10/17/06 - 12th Letter

12th letter
Tues. 10/17/06

So being home has been much better with lots more sleep than in the hospital! We picked up my mom last Friday night from our small Misawa city airport and it’s been great having her here. She lets me get lots of sleep and has been helping out a ton. She sleeps in Brock’s room on a queen bed that we brought. The bed and the crib fit in the room and we put the changing table in with our kitchen table. So everything fits ok. I was just glad she could sleep on something decent for 2 ½ weeks. Bryan went back to work last Thursday, just in time for the next Exercise, so his schedule is 5am-5pm and included last Saturday. He was able to leave work for 6 hrs last Thursday and a few hours on Friday for some appointments we had for Brock, so that was nice. Last Friday was Brock’s 2-wk appt (he will be 3 weeks old tomorrow), and he was almost 21 inches long and 9 pounds 2 ounces (remember he was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 ½ in. when born) – so he has definitely grown! The last 3 days or so he has been eating every 4 hours or so, so that has been really nice! – but the last 24 hours he’s been on his own schedule so hopefully we can get back to the trend we thought he was starting. But he’s obviously getting enough to eat! He’s in the 50th percentile for height and weight and his head was normal size too. We think his ears are bigger than normal….but they didn’t measure those – haha. More and more people are saying he looks like Bryan but I can’t really tell who he looks like quite yet. We’ve been able to go hang out with others 2 different nights so we can now even make it out of the house with him okay - haha. But I bring a bottle because I can’t quite do the breastfeeding thing in public yet; but that is going good too – what a relief. He sleeps a lot of course and doesn’t really have fussy times. We started him on the pacifier and he does pretty well with that, or so my mom says. She keeps saying how surprised she is at how good a baby he is, so we have been blessed with this first one!! Man we love him to death! I guess I’m getting used to the fact that I’m a mom and he’s mine and that this isn’t just a temporary thing. My mom and I went to a baby shower last Saturday for a friend of mine who is due Oct. 31st, and it is kind of weird to see her how we once both were. It is nice to be able to bend over again. She is jealous because I never got any stretch marks – yay! More weight has come off so that’s really nice that so much has dropped without really having to do anything – I guess I did retain a lot of water at the end – I just thought my legs were actually getting fat. The chubs above the c-section scar are just kind of interesting. But what can I say, it hasn’t even been 3 weeks – soon I’ll be able to exercise. Anyway, enough about that.
It’s getting colder here – the temperature’s in the high 50’s and 60’s, and it’s been raining quite a bit. Our beach on base got flooded because it rained non-stop for over 48 hours.
Naomi asked how motherhood was going… I think my friend Rachel put it well: “exhausting, overwhelming, fulfilling, confidence building... wonderful.” Rachel asked if now I will have to have a c-section with all the rest of my deliveries, and I don’t know actually. They never really talked to me about that afterwards. I will ask about that at my 6-wk appt I guess.
So, it seems like it’s hard to get a lot of things done in one day, that’s for sure; and to get enough sleep for the night, your day starts pretty late. But we are trucking along and getting used to it, and once my mom leaves there are a lot of people here who are always willing to help. The friends we have made here are awesome and so good about checking up on us and seeing if we need anything – we love them! We love Brock and this crazy experience. He can focus on us now and just stares at our faces sometimes. Bryan loves to do “tummy time” with him to strengthen his little muscles and he is such a good dad!! He does so much for me and our little family and I couldn’t ask for a better husband! So between having the best husband ever, the best little baby ever, and the best mom ever, I am doing great! We are definitely enjoying our time with little Brock Taylor.
Hope all are doing well and we love you all!
Julie, Bryan, and Brock Blumenkrantz

To view the pictures not posted click on the link and then on the picture to see the slideshow: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.2vh4f43c&x=0&y=-5xo2hq&localeid=en_US