Big Girl Baths...

Bryan and I have heard so many stories about how long it takes for a baby's umbilical cord to fall off. We heard as early as three days and were just hoping Aubrey would that lucky. Well, as we rolled into week four with Aubrey's umbilical cord still very much intact, we were bummed. That little thing was hanging on for dear life and it was starting to smell just awful! Anyone holding Aubrey would have thought we never cared for her or bathed her. Poor baby. Those little cat baths we were giving her were getting difficult too. Keeping the center of Aubrey's body dry was not the easiest task. Thank goodness bathing her is a dream. She is an angel in the tub and just relaxes, not making a peep. She is such a sweet girl.

At the hospital, the nurses gave us tons of information on how to care for Aubrey in the first few months. We were given a book that talked a little bit about her umbilical cord. In the book it suggested we clean the area with alcohol until that little stinker fell off. However, the nurses highly advised against it, stating we should keep the area dry and allow plenty of air to hit it instead. They said it would heal up and fall off just as fast. We listened....until the forth week. I finally decided to clean it with alocohol. Oh I was so tempted to just try and nudge it a little. As I cleaned it, I realized it really was just hanging on by a thread. I was afraid of hurting Aubrey or a possible infection though so I just let it be. At least cleaning the area with alcohol made me feel a little better. It certainly looked better!

That afternoon Bryan came home to check on his girls and to grab some lunch with us. I had been so busy with Aubrey all morning that I hadn't been able to finish folding the laundry. Bryan took over and went straight into changing her diaper. As he was changing her he let out a huge gasp and started asking me what had happened to it, where was it, when did it happen, why didn't you tell me, how did I miss this.....Haha. I had no idea what he was talking about! Then all he could do was point at her tummy and stumble over his words. Silly silly. I stood up to look at Aubrey's tummy and finally realized that the umbilical cord had just fallen off. Yay!! It was stuck inside her little brown onesie so it was hard to see. Bryan was ecstatic to say the least, as was I!! We were so wrapped up in the moment we forgot to take pictures to document the moment. I was so upset that we forgot.

Below are some photos of bath time a couple weeks ago and also some more recent photos. Hope you enjoy!! Promise more photos soon!