Rub a Dub Dub My Bum's in a Tub!

Poor little baby Robert has his first case of diaper rash, so last night he had a bum soak followed by an air dry session and finally some Triple Paste. I think he was surprised to be getting a bath in the living room in front of the TV. How decadent! The rash seemed better this morning, so we'll do a few more repeat sessions to see if it clears up. Hopefully he'll get over it and won't be one of those constant diaper rash babies. It looks so painful!

He's still growing, but he did slow down this week. He's up to 12 pounds 1 ounce, which is still pretty big for a one month old baby! He's sleeping well at night--at least 4 hours at a time. The other night he surprised me, though, by sleeping almost six hours straight! We haven't had a repeat of that unfortunately.

I'm figuring out this mother/housewife career and getting better at it each day. Robert is pretty content to be carried around in the wrap between feedings, which allows me to move around hands-free. So far I've been able to get one big task done each day, like vacuuming/dusting/doing dishes, laundry, announcements, thank you notes, etc. Today we're going to attempt a trip to the grocery store!

Robert is now informing me that it's time for a feeding, so gotta go.

Check the picture albums!

Olympic Gold Medalist

If you only knew how long I've been trying to post! Basically, I have to make some serious choices when I finally get a moment to myself. Do I want to go to the bathroom? Eat? Take a shower? Brush my teeth? Get dressed? Post on the blog? Write a thank you note? Work on announcements? As you can see, some things obviously take precedence over others.

Needless to say, Robert is keeping me very busy. If growing was an Olympic sport, Robert would definitely win the gold! He weighed 10 lbs. 7 oz. last Thurs.! He gains more chunky rolls each day. As you can see in the picture above, though, feeding Robert is not always easy. He likes to sleep while eating, which, as we all know, is impossible, but he's still not convinced it can't be done. Basically, he tells me he's hungry by crying, and then when I start nursing, he conks out just like in the picture. Then, I spend the next hour trying to wake him up and keep him awake until he has a full feeding. I've tried everything--even a cold washcloth--and nothing seems to keep him awake. I deserve a lot of credit for his gold medal growing because without my persistence, the child would starve to death!

So basically we spend our days sitting together and eating, with few a breaks for his daddy to hold him, to get a diaper change or a bath, or to have a little walk in the stroller (if Mommy is lucky). He's more work than I ever imagined, but he's also more of a blessing and a miracle than I could have ever hoped. Rob and I can't believe he's ours and can't believe how much our love for him grows each and every day.

Keep checking the picture albums (link to left). Rob has been adding them as we take them, so enjoy!

Introducing Robert Mitchell Kunes, III

He's finally here! Many of you have already heard the news, but here are the stats:

Born: July 28, 2008 @ 6:38 a.m.
Weight: 9 lbs. 5 oz.
Length: 22 in.

He's a big, healthy boy, and his mom is quickly recovering from a marathon 27 hour (drug free) labor/delivery.

Rob and I are working on a detailed labor/delivery story mainly for our own recollection, but for anyone who's interested, I'll post it here when it's done. The short version is that we used all of the skills we learned in our Bradley Method class to achieve a drug-free birth. Robert came out alert and healthy. The only setbacks were that I did have to have an episiotomy, and I also had trouble clotting after the delivery of the placenta and lost a significant amount of blood, which is making my recovery a little longer than I had anticipated. I'm having to deal with stitches and anemia, but I'm feeling better each day.

Check out the new picture album called RMK III Week One in the column to the left.

We can't thank you enough for your prayers. We are blessed beyond belief by our new precious baby boy!