First Week of Life

Introducing
Melody Amber McDaniel

I can't believe that today our daughter is exactly one week old! I have been meaning to send out details and post an update but being new parents have kept us busy. There is so much I want to write about, but I'm gonna try to keep things short and sweet for now. For those of you who haven't heard yet, we welcomed our baby girl Melody Amber McDaniel into the world Wednesday Dec 22nd at 2:47pm. She weighed 8 lbs 11oz and was 20 inches long. Delivery seemed to go pretty smoothly overall even with our scheduled induction. Ryan was incredible throughout the entire hospital stay and was a great encouragement and support for me. I couldn't have asked for a better delivery process...my doctor and nurses were wonderful as well. We had a full waiting room the day she was born since everyone couldn't wait to meet her. It was such a blessing to have family around to be apart of this special occasion for us! Since she was born Wednesday, I was able to leave the hospital Friday afternoon (Christmas Eve)...just in time to start settling in back home for the Christmas holiday. Although I was still in recovery from the whole labor process and not feeling 100%, we spent the day relaxing with our families and passing miss Melody around.

Melody has been an incredible sleeper and eater so far and we are still in amazement at this little miracle we created. We absolutely love everything about her...from her chubby cheeks to tiny fingers and toes to her adorable expressions and sounds. It seems like she has already changed in the few short days we've had her and we can't wait to for more defined features to come out. Her eyes are a soft greyish/blue color and her hair is already getting lighter from brown to dirty blonde. While most of her days are spent sleeping, nursing, and pooping...she has gradually become more alert in the past day or two. It has been exciting to see what expression or sound she might make next. We probably have a picture of every face she's made so far...between me, my mom, and mother-in-law we just can't help ourselves! I will probably start posting monthly pics through shutterfly so that people can stay up to date with her change and growth. We had her first pediatricians appointment on Monday and she checked out great! She’s in the 90^th percentile for weight and height…her first “A”! Now that family is gone Ryan and I have enjoyed spending time during the day just the three of us (well four counting Bentley)! We went on our first family walk today...Melody just slept the whole time of course and missed out taking in all the sights ;) I have really enjoyed having Ryan here during the day and will be sad to have him go back to work on Monday. But I'm thankful for the time we all have to hang out right now and know I will be able to establish a schedule with her soon enough. Since we have quite the photo collection, here are just a few favorites of her so far!

first few min outside the womb!

she is perfect!

how she likes to sleep after nursing! look at the size of those cheeks!

snuggle time with daddy :)

the best gift we could ever ask for

we love her so much!