Utah for Thanksgiving

We were lucky enough to get to go to Utah for Thanksgiving!  I obviously agreed to doing this before having Juliet haha.  For our next child I don't think I would attempt flying across the country with a 3 week old baby.  It was fun nonetheless!

Right before leaving for the airport.  We made sure to bundle her up for the cold weather in Utah.

With all the stress I had about traveling with a newborn, Juliet was a dream to travel with!  She slept the entire way through security until we got on the plane.  I fed her as we took off, and she slept the remainder of the flight!  

Juliet was quite loved on the whole week we were there :)  She is the first grandchild on Chris' side so it was a lot of fun for all of us.

But let's be honest, she was only 3 weeks old.  So she pretty much just slept the whole time and ate A LOT.  I think she was playing catch up from losing all that weight.  She weighed 8 pounds 7 oz before we left, and 12 days later at her first month appointment she weighed 9 pounds 9 oz haha.  My doctor said, I guess if you need to gain weight you go to Utah! 

It was so nice going to Utah to see family and friends.  Chris and I were able to go to dinner in Salt Lake with one of my friends Haleigh and her husband Jorge one night.

I also was able to go down to Orem and catch up with my friends Kelsey and Katie.  It was so much fun because Kelsey had a baby boy about a week before I did!  

We also got to see some of Chris' friends...but sadly didn't get any pictures of that.  

Having a baby made Thanksgiving was extra special this year.  We just felt so grateful and still do feel so grateful for having this baby girl in our lives.

A little Thanksgiving family selfie

I tried to get some pictures of her in her Thanksgiving outfit...She was not having it.  

Airplane ride home

We may not have gotten out much while we were in Utah, but we sure had a lot of fun with our friends Chris' family and can't wait to go back again sometime soon!

November 2015

When we left the hospital..Juliet was 8 lb 2 oz, so she weighed 13 oz less than when she was born.  They were worried about her getting jaundice initially leaving the hospital because she was at the lowest possible number you could consider normal instead of jaundice.  Thankfully there were no problems.

5 day doctor's appointment.  Our first time out of the house since the hospital, when her newborn clothes were too big on her!  Her weight was 8 lb 5 oz and the hospital actually measured her correctly at 20 inches long.

Check out that hair!

Blue steel anyone?

Love the snuggles. Also let's be real, this is how I looked probably every day the first 3 weeks of her life.

Chris' work sent us this awesome cookie bouquet.  The back row of cookies say "Juliet Grace Harmer".  We ate the cookie with her name on it last.

We tried to get pictures the rare moments Juliet was awake.  This was before we went out one night for dinner.  Juliet was a champ and slept right through the whole thing.  Also we could not find any socks that would fit her tiny feet!!

First dinner out as a family!

First bath at home

Post bath

My wonderful mom came and stayed with us and took care of us for 10 days from the day after she was born.  We tried to get a picture of them together, but Juliet was not cooperating haha. 

This was the morning after our first rough night with Juliet.  She just wanted to eat all night.  I recall feeding her from 4 am - 9 am.  Chris said I was talking in my sleep saying, "I've been up ALL night with a baby!".

 

When we caved and finally gave her a binky!

My dad took a super short trip to come visit and meet Juliet

Thanksgiving outfit! 

My mom's last day with us we had a little girls trip to the salon to get manicures and pedicures.  So grateful for all her help.  I don't know how we would've survived without her there!

The night my mom left, I started feeling achy and feverish.  I didn't think much of it and just went to bed.  The next morning, I felt AWFUL.  Checked my temperature, and it was 102.  We then found out I had mastitis, which is basically just like the flu.  That weekend was rough.  

I just remember crying a lot because I was so cold and Chris covering me up with a million blankets.  Also postpartum hormones are NO joke.  I kept crying to Chris saying, "I want my mom!".  Nursing was so hard too because Juliet took an hour to nurse then and I was so feverish, the last thing I wanted to do was take any clothing or blankets off to do so.  Thankfully, I started antibiotics right away and 3 days later my fever was finally gone and I was feeling better.

We then took Juliet to her 2 week appointment, to find out she weighed 8 pounds 4 oz.  She was down an ounce from her 5 day appointment.  The doctor just gave me some formula specific for supplementing breastfed babies and sent me home.  I was so stressed about this.  I didn't want her to take a bottle and not want to nurse anymore, but nursing was so draining.  I would feed her for an hour and she would still act hungry.  I cried and cried.  

You can tell in the picture above that she was thinning out.  I decided to nurse her as much as possible and actually only ever supplemented her twice with an eyedropper, because I was too afraid to use a bottle when she was 2 weeks old.  The times I supplemented were only after I had nursed her for over an hour and she still acted hungry.  I was just so worried my milk supply would drop and then end up having to just supplement all the time or switch to formula completely.  We had a weight check up right before we left for Utah and she was up to 8 pounds 7 ounces!  

Looks like I'm not the only mouth breather in the family...

First time taking Juliet out to dinner by ourselves..at Whataburger ha!  This was at the same time she wanted to eat almost every hour at night before bed.  She started crying the second we got there, so I guess we chose a good restaurant for this experience!

After Whataburger, we decided to go to Target and thought if I put her in the wrap she'd fall asleep.  This was my first time wearing her in it outside our apartment.  She was not a fan.  So our first trip out alone as a family was a fail haha.

We decided to put up all of our Christmas decorations before going to Utah for Thanksgiving so we could come home to a decorated house!