april 28, 2013

Before church today I was determined to take some pictures of my darling newborn and her siblings.  Before she gets one day older.
Of course it was madness.  What made me think I could get FOUR kids to copperate and sit at the same time?  You have to be really good at kids bribing, or really good and swapping out whole bodies in editing to get a picture of four kids this young I've decided..... and neither of these are skills I posses.  But Baby Bethany was sweet as can be and let me shoot pictures of her in the open sunlight on my bed long after I sent the kids away and to church without us.  She was sure to make lots of cross eyed and grumpy man faces lest i forget what she actually looks like most the time.  And then all tired out we cozy-ed up together and took a nap for the next two hours.   It took me four kids, but I think I can finally take a decent newborn picture.  Hooray.


Some notes about Bethany's first week.

Bethany has been our healthiest newborn yet.  With Kate we dealt with bowel and urine issues, thrush, and her not wanting to eat or sleep.  With Sam we dealt with thrush and a horrible diaper rash.  With Marianne we dealt with jaundice, blood sugar issues, thrush, diaper rash, strep, and hearing problems.  All of these resulted in me taking my newborn babies back to the hospital or doctors several times before they had even been home a week.  Not Bethany.  She has none of these problems thankfully and we dont look like we will be at the doc's until the normal two week check up.  Hooray!  All of this has meant more cuddling time and a lot less worry from Mom.  She started to look really yellow/ orange for a day or two but it quickly went away.

Bethany is sleeping and eating great now.  She has periods of awake time which we don't mind.  Usually they are in the early morning hours from 2-4 am but I don't really mind this.  She sleeps most the day while I take care of other things, and work and even usually get a nap.  We've been able to get her to take a bottle too and hopefully she can keep it up.  She is kind of a slow nurser, compared to Sam and Marianne at least and takes at least 30 minutes usually, then drifts off to sleep usually.  Then wakes 3 hours later ready to repeat.  She will sleep in your arms, on your shoulder, by your side in bed, in her pod chair and in the boppy pillow.  She will sleep swaddled or unswaddled.  She is pretty unbias when it comes to sleeping.
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Bethany is noisy.  In a very sweet way.  She grunts and coos and hums all day while she sleeps.  She even seems to call back to us.  Mary was crying earlier and she seemed to call back at each cry.  She has done it  a time or two with me as well it seems She makes a lot of silly faces.  And sleeps despite chaos around her some how.  She is sometimes left awake in bed for a while when I am in the middle of caring for other kids but doesn't seem to mind too much.



Everyone has lots to say about her beautiful red hair.
We've seen a small few smiles from her and love it.
On Friday I went with the three olders to the grocery store.  Bethany stayed home with Dad watching over.  It was the first time we'd been more than a few feet apart


So far she is being called Bethany and Beth.  Baby Bethany, Baby Bethy, Bethy and My Darling.