Elisabeth's first week in photos

"Happy Birthday, Elisabeth!"

One week postpartum

Wow, it's been a week already!? I have hardly left my bed. It's been a sweet babymoon / healing time. I am so blessed to have my mom here to play with Rychen and to prepare lots of meals all day long, and keep things clean! Rychen is so supportive and also helpful with anything I need, especially emotionally as I adjust.

So I had tons of energy the first 24 hours, we even had some relatives over for a "Birthday party" the day after the birth. But since then I have been wiped out, and was taking it easy for my tear to heal. I think it's pretty much healed now. I have been taking baths to ease the discomfort but usually get interrupted by Elisabeth wanting to nurse! But now that her cord has fallen off, she came in the bath with me and loved it!

Rychen P. is doing really well. He adores Elisabeth, and likes to hold her or hug her. He has special jobs to help clean up and look after her. I think he likes being involved with this effort. He also joins me in singing our song to Elisabeth, Cutie girl Cutie girl, How do you do? Cutie girl, Cutie girl, I love you!! etc. (to the tune of Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear)

Today I am leaving the house to go to the farmers market. I want Elisabeth to get some fresh air, and for my own sanity of course! (and to pick out some great produce! the fridge is bare!) We'll see how she does in the car. I wanted to ride the bus, but the fare is just too expensive now. I am carrying Elisabeth in an Asian carrier, or Mei Tai. I also have a Moby wrap. These carriers are so handy to hold her while I move around the house, so my hands are free. The Moby I especially like because I can wear her skin-to-skin without showing any (The picture below, and the bottom of "Annalise Googled" is a Moby wrap).

Annalise Googled

I was born

I grew up

I live now

Degree in

Favorite color

First job

Grandma's name

I admire

Music I like

Favorite movie

TV

Favorite foods

Favorite books

Other pasttimes

Open eyes & my great invention

We hadn't gotten an open-eye picture yet so I quickly snapped this with the webcam just now. My mom says "She looks like the part of Rychen's family that Rychen doesn't look like." How perfectly stated! Can you see it in the eyes? It's something that Carol and Courtney have, I can't put my finger on it.


I also wanted to show you mamas out there my great idea. Here we are nursing, but who can tell? I decided to wear camisoles underneath my shirt, so that I could pull up my shirt, pull down the cami neckline, and nurse without exposing anything. Also, to make nursing easy at home, I made a special nursing shirt. Basically I just took a regular shirt and cut it off at the breast, just above the nipple. So I am all covered, but the baby can nurse, and I don't have to pull anything up. When I wear this on top of the camisole I am fully covered, but I can nurse so easily! (It's just a little bit ugly) Maybe somebody could patent this idea, and sew cute shrug-type tops, paired with a matching bra-cami to wear with it! FYI I found some cheap camis at Winco. I bought several colors, 2 for $7. They have to be the type that has the built-in bra.

Some quick photos

We have photos on 3 different cameras we're working on uploading. In the meantime, here are some quick web-cam shots of Elisabeth.

And then there were 2

Elisabeth Diane Jones was born today, August 20th, at 2:27 after 2-3 hours of labor. She is 7 lb. 4 oz. and absolutely perfect! Dark hair, soft skin, the works. Looks nothing like her brother! I say she looks like Carol's side. And here I am blogging about it because I can't sleep, the hormones are still runnin' high, even though everybody else is sound asleep! This recovery is a breeze so far, but we'll see. The birth was absolutely incredible (I recommend it!) and I have never felt so alive, so real, and so close to God. Rychen Parker was downstairs with my mom and was able to come see her only minutes after her birth. I am so thankful that everything went smoothly, exactly as I visualized. It was very special to have Rychen P. be involved, and he even got to cut the cord. He was very happy and helpful until bedtime, when he wanted me to cuddle him but Elisabeth was still nursing. So I found a way to make both of them happy and now they are both sleeping in my bed! :) So precious..... I want lots of kids!! I love being a woman! Yeah! Motherhood is awesome (I recommend it!) .... So, until later....!! We'll post some pics soon.