Those eyes

Leap day! Here's Daddy's favorite outfit, but Mommy thinks it makes Hailey look like a boy. Hmm...her eyes are looking a wee bit yellow...

Mr. Bear -- 2 days old

I thought I'd periodically take photos of Hailey with Mr. Bear (which Ben got me on our Alaska cruise in 2005) to show how much she has grown. Here's her first one at 2 days old!

Feeding 101

Ben gives the grandparents an introduction to bottle feeding.

Welcome home

There were four beaming grandparents welcoming Hailey home. Everyone was much more giddy than I had expected. They were in awe of her extra-long fingers and toes and discussions revolved around how she’d be able to grip a tennis racket or golf club or play the piano well.

Diapering 101

Daddy's first diaper change at home ... hmm, it took four diapers and two outfits. Good thing we stocked up!

The first car ride

We put Hailey in her first outfit (brown doggie onesie, thick white with pink dots baby gap bodysuit and pink baby gap hat) and then into her carseat. The nurse brought Hailey back from her testing and checked our bracelets to make sure they matched before removing her electronic ankle bracelet (which sets off an alarm when she gets in the elevator with it on). She also checks to make sure Hailey’s seated properly in her carseat. The nurse said it was the first time she's seen a Daddy actually tighten the seat belt tight enough ... go Ben! Hailey looked really comfy in the snug carseat. It wasn’t too cold today so we didn’t need the top part of her super-soft Pottery Barn carseat muff. The nurse also brought us tons of extra supplies (diapers, formula, pads … etc.) Good thing we had a cart to move all the stuff to our car!

Daddy and me

Don't I look like my Daddy?

Wide awake

I may be only 5 hours old, but I'm very awake! (Well, for the next couple minutes anyway...)

Hailey's first feeding

Ben gave Hailey her first feeding (while I tried to get over my nausea).

Look at those fingers and toes

Everyone thinks she looks exactly like her daddy. Hopefully some parts of me will be revealed as she grows. I guess for now, her long fingers are the only thing that resembles me. She definitely has Ben’s feet with the long toes that move, as Ben says, “like a monkey – each one moving independently from each other.” She can spread out her toes really wide, and her big toe is larger than any of her other ones (my second toe is longer than my big toe). Shingo says Pam’s toes are like that also, and he always thought that was strange too! Must be a family trait.

When Hailey was getting footprinted at the hospital, her feet were too big for the forms…her prints went off the edge of the paper! (We brought some cardstock for the nurses to do some footprints for us.)

It's a girl!

Baby Hailey arrives, eyes open and crying, with umbilical cord wrapped around neck and body several times. 7 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long. Hailey was put on my stomach and I got to hold her for about 1 minute before I had to throw up again so they had to take her and clean her off. She was wiped clean, weighed, footprinted and shampooed. Hailey wasn’t as wrinkly and shriveled as I was expecting for a newborn. She did seem very long though! We're so happy she's finally here!