* Day by Day with Summer Rhea *: *The first few weeks*

Wow!! These past few weeks have flown right past me and they have been a whirlwind of emotions to say the least! Let me just say that I am completely, head over heels in love with my beautiful daughter. I never believed in "love at first sight" until I laid eyes on her. The whole time I was pregnant everyone would say, "There's nothing like it, and you will never know that you could love something so much until they're here." Well they were exactly right, you can't describe it and no one can explain to you have awesome it is. Being a parent is something that you have to experience on your own to truly understand the feeling.

Being a new mom has also been a little bit scary for me as well. Brett had to go back to work the day after we brought Summer home. He asked me if I would be okay taking care of Summer on my own this soon and I told him that everything would be fine. Little did I know how overwhelming everything would be once I was alone!!! No matter how many books you read while you're pregnant, once the baby is actually here you are still not completely prepared for everything that lies ahead. And I was freaking out! Thank the Lord that my mom was able to take every afternoon off for a week to come over and help me get used to this new mommy thing and get some rest. She was a life saver that week.

I was still trying my hardest to breastfeed Summer, but since she was in Intensive Care for 5 days in the hospital I was having to pump and send bottles down to her the whole time. Once we got home she wouldn't latch on at all, she was already used to drinking her bottles. I pumped my milk into bottles for about 10 days, but eventually I couldn't keep up and she was drinking more than I could supply. I was so exhausted from being up around the clock to pump my milk and then feed it to her, that I decided to switch her over completely to formula. It was a very hard decision because I felt like I was letting Summer down and not providing for her like I should, but in the long run I am now able to enjoy my time with her more and get some rest when she is sleeping.

I have to say, the first two weeks were a lot of getting used to being in the new "mommy" routine. Now that I have gotten to know my baby girl better, things have gotten a lot easier and now I am really enjoying everything about Motherhood.

Here are the pictures that the hospital took of Summer on the day that she was released to come home. She was 5 days old :

Here is my mom and Kara on the night that Summer came home. This was their first time holding her since she was in intensive care the whole time she was in the hospital :

What a proud Aunt Kara!!

This was Summer's first sponge bath the day after coming home on 9/10/09. She didn't enjoy it very much.

Summer going to her first Doctor's appointment at 1 week old!! She looked great and had already gained 2 ounces, making her 6lbs 7 ounces.

Our happy little family on 9/12/09.

Summer at 1 week old.

Summer all dressed up for her first Carolina game against Georgia :)

She slept through the whole thing, but was still as cute as can be!

Another picture of Summer at 1 week old.

"Cute as a button" , relaxing with daddy after a long days work :)

This was Summer's first trip to Target at only 10 days old! This was a very special occasion and we had to document it. Target is mine and my mom's favorite store and we go there at least once a week. I hadn't been to a Target in over 3 weeks, and I couldn't wait to take her there and show her my favorite place to go :)

Summer girl at 2 weeks old :

This was Summer's first "real" bath on 9/23/09. It took awhile for her umbilical cord stump to fall off, but once it finally did we couldn't wait to put her in the tub. She absolutely loves taking a bath now!