This last couple of weeks has gone by so fast, but it's also been rough and difficult at times. We're all getting used to each other, growing accustomed to new schedules and less sleep and not being in the womb! You're growing and learning SO much, so fast, Isobel. It's obvious that your eyes are learning to focus on new distances and your systems are getting better at digestion. We're both figuring out breastfeeding too-I wish you'd open your mouth wider when we start because boy, it can hurt my noonies! But I think we're doing okay.
We've been out and about a few times, too. Dad and I have taken you for walks around our neighborhood (Harvard Gulch Park) in the stroller and we've gone for drives to/from the airport, to birthday dinner for your PawPaw at Euclid Hall, and to lunch with aunt Audrey (my boss at WFP) at the Pajama Baking Co. We went to your pediatrician during your first week home (on Wed, April 24th) and you did so well. The nurse and doctor fell in love with you--you were down to 7lbs, 14oz at that point, but I'm hoping we've bulked you back up to that birth weight by now. Our next peds appointment is this coming Tuesday and I have a bunch more questions for the doc now that we've had a little while to get acquainted.95% of the time, you are the perfect, easiest baby imaginable. You eat well, sleep well, make lots of faces, go to new people with ease and are happy and calm with your dad and me. The other 5% of the time, we do our best to figure out what's making you uncomfortable--which seems to be gas, wet diapers, hunger, over-tiredness (normal stuff) or just the need to be held and comforted.
We haven't fed you with a bottle yet, because I want you and I to get settled with nursing first. But I pumped my first 2 oz of milk for freezing today, and I look forward to having your dad feed you sometimes (or a babysitter when needed).
We try to only let you have a pacifier when nothing else will work and the "paci" seems to calm you right down, or if you seem tired but just can't seem to go to sleep. You like your warm "washcloth baths" and really just despise all things diapering and clothes-changing related. Every now and then, when you've either just eaten or are sleepy, you'll stay quiet on the changing table...but normally you let us know that you'd like us to hurry it up and quit it already(!). Haha.
It's been interesting this first couple of weeks to feed you on demand. Some days/nights, you go 4-5 hours between nursings and don't seem to mind. At other times, you can't eat often enough-every, you seem to be hungry again! Just this morning, we had a great feeding but you burped and it all came back up...all over the bed, me and you. It was hard not to laugh, with us all covered in milk. You were calmer about it than I'd expected...and it was a good reason for a little bath. :) I love you so.
What else can I tell you (for the record)...Your dad comes home from work and can't wait to see you! He took a week off after we left the hospital, and he's been back to work all last week. He swears that you grow and change, even in the 10 hours he's been away, but I'm sure he's just exaggerating. I have definitely taken a backseat as the "woman in his life" since you were born, Izze. I can't explain it, but you can see it in his face when he looks at you. He can keep you quiet and happy longer and easier than anyone else thus far (including me!) and he's the best at changing your diaper, even though he was a little nervous at first with cleaning "little girl parts." When I watch him with you, I fall more in love with him than ever because you expose a part of him that I've never seen before. We never really talked about it beforehand, but he is a natural at taking care of you...I wish he could be home with us everyday. He makes it look easy!That's enough for now. It's been a wild 2 weeks since you were born--all good! Come to think of it, it's been a pretty wild 11 months with you growing in my belly, being born and growing (already?!) out of some of the smaller "NB" clothes.
I thank God for you, and I cling to the Lord's promises for protection, provision and direction as I learn how to be your mom.
"I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will; And Thy rich promises in me fulfill."
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