Three weeks is a long time. I mean, we're talking 21 days. That's 504 hours--very few of which were spent sleeping. Yet I feel like I blinked and I missed something. A lot has happened in the past three weeks. For one, I have a daughter that actually fits into her newborn size clothes now. That's a big deal. I feel like she has grown so much and is starting to show us a little bit more of who Afton is.
April 10th
May 1st
I think she has a good sense of humor. One of her favorite things to do is make a mess when her diaper is off. She's 4 for 4 when getting weighed at the doctor's office. She's also 2 for 2 when wearing this outfit. She loves looking at the lights in our house. If you walk around with her, she will turn her head to keep looking at them. She's actually really good at holding up her head. She has been from the very beginning, but she continues to get better. She doesn't like to do it when we have tummy time (which serves the purpose to help her hold up her head), but she loves to lift it up and look around whenever you hold her on your shoulder.
She also loves looking at our painting of the Savior on our wall. She's been intently focused on that painting way too many times for that to be a coincidence. She's also very patient and understanding. Mom's got no clue what she's doing half the time, but Afton is so patient with me. She fusses when she's hungry, but when she she realizes that mom's getting ready to feed her, she usually calms right down and waits patiently. She is such a sweet little girl.
April 12th
April 27th and fitting much better :)
I had a big pay day a few days ago. I was rocking her and singing to her and she was just staring me in the face being so calm and peaceful like she tends to do. It finally hit that I really am her mom. She needs me to help her and to teach her. She's so sweet and I am so lucky to have the blessing of being her mother. Such an incredible feeling.
In other news, I've changed quite a bit in the past three weeks too! Just a minor detail though.
April 10 (actually the 9th, but I look about the same)
May 1 (I had every intention of showering and
getting dressed for this picture, but I pitched
that idea after a long day, reasoning that this
is a more accurate depiction anyways.)
Three weeks have come and gone, and there's three more weeks until that magical six-week mark that I've heard so much about. I'm excited for that day to come, yet I find myself already nostalgic for that brand new tiny little 6lb 14oz baby that got swallowed up by all of her clothes. I'm glad she and I are starting to get things figured out, but I kind of miss that fresh little bundle too... but not enough to trade back the progress we've made. :)
By request, and because I'd love to share, I wanted to post about Afton's name. As some of you may know, Afton is actually my middle name. I was named after my great grandmother. I didn't know her very well--she passed away about 15 years ago and suffered from Alzheimer's as long as I can remember, but I've kind of always felt a bit of a connection to her because we shared a name. From what I understand, she was very much a lady, and also very strong. We hope Afton will also have those same traits.
Afton and Michelle Afton
Michelle Afton and Afton
Afton's middle name is Jayna. As some of you may know, this is my sister's name. Ty actually suggested the idea. We thought it sounded good with Afton, and then the name continued to grow on us as we want Afton to look up to Jayna as well. Jayna is one of the sweetest people in the world. She is a peacemaker and is very good at helping others to feel loved and included. We hope that Afton will develop some of the great traits of her Aunt Jayna.
Me with Aunt Jayna and some headbands she made for Afton
Our little Afton Jayna has some big shoes to fill, but we know she can do it. We're so grateful that she has so many people (way more than just her two namesakes) to look up to and try to emulate. We'll do our best to teach her, but we're grateful for all the wonderful examples she has that will really help her to become an incredible woman.
Afton Jayna Payne was born on Tuesday, 10 April at 1622 hours. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long (I saw the doctor round up though).
Michelle did an amazing job. We arrived at the hospital early Tuesday morning and Michelle decided after fighting contractions all day Monday and through the night that she wanted the epidural.
Two thumbs up for epidurals!!!!
With the epidural in place things proceeded fairly smoothly. After about 12 hours in active labor, Afton Jayna Payne showed her face.
She is absolutely adorable and we are so glad she has joined our family. We truly feel blessed to have the opportunity to raise such a special little girl.
Freshly Bathed
This is actually the earliest picture of Afton we have (I was busy cutting the cord and hugging and kissing her and Michelle was obviously stuck in bed)
On Monday we took Kathy to Rita's for family night. We had high hopes all day of rushing into the hospital because Michelle was having sporadic contractions. No such luck. A trip to Rita's was a pretty good consolation prize. Unfortunately they were out of vanilla custard and Swedish Fish flavored Italian Ice (fortunately though, that means we will have to go back one more time while Kathy is still here).
On the first day after due date, fate had given me:
A "parade" complete with Roman soldiers and Jesus actors as well as thousands of followers that filled our street that we got to watch sitting on our front porch. (Seriously thousands of people walked past our house, and most looked at us like clueless white people since everything was in Spanish). It wasn't really a parade--it was more of a mass exodus. Good Friday indeed.
On the second day after due date, fate had given me:
A lucky encounter with a cop who pulled us over for having expired tags and let us off the hook since they just expired the day before. He also looked at our car seat in the back because it wasn't secure and he was worried about our baby. It was okay when he saw that it was just random things sitting in it and the baby was still in my belly.
Ok, so we didn't actually get pulled over by Shawn Spencer, we just didn't get a picture. We almost asked the cop if we could, but figured we maybe ought to not push our luck.
On the third day after due date, fate had given me:
An Easter egg hunt! and a lot of condolences at church since I didn't anticipate being there today. However, in other good news, I can still have an Easter baby. And the longer she waits (and still shows her face today), the less hours that means I'll have to be in labor.
Even the baby got some Easter stuff... the bunny planned ahead, but apparently the baby did not.
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