Our first week with Maddox!

Sorry it's taken so long for us to post, but this new baby has kept us a little busy not to mention my recovery. I got a postpartum infection, so I've been pretty miserable up until yesterday. I'm feeling better now and am excited to share a ton of pictures from Maddox's first week with us at home.

He's been terrific. He nurses a ton, which is good, but I've been a bit sore. We've decided to nickname him "hoover". He's developed a little bit of a routine as much as he can in a week. He likes to cluster-feed in the late evening into the early morning hours around 1 or 2 am. Then he usually crashes for about 3 hours, then eats, and again sleeps another 3 hours or so, which is nice, but that cluster-feeding session usually tires me out quite a bit.

Our families and friends have been so great with bringing us food, bringing me to doctor appointments, and just spending time with me, since Corey had to go back to work so soon. It's amazing how nice it is to just have someone else there to talk to and help with all the little things. I'm positive we have the best families anyone could ever ask for. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

On Tuesday, October 31st, Maddox was officially one week old. We got him all decked out in his duck costume and headed out trick-or-treating. We stopped at Grandma & Grandpa Brackens, Great Grandma Smith's, Courtney & Joel Rustad's, and Great Grandma Lindell's (Grandma & Grandpa Lindell were there too). It was quite the haul, but it was fun. Both Maddox and his older cousin Rowan were ducks. They were adorable together.

On Wednesday, November 1st, Maddox had his first doctor's appointment. My mom came up and drove me because Corey was at work. He met us there. Maddox has grown quite a bit already weighing 9 lbs. 4 ounces (they took .5 ounces off for his diaper and shirt). He's already gained 12.25 ounces. The goal is to have them back at their birth weight at two weeks old, so he's well surpassed that. Everything checked out great with him.

In the last few days he's had more and more alert periods where he just looks at you while you talk to him. It's been fun to hang out when he's not just eating or sleeping. Yesterday he even smiled at my mom when he was awake. It definitely made her day. I've been trying to catch a smile on camera for a week now and finally got one this morning. Enjoy!