We live perhaps five miles from Perrot Sate Park. Because of this as a family we decided that it just made sense to purchase an annual state park pass, which we have done (ok we did that today, but still). Today when we wanted to get out of the house for a bit we decided that Perrot was the place to go.

While we were driving through the park today, part of our goal was to walk one of the trails there. A nice way to enjoy the woods, learn something from the markers the park rangers have placed, and receive some exercise. We walked the Black Walnut Trail which is only a 1/2 mile but it was hilly. I carried Allyssa in the sling that Jean had made for me.

It was good exercise, and then later we walked part of the River’s Edge trail, and between the two of them it was enough exercise for the day.

In between walking the two trails, though we decided that it would be great to have a picnic in the park. So we went home and picked up what we needed. Shane has had a small portable gas grill for years, but we haven’t used it much even though in the past he had often used it. We had hotdogs and buns on hand, so with some chips we had something reasonable to eat.

While we didn’t have much for ice packs at the time, we had a empty Juicy Juice jug which we put water in and took some other juices to drink as well. With all of this it made a nice relaxing picnic at the park. Shane even found a frisby which we threw around for a bit.

After walking the trails, we also found a spot to park where we could watch the tracks to see trains go by on this side of the river. While it’s not the perfect spot (no shade), it is a spot where you can see the tracks easily. We are still going to have to look to find a place that is both shady and a good view of the tracks.

Since we’ve decided that we need to go picnicing more often we have taken empty (juice) containers filled them partically with water and frozen them. When we are ready to fill the cooler, we top them off with water, and then we are able to both keep things cold, and have fresh water to drink.

As for Allyssa, she seemed to enjoy the park just fine. She definitely enjoyed her meals there, and was awake part of the time.

Well Shane said that I would do a post on breastfeeding. So it’s about time that I did take the time to do such a post. For the most part breastfeeding is going well, at least as far as we can tell. In the beginning it wasn’t that easy.

While we were in the hospital, every time Shane handed Allyssa to me, she would go immediately to sleep. It was so bad, that the lactation consultants told him it was his job to irritate the baby and keep her awake so that I could feed her. Also while we were in the hospital Allyssa and I had trouble becoming coordinated enough to feed her. Ok, a large part of the problem seemed to be that she wanted things to be easy and didn’t want to take the time or trouble to latch on correctly.

While in the hospital she continued to have some problems with this, but we were definitely working on becoming coordinated enough to feed her even if it did take work and wouldn’t be immediate.

After my milk came in we still had a few problems. Still the latch on problem but we were working on it. In many ways I don’t think that how my milk would just run into her mouth necessarily helped. Apparently she would think she could drink without latching on, but since when she did latch on she’d spend the first minute or two just gulping to keep up with the flow, I suppose I can understand why she would think she didn’t need to work too hard.

While the milk still flows quickly, especially in the beginning, we have it figured out now. Occasionally it takes her a little longer than other times to latch on, but she does that well now. As for how quickly it flows? Well, it’s more than willing to squirt if she doesn’t want to stay latched on if that’s any indication. And they both are more than willing to leak if she doesn’t keep up with the buffet supply.

Yes, while I’m not sure how it came about, it’s referred to the “All Allyssa Can Eat Buffet” around here. We also joke that even with the buffet always being ready, I still need time to for serving set up.

Yesterday we had our two week checkup for Allyssa and everything is looking good. She’s up to a hefty 7 pounds 9 ounces, so she is above her birth weight by 5 ounces. She has been gaining weight at about 21 grams per day and they look for between 15 and 30 grams a day, so just about average weight gain. Darn, thought she was above average.

Ok, so I think she is above average, but I guess I have a biased opinion. I think it’s just wonderful when she reaches out and grabs my glasses, even if it is involuntary. Her arms get to flailing about and when her hand encounters anything, glasses, fingers, noses, hair, even the sensitive nipple once in a while, she grasps – and she has a strong grasp. If she doesn’t want to let it go, she won’t, and you just laugh and wait until something else interests her.

For me, life is getting back into normality again, if you can ever have a normal life after having children. Earlier this week we had some excitement, not baby related, but it kept me from getting work done that last couple of days. Unfortunately, the 55 gallon aquarium that WAS my baby sprung a leak. The fish were losing their home, so they were given away to the first person who was interested. All except for the large 14″ plecostomus that I had – she was delivered to Marineland in Onalaska, WI to be observed before being placed in one of the large aquariums at one of Gundersen Lutheran clinics in the area.

Well, that’s it for today – back to work for me.

Well, we still don’t have our digital camera but we are buying one later this month. However, thanks to Gunderson Lutheran hospital, we have a photo we can share. This photo was taken on Saturday, April 28th, the day we were brought our bundle of joy home. Isn’t she just the perfect little angel?

I want to thank my sister-in-law Charity for buying the cute outfit, and my step-mother Roseanne for the beautiful hand-made blanket we used behind her for this photo. This is also the outfit she wore home, and we used the blanket to keep her warm, though we didn’t really need it as it was 82 degrees when we went home.

Things are still going well here. Allyssa is eating well and gaining a lot of weight. At her last appointment on Thursday, May 3rd she was up to 7 lbs. 5 ounces, above her birth weight which tells us she is getting enough to eat. We have our first “well baby” appointment on Thursday of this week so we will know more about how she is doing then.

She hasn’t been much of a homebody since we brought her home. Until this week we have been out somewhere just about every day. There are so many things to do when you have a new baby in the house, but things have settled in nicely and I am back to work nearly full time now. Oh, and if you see Diapers on sale somewhere, PLEASE let me know! She’s gone through over 80 already and she’s not even 2 weeks old!

No, I will not share photos of this as we want to protect our daughter’s privacy and innocence, so this will be just a report. Although she was obviously given a bath at the hospital after birth, that was done by nurses – although I did get to put the first diaper on. Today however, while changing her, she decided to pee while there was no diaper on, so we felt a good, soothing bath was in order.

Thanks to my mother, we have a nice infant bathing seat to use until her umbilical cord heals – since we can’t submerge her in water until then. So far, Allyssa does NOT like to be bathed, but we hope that will change as time goes on. It’s kind of hard to get a baby clean when she is squirming and wiggling all over. She also received her first shampoo from dad today, which she seemed to enjoy more that the bath – maybe it was because daddy held her while he did it. Regardless, it was the first of what will be many baths – and she sure smells great after one!

Well, OK, so she ended up getting two baths today. We are learning that when we change her diaper she seems to wait until it is off before urinating, which she did again today while mommy was changing her. So, after she was changed, and she topped off the belly with help from mom, she got her second bath today. It will take some practice, but I think for now we will keep the diaper at least under her until she finishes her duties while changing. More on nursing and diapering from mom later.