Harper's First Week

Yesterday Harper was one week old! Looking back on the week as a whole, it seems like it went by very quickly. There were certainly moments where I wasn't sure the week (or day or hour) would ever end--generally the ones in the middle of the night when we were supposed to be sleeping but weren't--but overall we've had a good first week as a family. The highlights of Harper's life so far are below. To see pictures of most of these events, click here.

• First bath: This was a bigger deal for Mom and Dad than for Harper. She was pretty chill the whole time. It definitely took four hands to hold onto her slippery little body and actually accomplish any washing. It will be a relief when her umbilical stump falls off and we can use the little infant sling/washtub thing. At least I think it will. It appears like that would make it easier, but we'll see if that's really the case.
• First outings: We quickly found ourselves shorthanded on some baby essentials (we've been doing two loads of baby laundry every day to try to keep stocked), so on Monday we made a blitz family trip to Babies R Us between feedings. Harper did really well. In fact, she was only awake for the dreaded strapping into the car seat, and for the last ten minutes of the car ride, when we were anxiously trying to make it home before she realized it was 15 minutes past her dinner time. We also took her out for her first walk around the neighborhood yesterday.
• Breastfeeding (don't worry, there aren't any pictures of this): Overall, this has been going really well. We've had some really great feeding sessions, where Harper eats for 20 minutes straight, punctuating gulps with lots of satisfied grunts. In the last few days she's also kicked up her eating schedule to every two hours, which doesn't leave Mom a lot of time to do anything in between, but it's good for her to have such an appetite. However, we've also had some really frustrating sessions, where all of sudden Harper seems to forget how to do the whole breastfeeding thing, and screams because she can't get any food. This would be funny if it didn't break your heart and make you furious at the same time, because she's screaming due to lack of food, but she's struggling to do it while her mouth is full of boob. If she'd just close her mouth and get down to business, we'd all be happier. After a few of these sessions where we were both in tears (or would have been if newborns had tears) I think we've finally figured out how to at least get some eating accomplished when she gets that wound up, even if we can't eliminate the screaming completely. The crazy thing is that sometimes we start out with a great session and midway through she forgets how to latch on and we end with frustration and both of us soaked with milk (these sessions are a big contributor to our two loads of laundry each day).
  
• Explosive poops, referred to in our house as "rocket poos" (don't worry, there aren't any pictures of these either): The first time I heard (and felt!) one of these poops I almost dropped Harper. You can hear them from the next room they're so loud. So far the diapers have managed to contain these poops, but I think it's just a matter of time before they find the perfect trajectory to rocket out a leg or up her back. Once I had undone the tape on a diaper when Harper launched a rocket poo while lying on the changing table. Luckily the diaper was still cupped around her, or I'm pretty sure the wall would have needed cleaning.
• Harper's social calendar: Several of our friends have stopped by to visit Harper, we've Skyped with grandparents and even an aunt in India, and Joe's parents were out to visit this past weekend. Harper's social calendar for the next few weeks is definitely busier than mine ever was.
  
• Smiles: Harper may not be intentionally smiling (the old saying is that it's just gas), but whatever the reason she's had lots of smiles in her sleep lately and they are really cute.
  

Here's what we've got planned for week two: a visit by my family, another bath, more visits from friends, the first ride in her swing, and hopefully some nights of sleeping for three hours at a stretch.