Our First Six Weeks of Parenthood

Greetings to all! It has been a very eventful first six weeks of parenthood. When we last posted Makenna was just a day old on Saturday July 4. We were released Sunday afternoon after Makenna's bilirubin was tested, which was found to be high. When we arrived at home a set of billi lights were waiting for us to setup to begin the long process of getting her levels under control. She spent the first week of her life, which was very hard for Mommy and Daddy. They first started us out with a billi-bed and blanket. After a few days, her levels kept rising and they took the bed and gave us a suitcase that had billi lights that was supposed to work better. Her levels peaked at 18 and then fell to 13 after a couple of days. We took Makenna off the lights and levels started to climb again which we were assured was normal. Sure enough they fell to normal levels and the doctor said we were in the clear. As you can see she got sick of the lights after a while, and started to get a little attitude! (Whittaker Sign)

After she was cleared by the doctor, we packed up and headed to the cabin to get away from the heat and spend some time alone as a family for the first time. We didn't get a whole lot accomplished, just a lot of relaxing and trying to get into a routine with Makenna. Daddy's favorite activity was napping with his little lady. We spent 11 days at the cabin total, including the 24th of July holiday when the Whittaker's came up with our Aunt Marni and Cousin Shiloh. We enjoyed the holiday weekend and the help from the family. We spent a lot of time going through clothes trying to find some that fit her. We had a lot of clothes that were 0-3 months, but were all to big. The only size that she fits in right now is newborn. Mommy had lots of fun dressing her up and trying them on. Aunt Tristy had bought her a special 24 of July outfit, but it was too big so we had to put this bib on her since it was the most patriotic piece of clothing that would fit her. Shiloh had brought her little puppy Kado, and he fell in love with Makenna. He would not leave her alone, he had to watch over her, kiss her and became quite concerned when she would cry. Makenna wasn't quite sure what to think about his kisses though. On the other hand, Beagsley, Lance and Heidi's dog, doesn't really have any interest in the babies, either Makenna or his little sister Maggie. They take attention away from him and that bothers him. He sniffs every once in a while, but mainly keeps to himself.

We finally came home on Sunday the 26 and were happy to finally start creating a daily routine at home. For Jason's birthday, we celebrated at home and then went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Later that week, we had a group of our friends come over to the house to celebrate Jason's 26th birthday, and to meet our little girl. Jason had to go back to work on August 3, which was very hard to do after having an entire month off of work. But, it's worth it to provide for his girls and keep Momma at home with baby. So now we are just enjoying being parents and our daughter is very easy to care for and laid back, as you can see. We are going to try harder to blog more often, but it has been difficult to find time when your exhausted and always busy. Thanks again for checking in on our little family. Until next time...Bye-Bye.