Thanksgiving 2012

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating with all of our extended family here in town. I am so thankful Iyla decided to make an early appearance, so she could fully indulge in her first holiday- which she pretty much slept through.

She got a lot of cuddles!

 Uncle Andy (my brother)

 Cousin Alec

 Aunt Jeannine

 Cousin Heather & her boyfriend Patrick

 Chillin' in her Thanksgiving dress

I love the way she poses her little arms! Deep thoughts here.

Sweet moment my aunt captured- the look on my mom's face is priceless.

BC and I snuggling

The Thanksgiving feast is my favorite meal of the year- and my Aunt Sheri & Uncle Vince did an awesome job hosting in her beautiful new home in Cedar Park.

The next morning as I changed Iyla I realized her cord stump had fallen off, at 11 days old! She is now sporting an actual belly button. So cute.

Later on Friday we had a follow up Pediatrician visit to test her bili levels again. Iyla gained 2 more ounces, and clocked in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces! She is growing more and more every day. The good news is her bili levels didn't rise again, but remained the same at 16. The Pediatrician said that the only way to know for SURE if this is breast milk jaundice (which isn't really dangerous unless levels jump up, and clears in a couple weeks) is to do a 48 hour formula diet cleanse, which also tends to bring levels down. After getting a 2nd opinion from another Pediatrician friend, BC and I decided to hold off for now on the cleanse, as I would hate to have it jeopardize my milk supply & Iyla's awesome nursing. I will take her in again Monday to test her levels, and pray they are ideally lower or at LEAST remaining stable. If they have gone up I will likely bite the bullet and start the cleanse.

On the way to the Pediatrician- she is such a little squish in her car seat!

My brother is a photographer, so we took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot with Iyla. She only had one mid-shoot meltdown (didn't appear to approve of the tutu I tried to put on her)- but after a little snack was back in supermodel mode. I snapped a couple pictures with my IPhone of her in her Thanksgiving dress, working her poses:

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, dahlings

Friday night we took Iyla on her first outing, grabbing dinner out at one of our favorite East Austin tex-mex spots-  Takoba. She did great and slept the entire time! This little one is definitely a sleeper- I have to wake her up for pretty much every meal. I am looking forward to getting the OK from the Pediatrician to just let her sleep during the night and wake ME when she wants to eat!

Iyla's first night out at 11 days old

As far as my continued postpartum recovery goes, things are getting better and better. Yesterday my hemorrhoids seemed to calm down a bit, which is a godsend. I can finally sit normally again! I am now down 14 pounds from my total pregnancy gain and my belly is starting to look more and more normal. Even the squish factor is starting to go down slowly but surely. Still have a lot of toning that could be done, and I plan to start taking daily walks with our little one to help that along.

The 12 day postpartum belly (don't mind the fresh from the shower hair!)

Today BC and I are going to put up all of our Christmas decorations- I love this time of year! He will hang the outdoor lights & put up the tree while I set up my Christmas Village & other festive decorations. I love that Iyla came right in time to celebrate all these holidays as a family. They will definitely be extra special this year!