older, but also for family and friends to keep up-to-date with her.

Natalie Lynne is 3 weeks old today and I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were just a family of 2 with a dog and a cat. I told Bobby today that it still seems surreal that this little girl is ours to keep!

My mom, Grandma Lisa, has been down here all week over her Spring Break to help us out, which has been so great for all of us. Although she does not feel she has helped out a lot, I am so grateful she has been able and willing to take her break to cuddle, talk, feed, and love on Miss Natalie, as well as helping me out with a little bit of laundry, dishes and other household tasks here and there. At least that is until Natalie wants Grandma's attention!

Grandma was especially helpful yesterday when Mommy was running a fever and not feeling too well! I could not have gotten sick at a more opportune time because I don't know how I would have managed Natalie by myself while feeling so bad!

Today, Daddy was home from work and got to spend time one-on-one with his daughter which was great with all the hours he has been working since he went back to work last Wednesday. This entire week, Natalie has been much more awake and active during the day, but of course today when Grandma and Mommy left the house for a few hours to run some errands, she decided she would sleep most of the day with Daddy. I am glad she slept, but she had also slept pretty well during the night...a whole 4 hours at a time once and then woke up every 2.5 hours after that. Mommy needed the sleep since she wasn't feeling well the day before. Now, of course tonight she does not want to go to bed and is probably going to keep Mommy and Grandma awake!

Tonight, Grandma babysat while we got to go out on our first date since the arrival of Natalie. We ate at Applebee's (because we had a giftcard courtesy of my grandparents), walked around the mall looking for a St. Patty's Day outfit for Natalie (decided against it because Bobby thought I was crazy for wanting to get an outfit to be worn for one day), then found Natalie's Easter outfit from The Children's Place (shopping at the mall has changed greatly since it is all about Natalie now and not about shopping for me which will be a big adjustment since I loved shopping for me at times), then ended our night at the bowling alley (proud to say I bowled over 100, but of course Bobby had won both games). It was nice to be out and about tonight as a couple, but definitely not the same after only getting a few hours of sleep at a time during the night and not wanting to be out too long due to me needing to get back home to pump so my boobs wouldn't feel like they were going to explode:) Oh, the joys of breastfeeding!

Tomorrow will be our first long trip in the car with Natalie along with having Rusty and Grandma in the car too. Needless to say it will definitely be an adventure that I will definitely be sharing when I get the time! We will be going out to dinner with Matt and Amanda; my mom; Bobby, Natalie, and I. It will be interesting on juggling a long trip as a new parent and see just exactly how long it will actually take to get up to South Bend when it usually only takes 4 hours or less!