Just a quick note as I should be packing for our trip this weekend.

Today Meggy had her "one month" check up with the doctor. She weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz (50 percentile) and is 23 inches long (95 percentile!). She's going to be a tall baby. The doc is pleased and said she's doing well. She's up to 4 oz of formula per feeding and is still letting us sleep up to 6 hours at a time. We are so lucky! We go back at the end of August and start the immunizations... poor baby girl.

On the down side, looks like breast feeding won't be in our future. A couple weeks ago my milk pretty much dried up regardless of pumping and trying to feed Meggy. The doc said since I'm hardly producing any milk it's probably not worth putting me on the drug that increases your supply... you need to have some kind of supply to begin with. So Meggy will be a forumla baby regardless of my efforts. To compensate we're buying the tricked out super fortified formula. It's way more expensive that the regular stuff but essential for her development. What can you do? At least she'll be in cloth diapers in about another month. Those suckers are HUGE, she still has some growing to do before she can fit into them.

Yesterday Meighen was one month old!! Well technically she was four weeks and two days. A month never equals four weeks.

She’s still doing really well. I don’t know her weight at the moment (we go to the doctor tomorrow for her one month check up) but I know she’s 24 inches. She’s grown 3.5 inches in one month… that’s insane! She’s eating, pooping and vocalizing lots. She’s starting to grunt and make little noises while she entertains herself. We’ve had a couple rough nights and days with lots of crying and little sleep but thankfully it didn’t last long. She’s still a good, quiet, happy baby most of the time.

We went to my Aunt’s this past weekend and most of my extended family got to meet her. It was nice to have them all take turns holding and loving her. We took lots of pictures to remember the occasion. Also on Sunday we went to Sears for our first family portrait. Sears is mucho expensive but we got a coupon that gets us a bunch of prints of one pose for $8.00. Not the best deal but it’ll do. We chose a family shot instead of just Meggy on her own – we have lots of those already.

It looks like my EI is FINALLY coming through starting tomorrow. I think I’m being shorted a couple weeks though. I think they’re basing it on the incorrect ROE that was submitted with the wrong date. There’s also a two week “waiting” period that you can’t get paid for that’s starting on June 22 when it should be starting on June 17. The statement online also shows I should be paid from July 6 going forward (three weeks pay) but it shows only getting paid from July 12. Good grief. At least I’m getting some money to cover this month’s bills. We can figure out the rest later, we’ve got a chunk of change in the bank to cover us in the meantime.

Can’t wait to go to Ali’s cottage on Friday! I know Grandma is looking forward to seeing Meggy again too. She’ll be babysitting Sprocket for us while we go. Unfortunately our family Golden Retriever Molly took a turn for the worse last weekend and had to be put down. She was 13 but lived a good life. It’ll be so weird going there without seeing the Molly muff.

Today I took Meighen out in the sling I bought for her. Getting sling was a huge hassle as the first one they sent me was so heavily scented there was no way I could put a baby in it. I washed it over and over with detergent, baking soda, vinegar.. everything I could try but it still reeked. I sent them an email and they exchanged it for me but even the new one smelled. This one wasn't as bad as the first so I still wahed it a few times before using it.  So yeah, today we walked up to the mailbox to mail the birth announcements. She fussed a bit while I got her settled in it but then as we started walking she was out cold. It must reminder her of her time on the inside. I have a feeling this will become an invaluable investment.

I've gone through all the clothes Ben's cousin gave us. There was some really great stuff in there.. really cute dresses and denim overalls. Some of it was brand new! I've kept four boxes and donated the rest to charity.

Meighen will be 4 weeks old this Sunday. To celebrate we have our first family photo session at Sears. My Aunt happens to be having a family get together that day so it'll be a good opportunity for the family to meet Meggy.

I was watching an episode of House the other day and I don't usually get sentimental over stuff unless it involves sick or injured animals. This one invovled a virus spreading through the maternity ward and newborns getting very sick. It broke my heart when one of them died and I got really emotional when one family was reunited with their child who would survive. It got me thinking about Meggy and how lucky we are to have a happy healthy baby. I guess this is part of how "you're life will change". After that episode I thought about the things I love about Meg already and how they already bring me joy.

• how she sucks on her tongue during a feeding     
• when she sticks out her neck and makes an ‘O’ with her mouth
• her big blue eyes            
• how sometimes only ‘Mom’ can stop her fussing
• baby sneezes                             
• the way she pouts
• the face she makes when being burped
• how she’s always posing with her hands at her face

Today Meighen is three weeks old and she’s doing great. We’re up to 80 ml or so at each feeding. Most of it is still formula as I don’t think I’m producing that much milk - something to talk to the doctor about when we go back at the end of this week or beginning of next.

I'm doing a lot better. I keep hearing how people can't believe how fast I'm recovering. I'm pretty much back to my old self - shlepping groceries, gardening, cleaning the house, driving, running errands etc. The antibiotics worked and the incision's infection has cleared up. The remaining hole is starting to close up too. I think I've finally lost some of the stitches. It's hard to tell since I can't see the area and Ben said you really couldn't see the stitches to begin with.

Me mere came back tonight with her husband to see Meggy before they head home tomorrow. They also brought with them 11 boxes of baby clothes from Ben’s cousin. She had a girl with her first baby and now has a little boy so she was kind enough to give us the girly stuff. I’ll have my work cut out for me this week going through it all. We don’t really have the space in her room for all these clothes so I’ll have to work out a rotation system. Right now all her clothes fit in three little fabric boxes on her change table shelves… not any more!

I’ve been working on the baby album Mom bought Meggy while I was in the hospital. I think I have most of what I can filled out so far. It’s been fun and will hopefully be a great keepsake for Meg. I still have to finish my “Belly Book” which is a pregnancy journal. Good thing I kept this blog going, that’s how I’m able to go back and fill it all out. Between our wedding and baby I’m starting quite the collection of photo albums and journals. I hope she appreciates them as she grows up.

Over the August long weekend Meggy will be going to her first cottage. One of my dearest friends Ali will be up at her cottage outside of Ottawa for the long weekend. She’s invited us up so she can meet Meighen. I can’t wait. Hopefully she and Ali’s son Seth grow up to be friends, or at least enough to get long at our annual visits. They’re seven months apart. Its great having a friend who’s also a new Mom, she’s a wonderful resource.

I think that’s about it for now. I need to beef up the photo album here on the blog. I’ll try to get to that this week. Right now all my Meighen pics are on facebook.