Blakely's Latest Update 4-26

Blakely is growing, eating, sleeping and being a joy. Liz and I are truly enjoying the new adventure that Blakely is presenting us. Our family has already been to the driving range and played 2 rounds of 9 holes of golf. My beautiful wife has been strapping Blakely in the Baby Bjorn (a carrying system) and walking with me at night while I slap the golf ball around. She even joined Nana, PopPop (my mom and dad), and I while we played this Saturday as a big family. It was quite special for both me and my parents. Ok, enough about golf!
So Blakely had her one month doctor appointment on Thursday of last week. Dr. Harris was very happy with her growth and progress. We are super excited about Genesis Pediatrics, their faculty, and staff. At that appointment Blakely weighed 7 lbs and 14 ozs. The doctor has no concerns and is looking forward to seeing our lovely daughter again in a month. On another note, Blakely has made a few friends in the past week.
Our friend, Harding had a BBQ that some of our friends attended. One of our friends had a baby 3 weeks previous to Liz and I, and their little boy was at the party. He is slightly larger than Blakely so it was a pretty cute photo opportunity for both sets of parents.
Blakely and her new friend are having a play date tomorrow.
It was a stressful week off. Not because of Blakely but due to the realization that Blakely is 5 weeks old and technically Liz would have to go back to work on this coming Monday. This Sunday is 6 weeks and according to NYS Liz should be returning to work. I can't tell everyone how thankful my family is that Liz will not be returning to work until September and that we are capable to have her stay out of work for an extended leave. I am thankful, Liz is thankful, and I am sure even thought Blakely doesn't know it, she is thankful too.
On a lighter note, I was blessed with giving my gorgeous daughter her first bottle a few days ago. I not get the opportunity to spend some time feeding her every evening which I value and hold dear. As a matter of fact, it is getting to be that time so I better go heat up the bottle.
I apologize for the lack posts but life is slightly busy right now. I am encouraging Liz to post more often and hopefully with Blakely getting closer to a schedule she will be able to do that more often.

Happy 2 week birthday Blakely (Mommy's 1st post)

Who would have thought it would have taken me two weeks to find the time and energy to write a post. It is amazing how quickly the hours and days fly by with a baby at home. We have all  had a busy week with visitors and few trips out.

I'd love to say that we are getting into a routine, but that wouldn't really be true. We keep trying, but Blakely is definitely running the show around here, and until she figures out the difference between day and night we are just happily going with her flow. Even though she doesn't sleep much at night she is wonderful during the day and we couldn't ask for a better baby. 

This past Wednesday we went for our third doctors visit. Blakely has been eating like a champ and was up to 6 lbs 5 ozs. I'm sure by now she is back to her birth weight. Dr Harris said that we don't really need to keep waking her during the night to eat if she isn't getting up. I was thrilled that she could go 4-5 hours without eating, and I could potentially sleep for that long. I don't think Blakely heard that conversation, as we haven't even come close to 4 hour mark yet. The weather in Rochester has been beautiful and Blakely has loved going for her first few walks around the neighborhood. 

She really enjoys the fresh air and sunshine, so hopefully we have a nice spring and summer. Unfortunately, Kevin has a bit of a cold and is trying his best to keep his germs away from Blakely. He slept at Steve and Jenna's last night and seems to be feeling better this morning. I think now that we have hit the two week mark, we might try giving Blakely her first real bath today. I've been saying that for that last few days and haven't actually built up the courage to do it yet, but I think today might be the day. Hopefully she likes it even slightly more than having her diaper changed, which she hates. I think we should be fine as long as we remember the warning from the hospital discharge paper..."Babies are slippery when wet." Stay tuned for pictures!

One Week Old

Happy One Week Birthday Blakely Jayne! Well 7 days ago at this point Liz and I were sitting in the hospital waiting for the new love of our lives to arrive. She's here now and we couldn't have asked for a more precious gift. The end of the week was really encouraging. The last few nights she has slept for three hours at a time with very little if any fussing between. Liz and I, well more me because Liz still has to feed her, have gotten to catch up on some sleep. It has been a blessing that Liz's sister, Nicole, has been in town for the weekend to visit and saved me from changing about 15 poopy diapers. Blakely went to the doctor again on Friday, it's been a while since I posted, and gained 3 ozs to raise her weight to just under 6 lbs. Hopefully by today, Sunday, she will be well over the 6 lb mark and headed toward hitting her birth weight. Yesterday we had a little photo shoot with Blakely with a card that someone from Liz's work made for Blakely's arrival.

Blakely's next big weight in is Wednesday, so Liz and I are hopeful to see some more positive weight gain so we can move towards the 3 hour end of the feeding cycle, rather than staying in the 2 hour end. Roxy and Mae have continued to adapt to our new addition and are doing really well. With the upcoming school week right around the corner, I am looking forward to getting back to business as usual with an additional incentive to get home from school right away. Our family continues to grow and strengthen together and get used to our new life style. Thank you again for all the support and out pouring of love that you all have given to our family.

Back to Work For Kevin

Blakely had another great day today. She slept pretty good last night allowing Liz and I about 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep between each feeding. It is interesting to see how such a little thing can change your sleep cycle so much. Every little noise walks me up with a start. Liz said last night, "You are really jumpy recently." My response was just to roll over and fall back asleep. I am hoping to get some good sleep tonight because I am going back to work tomorrow and leaving Blakely, Liz, and Margot (Liz's mom) by themselves for a while. It is amazing how thoughtful all of our friends and family have been. Between gifts when visiting and dinners Blakely, has been brought into this world and surrounded by love and support. My family couldn't thank you all enough. I was able to sneak out today to get some errands done and eat lunch with my dad. I got some beautiful photos printed to share with the people at school. We definitely have been blessed with a beautiful child. One of our favorite pictures has to be this one.

There are many more beautiful pictures. Liz and I were talking about how thankful we are for our new camera. A few of our friends were instrumental in recommending a DSL-R to capture our new addition. The pictures are truly beautiful and priceless for us as a family. Funny, it's the same couple that recommended this blog as an idea to keep in touch with out of town family. So a special thank you to them. I am working on trying to get Liz to post but as many of your mothers might imagine, she is kind of busy. Looking forward to seeing Aunt Nicole (Liz's sister) tomorrow because she is flying in from NYC. I hope to post just as often with the new schedule of school and baby, but we will just have to wait and see.

Another favorite of ours!

Day 3 and all is still well in the Thornton house. Our beautiful new edition is feeding well and gained half an ounce over night. We had our first visit with the pediatrian this morning and she was very happy with Blakely's progress. It was a 2.5 hour visit with all positive feedback and we really like Dr. Harris. Liz and Blakely will be headed back on Friday, I have to go back to work to make the money, just to check her weight again to be sure she is headed in the right direction. We are of course trying to catch up on sleep while Blakely is napping but of course that never happens. We did start putting her in the swing today and playing some classical music for her and she seems to really enjoy it. The below video clip will show you just how much she enjoys it.


Liz is looking forward to posting her thoughs and options very soon, but she is obviously a bit preoccupied getting Blakely back up to her birth weight.

The dogs have been pretty good. Roxy is pretty interested in figuring out Blakely and Mae really couldn't care less. We did a good job of slowly introducing the dogs to the new addition and I think that really eased both the dogs and us into this new stage in our lives.

We look forward to sharing Blakely with all of our closest friends and family, so feel free to let us know if you need a little baby fix.

Going home morning

The good news is the Blakely only lost 5 grams last night, which is quite surprising after all the crying she did from when Harding, Laura, and Grandma (not sure what she is getting called yet) left. I think we have quite the social little butterfly. When there are visitors, she just sleeps and enjoys the company. When those three left last night, dear god did she get angry. Around 2:30 in the morning we sent her off to the nursery so the new parents could finally get a few hours of shut-eye. We are excited to get out of here, get back to our house and give little Blakely the first tour of her house while introducing her to Roxy and Mae. We have been sending home the blanket that she was wrapped in everytime my parents, who were watching the dogs, went home. The first night my parents said that both Roxy and Mae slept on the blanket. We feel like we are prepared, as good as we can be, for what is about to happen in our lives at home. It will be quite the transition for both us and the dogs but we are confident and comfortable as we embark on this life long journey.

Can you tell how much sleep I got last night? My bed was also the chair I am sitting in while this picture was taken.


We will be leaving here around 11 am, I believe, depending on when the Docs get around to visiting and doing their final checks. Life here is packed up and we are looking forward to the next adventure.

Blakely's Blog

Liz and I would like to thank a special couple that gave us the idea about creating a blog so that out of town friends and family can follow our little princess' journey through life. This is going to be an opportunity for Liz and I to post developments, pictures, and events with the new addition to our family.

23 hours old

Wow, just 48 hours ago Liz and I were relaxing at home, starting to clean up the basement. Liz's mom is arriving today in a few hours and Liz said her mom needed to do some of her laundry so we needed to clean. After a few hours of cleaning it was time to get ready for a friends 30th birthday party. After a quick shower and getting ready, Liz and I wandered out the door for what would turn out to be our last night out on the town without a baby. Upon returning home at 12:30 am, I ran upstairs to hop in bed and catch some serious shut-eye, when Liz said, "Umm, I think my water just broke." There goes the shut-eye. Liz started to contract right after her water broke but wanted to labor at home for as long as she was comfortable. We were both worried about being "those" people that get sent home due to false labor. At 6am, the contractions were getting stronger and I strongly urged that we head to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital and having an initial evaluation around 7 am, Liz was dialated 4 cm and having pretty good contractions, but was a TROOPER with the pain. At about 8 am the contractions became constant with no break and Liz, with no pain meds because the nurses couldn't get an IV in, was admitted and we headed to the room. She was in quite a bit of pain and we looked at the nurse just hoping to get the epidural. When the doctor came in to check the Liz at that point she had already reached 8cm. She dialated 4 cm in a matter of an hour with lots of painful contractions. Luckily, the doctor immediately ordered the epidural and the anestigiologist came right in and in 5 minutes had the pain managed. From there our journey slowed down a bit and Blakely Jayne was with us within a few hours. She came out with a full head of hair and ready to embark on her newe journey. We were blessed to have a bunch of family and friends come visit and welcome Blakely into their lives. We are extatic to have her in our lives and look forward to sharing her journey with you.