updates

People keep asking me how Evelyn is doing, so here's a brief rundown. She seems to be doing pretty well for someone her age--she's a bit jaundiced, so she's been spending most of her time under flourescent lights (thus the lovely blinders you see in the third picture here). Her biggest challenge right now is learning how to nurse. Part of the difficulty is that she's still so little and she's recovering from a traumatic episode (i.e., birth), so she sleeps a lot, which makes my feeding her impossible (that's what the little tube in her nose is for). And being jaundiced doesn't help her feel more alert. I'm supposed to try and feed her a couple of times a day--today, although she didn't nurse very long (she wears out after a couple of minutes, sometimes after a couple of sucks), she did at least wake up and nurse both times. I'm rather endeared by her funny short-sighted way of blinking at me, and the way her tiny fingers curl around mine when I hold her. She also has delightfully long, tiny feet (which she didn't get from me!). At any rate, I think she's a keeper.




Andrew seems to be doing pretty well. He's been shamelessly spoiled by his Bubby these last few days since I've been preoccupied with my multiple daily hospital visits and interminable pumping. In other words, he's been able to watch all the TV he wants in the morning and Bubby has made numerous batches of goodies for us (in the past three days we've had brownies--courtesy of Dan, chocolate chip cookies, gingersnaps, rice pudding and other sundry treats. At this rate, I'll never lose the baby weight!). We will miss Bubby terrible now that she's back in Cedar City. Other than that, Andrew seems more bemused than anything by this turn of events. He knows he has a sister (I think) and that she's in the hospital, but beyond that, I'm not quite sure what he's pieced together.

I've included here a couple of photos from last week. We invested in a popsicle maker (read, freezer mold) and Andrew was positively thrilled by it. For two or three days running he talked about his popsicles nonstop. Unfortunately, his first taste of the popsicle was not without its own trauma--despite all of our explanations that he couldn't hold the thing upside down by the handle, Andrew persisted in doing so, with predictable results.



This next photo was, I think, Andrew attempting to show off for his Bubby.

Me: I'm doing pretty well, all things considered. I'm tired and a little sore from delivery, but nowhere nearly as tired or sore as I was after Andrew was born. And I've been a little amazed at how much I've been able to do in the last two days. As a sample, here's my schedule from yesterday (to fully appreciate this, you need to know that I spent the first three or four days following Andrew's arrival home from the hospital in my pajamas and glued to a chair or bed):

7 a.m. Went to the hospital to see/try to feed Evelyn. Got home around 8:30.

10 a.m. Went back to the hospital to see/try to feed Evelyn (who once again slept through the proceedings). Afterwards, I went to rent a breastpump from a clinic in Orem and then to Target to get some necessary supplies. (Dan was at work and Trisha was home watching Andrew, which is why I was running errands on my first day out of the hospital). I got home, ate lunch, pumped, took a brief nap, and then . . .

4 p.m. Back to the hospital. This time Evelyn actually woke up and nursed a little bit, which was exciting for both of us. I came home, had dinner, and helped Dan put Andrew to bed. Then I pumped again. (I seem to be doing an awful lot of this). Around 8, Trisha and I went to the Provo mall in pursuit of a top to match a bright green skirt Trisha had bought on sale. Apparently the shopping options in Cedar City are pretty limited, so she wanted to take advantage of her time in Provo. At any rate, I think I spent as much or more time outside of our house as inside it. And clearly, I'm recovering okay.

Dan: Aside from being a little tired, Dan's doing pretty well. He's still teaching his class and trying to catch up from the prep work he missed this weekend. I think his class was a little disappointed to find that the baby had come during the weekend, since this meant no free class cancellations.

In other news, Trisha and Andrew and I went and visited Dan's cousin Anna today, who also had a baby last week. Her mom (Trisha's sister Verona) was in town for a visit, so Trisha was particularly excited for the chance to visit. Anna's baby boy (I can't remember if they named him William Travis or Travis William, but it's something like that) is also jaundiced and under flourescent lights, as you can perhaps tell from the color of the picture and the baby in the incubator!