Life at home

Well we've officially survived our first week at home! What a week it's been though. Hayden still prefers to sleep during the day and be awake at night. But now his awake time at night is a little quieter. He's alert but not crying, so we'll take it. We move around, from the bassinet to the rocker to the bed to the swing downstairs, depending on what kind of mood we're in. We have NO schedule to speak of, which is made easier by Jay's 10 days of paternity leave (thank you, Army). He signs back in tomorrow, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, so when it's all said and done he'll have had two whole weeks with us. And the Christmas holiday is just around the corner!

A big thanks to Leigh, Amanda, Judy and Megan who were Hayden's first visitors in the hospital! Since then he's been lucky enough to meet the Meyers, Millers and Pollards, but most importantly, Oscar! Everyone has been asking how Oscar is doing with the baby, and truthfully he just kind of tolerates him right now. He likes to sniff him, understands that we need to give the baby lots of attention, and is fine as long as we share some of that attention while the baby sleeps. I think once Oscar can lick him and play with him, he'll be just as smitten as we are.

So far it's been a busy life for little Hayden! We have survived our first sponge bath; took our first trip out of the house (in the snow!) to visit the commissary and the Pollards, which of course included our first round-trip in the car; we've tested out the swing and come to love the bassinet-level of the playpen; and mommy even managed to cut and file his nails without a tranquilizer (for me!). Hayden's umbilical cord stump fell off rather quickly, as did his plastibell cover from his circumcision, so we're ready for our first real bath! We're also learning the tricks of the trade to avoid getting peed on, but he can be tricky. I did have to wake Jay up in the middle of the night once this weekend to change Hayden's clothes while I changed the sheets in the bassinet.

Next week starts our rounds of paperwork to get Hayden firmly entrenched into the military system. This week, however, we're still just relaxing and looking forward to Thanksgiving with our Army family!