The Gebhard Family Blog: Owen's First Week

Going into parenthood, I was never stressed about how I was going to juggle everything. I'm not sure how that happened because I'm normally a person who would stress about the tiny details on things. But for some reason, being a Mom was never something I was stressed about. I think this has helped our adjustment at home for the first week. Granted, we are EXTREMELY lucky and have my Mom here for almost 3 months. She cooks, cleans and helps with Owen whenever we are both too tired. She might help a little too much because we seem to rarely have to change diapers or hold him! At least I'm his food source and get some cuddle time that way. :) We had lots of visitors come to see us and Owen enjoyed all the loving he received!!

All in all, the first week home has been really easy. I may or may not have pushed myself to do too many things too early. I've had a lot of pain and have had to tell myself to slow down a lot, but it's hard for me to sit down. I always need to be busy with something and I forgot the doctor's orders to relax and take it easy for awhile. Unfortunately that has caused me to probably be in pain longer than I should be, but hopefully that is going to end soon.

Some things about our little man:

Owen is such a good baby. He is like an alarm clock and only cries when he is hungry, which is consistently every 2.5-3 hours. He rarely cries, but we've discovered what he really hates. He HATES getting his diaper changed and he HATES being cold. These are the only times he screams or cries. Amazingly, he NEVER wakes up when Hurley barks, which is A LOT. Hurley watches tv and barks at every animal that comes on - which happens quite frequently. I guess the theory that the baby can hear everything in utero is true. We've had so many guests in and out of the house and he seems to sleep better with all the commotion - which is GREAT! He LOVES his swing and his Longhorn paci that the Ogdens got him. He LOVES getting his head washed. In the hospital, I watched the nurses wipe him down with a warm cloth and he screamed bloody murder. But then they took a screaming, unconsolable Owen and put his head under a warm faucet and he suddenly quieted and was looking around completely content. He does the same thing at home!! It's the funniest thing. I guess once we have bath time - we will have to figure out how to keep him warm, but at least we know there is a way to soothe him if he's upset. He is a great sleeper, but is a little more troublesome at night lately. I have broken down and let him sleep in bed with us a few times. I figured I only have a small window to snuggle with him and should take full advantage of it. :) It's my way of not feeling guilty about probably doing the wrong thing with him at night. Haha. All in all, our first week home has been good and adjusting to parenthood is a lot of fun! I love watching Tommy hold Owen with such ease and comfort. I know I've seen a lot of husbands get nervous with their first born, but Tommy is a total natural. I love to watch my boys snuggle with each other on the couch. It warms my heart to watch them together and know that Tommy is such an amazing father. Here are some pictures from the week!

Sweet smiles while he dreams.