Day 17

This may seem like a super long post but it is really mostly pictures... and me bragging about Ashton.

My mom left this morning- she abandoned me in order to take care of her other children. She chose to go already missing her company and help. She was with me during everything! She walked around with me during my contractions, stayed up at night to make sure I didn't die from the pain and kept walking, kept me calm during labor, brought me breakfast in bed every morning, took care of Ashton in the mornings so I could sleep some more, took care of my home and even finished up all my nursery projects (she stayed up at night to sew the crib's bedding, my pillow cases and curtains!!) It really is amazing how unproductive a new mom's day is. All I did today was sleep, sterilize bottles, feed and change Ashton. My mom took such great care of us and did it effortlessly. I was able to rest and spend time with Ashton while my mom took care of the home. I've only been home alone one day and I feel like nothing got done (dishes in sink, eating leftovers, piling laundry baskets, etc.) Here is my mommy with her first grandchild.

These are the proud grandparents. My dad also came for the birth of his first grandchild. He was so good in taking care of me- holding me up when I couldn't take the pains of the contractions anymore. He also fixed the little quirks we had in our home and touched up the outside paint. He is a great handyman and made sure I was getting my rest and nutrition.

Ok, now I feel a need to be productive and people have been asking for updates on the little one.
Every new parent wants to think that their baby is special and smarter than the rest of the newborn babies. I will take part in that- Ashton is developing so fast right before my eyes. I'm sure all babies are like that,blah blah blah but I'm his mom and I'm going to think that he is better than the rest when I'm sure he is just average. He stays pretty alert and calm for 1-2 hours, sometimes 3 like today. He is so curious about his surroundings that he will just look around the room and look at us trying to take all this new stuff in. He has a little friend, this purple monkey toy that came with his little chair, that he just loves to look at. We have him wear little mittens because I am not quite ready, I'm scared really, to cut his fingernails. He has managed to take them off (using his mouth) and scratch himself. He is always in a boxing position (his mittens look like boxing gloves and he keeps his hand right at his chin) and that makes it really hard to feed him but he will support his bottle from time to time. He makes the funniest faces in his sleep and I wish I could capture them all but he's too fast for me. This pic is his blue steel:

annoyed

pensivecurious really annoyedcalmpeaceful
starving! this kid already chugs down 5 oz of milk. he eats like we haven't fed him in days. satisfied- the milk knocked him outmid-sneeze

He laughs and cries in his sleep which breaks my heart. We're told that he makes the sad faces and cries because his tummy probably hurts. I thought he was having bad dreams and just wanted to wake him up. I couldn't bear to see my little baby be so sad! Yes, the crazy protective instincts are here and don't expect them to go away just because I am married to Lorin. I will try to protect him from his father's crazy ways as long as I can. One more "my baby is best". When we went for his first doctor's check up, the nurse was impressed that little Ashton was so brave during the PKU test (that's when they prick baby's heel and squeeze his little heel 6+ times to draw blood out. She said most babies scream their little heads off, but no, not Ashton. He quietly whimpered (which still broke my heart and left me wanting to hurt the nurse that was hurting him) and took it like a man (just like his dad). He didn't even cry when he was circumcised- he only cried when they were undressing him because he was cold (he's taking that after his mama- I hate hate hate the cold). Ok, I am done bragging (that was for you, Steve R.) Sorry if I annoyed anyone or offended others with newborn babies that think their babies are just as good :)

So, we have also had lots of visitors stop by to take a look at our little babe.

Here he is with Uncle Dallin, Aunt Alisha and Aunt Janelle when they came to visit us in the hospital.

Uncle Eric and Kathy and Mark also stopped by. I love the look Kathy is giving Eric as he is holding a wittle baby.
Here is Auntie Brooke/expert nurse/my old roomie of forever! I heart her. She is now working in the NICU in Provo.

Aunt Janelle and Uncle Bryan.

Our new friends, Bree and Kevin. Aunt Alisha

We had Bev (heart her, too) and her little girl, Brooke. Brooke was very curious and wanted to get closer to the little guy on the bed.

My friend, Kim, from high school had a layover in SLC so we decided to meet up in the airport so she could see little Ashton. She is so great and Ashton loved being held by his new friend.

My uncle, aunt and cousin who live in Layton stopped by yesterday after conference (which was awesome) for dinner. I failed to get a group shot but this one is a closeup (we have a lot of those)of Ashton with Aunt Alida.

We also had Janelle, Bryan, Alisha, Shannon and Nat stop by last night. Here he is with Aunt Alisha, who has graciously volunteered to help me out a little by watching him while Mom gets some sleep. What a sweet aunt!

Our friends Steve and his fiancee, Tricia, stopped by, too! They were in town for conference but are heading back to Las Vegas tonight. It was so good to see Steve and meet Tricia for the first time.