What We're Up To - First Week With Baby

I can't believe that it's been a week already that we've welcomed our little boy into our family. And even though I've done my best to rest to recover from the birth, we've been busy to run some essential errands and also received the first visitors to meet little Calvin:

On Tuesday, we receive the first visit from the midwife (did I mention that I love this woman??) and relax a lot. I get to take a long afternoon nap with Calvin, which I really needed after basically not sleeping at all during the night of Sunday to Monday.

On Wednesday (the EDD), Calvin had his second well-baby visit and we ventured out for the first time as a family of five. Calvin is doing well, his hip sonogram looked great and he only lost a little bit of weight. The midwife also did the newborn screening for metabolic disorders. Since we haven't heard back from the lab so far, we assume that he tested negative on everything. Lily went to a birthday party and baby Calvin received his first visitor, Lily's friends' mom who was kind enough to take Lily to and from the party.

On Thursday, poor Calvin spent over an hour of crying during the morning because of a tummy ache. It's fairly difficult to burp him, so we know we need to watch that more carefully. In the afternoon, Lily had a friend over to play while I played board games with Violet while Calvin slept on my arm.

On Friday, the midwife came over again; Calvin had almost reached his birth weight again. Later in the morning, we ventured out to Forchheim to submit all our documents to have Calvin's birth certificate issued. We had lunch in town before heading back home. In the afternoon, a family friend came visit to meet Calvin and we all had a great time.

On Saturday, we all ventured out grocery shopping for the first time. I spent the afternoon laying on our bed cuddling Calvin and enjoying his newborn smell. Pretty low-key day for us, time to relax and unwind.

On Sunday, my mom and aunt came over to meet Calvin. The girls were so excited to see Oma, as usual. It was a pretty relaxed visit as we didn't stress out about having the house in perfect condition. Unfortunately, my dad felt under the weather and did not come out.

On Monday, we went to visit my sister to look at her new home and run some errands in my former home town. As a surprise, my dad also came over! My sister loved to see Calvin again, and my dad is so in love with his first grandson. The girls played with their cousin all afternoon long; it was loud, but the girls did fairly well as a three-some. We came home late, had grilled cheese for dinner and a quick bedtime. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the drive home a couple of times and also while watching TV with Calvin. I probably should take more breaks!

Today, we finally received the birth certificates, so we can start all the paperwork registering in our town, applying for the monthly government child benefits, the parental leave benefits, and his insurance card. Calvin also had his newborn hearing test today and passed wonderfully. Lily started her 4-day horse riding class and also had her last appointment with her ergotherapist with a laughing and a crying eye. In the afternoon, Lily went to play with a friend while I did board and card games with Violet and Calvin cuddled with Daddy. Violet and I took Calvin out in his stroller for the first time to buy dinner.

Even though it is stressful sometimes, and there's definitely some guilt on my end over not being able to give the girls the attention the need, we have definitely settled into our new life with baby. The girls are in love with their brother and a big help watching him so I can take a shower or brush my teeth in peace. I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us. Next week, Violet will go back to kindergarten, and only a few weeks later, Lily will have her first day of first grade. Life definitely won't be boring for us any time soon!