The first eight weeks

These past several weeks have been very busy for us ...

We've spent a lot of time feeding and diapering,

and not much time sleeping. 

And I had gallbladder surgery.

(my excuse for not posting these pics earlier) 

Here are some pictures of our first several weeks together:

Time for a sponge bath!

I love the princess towel that her Aunt Melissa got for her.

The blow dryer is a handy tool for warming her up after a bath.

She loves it!

We have discovered that Sophia is very expressive with her hands:

I don't love the pacifier that she has because it covers a lot of her face,

but it's the one the hospital gave her and she won't take any others.

Gram-gram Bokovoy!

Poppa Brady!

Dah-dah!

(The panfa outfit was courtesy Nonna (Danette) and Poppa Brady.

It's a newborn sized outfit that hangs loosely on her here,

but it fits her nicely now.

Momma!

Sophia likes to listen to Momma talk ... what a good girl!

She loves to be held by Daddy: 

All is right in the world! 

I think she looks especially young here ... almost like a fetus.

The picture was taken on October 13th, when she was 38 weeks gestationally,

so she really could have been a fetus at that time!

Somehow her binky ended up out of her mouth and propping up her cheek:

 We seem to have a lot of pictures of Sophia sleeping ...

But I'm pretty sure they were all taken during the day.

She sleeps so well in Daddy's arms!

I love this outfit that my cousins Lisa and Alisha got for Sophia. 

Unfortunately, she only wore it once before she grew out of it.

Nakey baby!

She spends very little time in just her diaper - she still gets cold very easily.

Sophia sleeps best in this position:

We think it's her mommy's familiar heartbeat ... combined with being on her belly.

The nurses at the NICU often put her on her belly to sleep.

We can't let her sleep on her belly in her bed because of the risk of SIDS

since she's not hooked up to monitors like she was in the hospital.

Uncle Andy

His nickname for her is Salsa!

(His nickname for me is Bean-dip)

Some cute car seat shots: 

We just learned that it's also an asphyxiation hazard for babies to sleep in their car seats...

so that will have to stop.

The outfit she's wearing is a preemie size (courtesy Grandma Saxton)

I love how she is really filling it out here.

This is what she's like at night:

Wide-eyed and beautiful as we like to say.

But even when she keeps us up all night, she still takes our breath away.

Lots of time spent burping:

Say what?!

Another cute preemie outfit (that no longer fits)

 ... this one courtesy of great Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway:

Sophia was a skeleton for Halloween:

Sophia is our Sweet Little Angel Baby!

Sophia loves bathtime!

Hi Daddy!

I love the next series of pictures of Sophia with her daddy:

Just look at those lashes!

Bright eyes!

Oopsy - a little spit up ...

Li'l sleepy head

Nostril shot!

Our little panda bear:

Quick update:

At her last weigh in nearly 2 weeks ago, Sophia was 6 pounds 13.5 ounces.

She's been gaining about a ounce a day.

When we first brought her home she had 6 of her 8 feedings by bottle

(breastmilk fortified with formula for extra calories).

Now she has only one bottle per day.

This makes things much easier for me now that I don't have to pump every 3 hours.

She has become a very efficient nurser - it usually only takes 10-15 minutes for her to eat!

And the greatest thing:  for two nights this week she woke up only once per night!

I forgot how good it feels to get several hours of sleep at once!!