Time FLIES!!!

So it has now been 7 weeks since little Rane made her big debut! It is so hard to believe! I hate that I haven't been blogging as much as I had planned but it is hard to tear myself away from her! She is such a great baby! We are enjoying every little bit!
My mom stayed in town from the time she was born until July 19 (Her 41st wedding anniversary) and then Mike's parents arrived from NJ on July 20th to spend a few days! It was a whirlwind visit but it was great!
The biggest sigh of relief though came on Sunday July 25. Rane was officially 1 month old and we finally had a house that was only filled with the 3 of us! Our little family of 3 were able to just skip church, rest, relax and watch movies. It was so restful and it felt GREAT!
Mike and I have both had our struggles with getting used to caring for a baby, but we are both settling in. We enjoy giving Rane a bath...SHE LOVES IT and seems as though she could sit there for HOURS! Feeding her is a little frustrating sometimes, but honestly she eats the best at 3am! HAHA! The funny part of her feedings is that sometimes she absolutely REFUSES to burp for me. I can ask Mike to help, and within SECONDS of him taking her, she will let out the manliest burp! Its like their special little bond. It cracks me up!
She gets the hiccups all the time and is frustrates her but its really cute! She also coughs during her feedings and it is so funny because they sound so fake because they are such tiny little coughs, but I know they are real!
We have continued to enjoy watching her become more and more aware of her surroundings. She loves to look around and will follow our voices. She will reach for her bottle and pacifier and is able to roll from her side to her back on her own. She holds her head up GREAT and loves tummy time (as long as it is by laying on mine or Mike's chest) She's not crazy about being on the play mat on her belly.
We have ALMOST slept all the way through the night. Two nights ago, we put Rane to bed a little before 11 and she woke up around 5 or 5:30 to eat! I am hoping that within another week, she will be going all the way through the night!
We are so blessed that we own our own business. It has allowed Mike and I to take turns staying home with Rane while the other goes to work! We each enjoy our days with her and it is nice to know that we are not going to miss these precious moments.
We have gotten out with Rane a couple of times although the heat has been oppressive! We are excited to be out and about more once the temps drop. She enjoys being in the jogging stroller. It was fun to take a walk with her in the late evening and watch her look around at all of the sounds of the bugs in the trees. She did great! We also took her to downtown Florence for First Fridays where there are booths of vendors and live music. Again, it was hot, but she did awesome!
Rane is on a fantastic schedule. We now are VERY regulated. She eats at 8am, 11:30am, 3pm, 6:30pm, and 10pm. Then she wakes up once during the night to eat! She also has a regular nap time from about 1pm-3pm every day and will usually nap for an hour in the morning and an hour in the early evening! She is such an easy baby!
I still cant get over how big she is getting and how fast it is passing by! We love each new little development and milestone, but at the same time, I sometimes wish that she would stay tiny! Its the best feeling to cuddle up and let her nap on my chest, or have her nestled in my arm for her feedings. I know that the next time I blink she will be holding her own bottle and not needing me to hold her! But for now, I will LOVE every moment and take it all in! As I typed the last sentence, Rane started crying. Right on cue...3:02 pm...Nap over, time to eat!!!

summer 2010 (92 photos), by Brynn Gilbreath

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Home from ECM through 1 month (82 photos), by Brynn Gilbreath

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3 weeks in!

So we have survived three full weeks of parenthood! Things have been going pretty well and in the last three days I feel like we are finally hitting our stride! Rane has been on a good schedule, although just today she decided to throw us a curve ball! However, its a GOOD curve ball...instead of eating 3-3.5 oz every 3 hours, she is going about 4-4.5 hours and eating 4 oz! Not sure where this new appetite and contentment came from but I LOVE IT!
I think I am finally starting to come out of my hormonal and emotional fog that caused me to cry for silly reasons and feel ridiculously overwhelmed. Now I am feeling confident as a Mom, I just have to regain my confidence as not only a Mom, but a Mom who is ALSO a successful business owner and wife. That's 3...count 'em...THREE full time jobs! :-) I am getting there though!
This little girl has already brought us tons of joy, lots of smiles and laughs (at her funny faces and sounds) and I think we are both surprised at how much love we have for this little person that we have only known for 3 weeks.

We took Rane to the doctor on Tuesday for her 2 week checkup and she has surpassed the Dr's expectation for weight gain. He was hoping that she would be back up to her birth weight (7 lb 5 oz) but she was already at 7 lb 13 oz. I was worried that in my emotional state, I would sob profusely when they pricked her heal to draw blood. Funny thing happened though, I could NOT stop laughing at Rane b/c she screamed like crazy when the nurse cleaned her foot with the alcohol pad...then didn't even flinch when they did the heal prick! It may sound mean to laugh at my child, but knowing that there was nothing hurting her...just cleaning her foot, I couldn't help it!

One of my favorite things about Rane is watching her wake up. She makes the funniest faces as she stretches and squirms! She cracks me up! We have unofficially nicknamed her "Squirmy Wormy" because she is a constant wiggle worm...when we feed her, change her, dress her, even just holding her...she is WIGGLY!!!

Within the last few days she has become increasingly more alert and spends her waking moments scanning the world around her and checking things out. I know that her vision is not very good yet, but she sure does seem interested in everything around her.

She still is an easy baby...not really fussy, unless she is hungry and she is just a joy to have around. I know that I sound like every other new mother who is totally enamored with her newborn, but what they say is true. You can never understand this love until you have a child of your own, and at the same time it gives me a whole new level of appreciation for my mother and all that she did in raising my brother and me!

God is good! He sent us the perfect little baby and we are thrilled and blessed to be her parents!

1 week old today!

Well, today Rane is one week old! She is a wonderful baby so far. She only cries when shes is cold (diaper change/bath time) or if she has a burp that just wont come out (which has only happened twice) She eats at regular 3-3.5hr intervals except at night. She seems to go about 5-6 hours between her "last" meal of the night and her "first" meal of the day! Last night she went down at 12:15am and I woke her up at 6:15am. She was still very content and could have probably gone longer, but due to her check up this morning, I wanted to get the day moving! She is just a joy to have around. She makes great faces and loves to stretch! Swaddling will fix almost ANY problem and she sleeps very well between feedings (This certainly helps us catch up on sleep/chores)
She will let anyone hold her or kiss her and I have yet to find anything that makes her unhappy (other than being cold).

We have been so blessed by an AMAZING group of family and friends. Our Sunday school class has gotten together to make sure that we have meals brought to us every other day from now until the middle of July! My mother has taken 2 weeks off of work to help out during the day with laundry, running errands, grocery shopping, addressing birth announcements, and watching the baby so I can shower, etc. Mike has stepped into the temporary role of Chick-fil-A Operator, taking care of all of the month end duties at work and making sure all is well there. My employees have been SOOO wonderful about being self sufficient and have only called a time or two, allowing me to rest and not worry about work! God has blessed us with such a great staff! I am just blown away!

I guess the theme for the last week is intense gratitude! Gratitude to God for a healthy baby girl and for the people He has put into our life, and gratitude to those people for the ways that they have gone out of their way to show their love to Mike and me!

To quote the chorus of an old church hymn:

"Count you blessings name them one by one, Count your blessings see what God has done, Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessing see what God has done"

Rane Malise Albretsen

Here are my 2 favorite pictures of our new little one! These were taken on Monday June 27 at only 3 days old

Rane Malise Albretsen (65 photos), by Brynn Gilbreath

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