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Today Charlotte and I went on a big trip–we drove to the new mothers’ class I am taking. It was the first class and it went well. It was really nice to meet some other new mothers. They are very encouraging of class members going on social outings outside of class, so, we went over to Panera afterwards with some of the other people. It was Charlotte’s first restaurant visit, though she slept through the whole thing. I had to really bundle her up since the high today was 17 degrees!

This week has been pretty quiet otherwise. Charlotte was 3 weeks old yesterday. We went to the pediatrician again and she has finally regained her birth weight, so she is gaining weight more slowly than they would like. The doctor recommended adding an extra feeding of pumped milk with a bottle every day, so we did that yesterday and today…so far so good. She’s growing out of some of her clothes so that seems like a good sign.

Today I took Charlotte for a walk all bundled up in her baby carrier. It was chilly but sunny and I did a few errands in Roslindale Square. The sidewalks were mostly clear from the last ice/snow/rain storm and it was so nice to get out. We haven’t used the stroller yet but maybe we’ll try that next–although having her in the carrier probably keeps her warmer. She was asleep most of the walk.

The past few days we’ve been trying to figure out why Charlotte spits up so much. At the doctor Wednesday she was still a few ounces short of her birth weight, so we have to go back for another check next week. She is eating a lot and frequently but the doctor suggested cutting her feedings a little shorter to possibly eliminate some of her spitting up, and also raising the head of her crib/bassinet mattress. It seems to be helping so far–the incidents of projectile spit up have gone down! We also went to the cardiologist this week and the news there was good. She had another echocardiogram and the doctor was happy with what she saw. So we’ll go back in two months for another checkup.

Here’s Charlotte on her play mat the other day. She moves her arms and legs so much when she’s lying down that it looks like she’s doing karate.

Big stretch after a nap:

Brian went back to work today, so Charlotte and I were on our own. Luckily he’s still got ten days of paternity leave that he’s going to take over the next few weeks, a few days each week. He’ll be home tomorrow and Wednesday for doctor’s appointments. Today went pretty well, although Charlotte must be having a growth spurt because she’s been really hungry today. A few of her newborn outfits are already looking like they might be too small.

Charlotte likes her vibrating bouncy seat, although she was so fussy tonight the seat didn’t even do the trick. We had our first major diaper blowout today.

She is also getting good at escaping from her swaddling. At night and during naps we can hear her grunting and making noises to get out of the blanket, and sometimes she gets her arms out of the sleeves of her sleepers too.

Here’s to a great 2009!

We posted some more photos today, here. In the past few days we’ve just been hanging out with Charlotte, eating all the food my parents brought, and trying to nap whenever possible. She seems to be getting into a routine with eating and sleeping–she’s hungry about every three hours during the day and about every four at night. She was awake a lot today and fussier than she has been so far. 

It snowed yesterday and today was only about 20 degrees, but we are hoping to get out of the house for a walk tomorrow when it’s supposed to be a little warmer.

We arrived home with baby Charlotte yesterday afternoon. She spent both nights of our hospital stay in the NICU and we weren’t sure till yesterday if she’d be coming home with us. She is doing great, though. She has a heart murmur which will be monitored for a few months to see if anything needs to be done about it or not. We’ll see her regular doctor next week and then the cardiologist at Children’s Hospital the week after that.

In the meantime, she has been eating a lot, sleeping, burping like a champ and just generally being extremely cute. Here are some extreme closeups:

And on Daddy’s lap:

And there are more pictures on Flickr.

39 weeks and counting! This is one of my few really warm maternity sweaters and I am so sick of wearing it all the time.

This is this year’s ornament that we got last weekend.

I went to the doctor today, but he had no news, really. The baby’s head is down and there are a few signs of labor coming, but the baby is staying put for now. So, for those of you (Kelly) who picked Dec. 17 in the baby pool…I’ll try my best but it’s not looking very likely! I do still have a week till the due date, though. I have been bouncing on our exercise ball, since I read that can help start labor, but, no luck yet. The doctor doesn’t seem concerned about the size of the baby, so if it hasn’t arrived by my appointment next week I’ll ask him what will happen next.

We tried to take a belly picture by the Christmas tree, but the pictures were all fuzzy. I think camera shopping is on this week’s agenda, so we can take some quality pictures when the baby arrives. Otherwise we’re just relaxing–Christmas shopping and wrapping is all done. This past weekend I cooked a few meals to put in the freezer, and I stopped at Trader Joe’s today to stock up on paper goods and frozen meals.

Well, I found out today I am not getting laid off from my job. The magazine I work for is shutting down its print edition, so I’ve been in limbo for a little while now waiting to hear what’s going to happen to me and the other magazine editors. The company laid off about 75 people, 12% of the total workforce, today, so it’s been a sad day in the office. But I’m very relieved to be keeping my job, although I don’t know the exact details of my new role. I am staying in my group and will probably be writing and editing for SearchStorage.com, the online partner of the now-shut-down magazine.

I figure I’ll worry about the details when I get back from maternity leave in March. In the meantime, I can relax and enjoy the next week or two, maybe going for long walks or eating spicy food or finding some other tricks to get this baby to move out!

There’s just a little more than two weeks left till the baby’s due date–Christmas Eve–and it seems like there’s not much left to do but wait. We’re trying to just relax and do fun things on the weekends. This past weekend we saw Bolt in 3-D, and went to brunch and to the MIT museum.

Here’s a picture of the 36-week belly at Thanksgiving: