Friday, August 27, 2010

Three Months

My little girl is three months old today. Count 'em, three.

A quarter of a year ago, a whole season ago, I was sitting (gingerly) in a bed at Swedish Hospital, drinking a chocolate milkshake for breakfast, deliriously tired but euphoric from endorphins. The baby I'd spent an hour and a half pushing out,  my baby Marlo, was finally in the hands of the nurses, getting all those things nurses do to babies done. I didn't know it at the time, but it was the best I was going to feel for a while.

It's hard to remember the specifics of those early weeks, but I know that it was a slog for a while there. I guess it's good news that my hazy memories are all of happiness and warm fuzzies. You gotta love the way your brain erases pain over time. But I was thinking the other night, as I rocked Marlo in the nursery glider at 2 AM, wow, I used to do this every night. Twice. At least. That just amazes me. It wasn't that long ago that was my life, but it has become such a foreign concept.  No wonder people get suckered in to having a second baby. You don't remember how much it blows.

As of today, officially, I am no longer the mother of a newborn. She is a garden variety infant. The fourth trimester is complete. I am so looking forward to all the new things she is going to learn and do over the next three months, but I am just a little bit wistful for my little froggy-legged newborn. She is on the express train to adulthood. There's no turning back. I'm never going to hold that fresh tiny baby again. It's sad.

First Bath At Home (2 weeks)
But then again, I do like sleeping longer than three hours at a time.

First Bath in the Big Girl Tub (3 Months)

Friday, August 13, 2010

11 Weeks

It has been 11 weeks since I gave birth to that baby. It's hard to say whether it feels like it has been a long time or a short time, because I'm pretty sure I never noticed how long 11 weeks took to pass before. Well, before pregnancy anyway. It seems baby time is the only time you measure time in weeks, really.

So, what's different? Marlo has been semi-consistently sleeping six or seven hour stretches at night. She generally sleeps from 9:30 to 4:30, then goes right back to sleep until 7:30 or 8:00, and then conks out no later than 10:00 for a three hour nap. The afternoons are full of cat naps and then generally Husband wears her in the ergo carrier most of the evening. So she sleeps a lot, is what I'm saying. Or slept, since I just completely jinxed myself into a life without sleep by broadcasting my good fortune like that.

She is also getting really strong, and can push herself up to standing when you hold her under the armpits or by the little arms. She has her head pretty well under control. I've sat her in the Bumbo chair a couple of times, but only for five minutes at a time or so (relax, baby police!). She's working on a giggle that I'm pretty sure is going to  end up getting her whatever she wants from her father and her grandparents.

As for me, I'm aiight. I think I've already forgotten what it was like around here in the beginning. Now it seems like it's leveled off some, and things are easier. But I can't conjure up what it was like that was any harder. It's weird. It's like how you forget physical pain too I guess. This is a horribly vague and disinteresting paragraph and I apologize. I am distracted by Marlo scaring herself with her toys in her bouncy chair. Which proves how things are different around here from a month or two ago - I can set her down and let her play and sort of get some stuff done. Next step will be learning to prioritize so I can write funny and interesting things instead of this drivel.

11 Weeks