Still Here :: 1 Month

Hey friends.

How you doing?  

We're doing pretty well, I'm pretty sure.  RG is working on her fitness.  And by "fitness", I mean ever-expanding waistline.  And cheek volume.  And number of rolls.  2 pounds in 3 weeks?  Don't mind if we do!

She can open her eyes, but it's hard work.
I'm pretty sure her eyelids alone weigh 1/2 pound.

This past week has been big goings on in and out of our household.  I've discovered that baby girl is portable.  Who knew?!  And so we've been going and doing.  We've also recently acquired (thanks to my midnight/2am/4am-googling) some sweet gear that makes taking baby around with us even easier.  I'll share more about that later.  But we've traveled and seen and visited.  It's been good.

We've also started RG being laid down to sleep while still awake.  Which totally frightens me to write, because, as I've discovered in the wee hours on my phone's browser, sleep training/going down awake is UBER controversial.  I am in no way an expert or anything like that, but I've done my due diligence and read as much as possible, gathered personal/professional vignettes from as many people as will answer my late night facebook messages, and tried to pay attention to my baby.  As Handsome pointed out, she should be my primary source of information regarding what is best for her.  He's so smart.  

She seems to be getting the hang of it, although it's probably too soon to tell yet.  We've got a lot of traveling coming up in the next few months, and H & I both agree that it would be best for her to get the knack of self-soothing before then.  As well, she's been taking quite a long time to rock to sleep at night.  Which is normally fine and some great lovey-dovey time.  Except when it takes so long that I'm only getting a wink of sleep before she's up to feed again.  Since Handsome works overnight shifts, there's no one else to step in.  A sleep-zombie momma is no good for our girl.  So those, and other reasons, motivated this endeavor.

NOTE:  This is not a baby-sleep blog.  This is not advice.  This is not the match that starts the fire of criticism and debate.  I hate arguments.  This is just us doing what we believe is best for our baby.  As Handsome also says, he didn't receive any instructions with her, and so we're making our way the best we know how.  Thank you for respecting that.

I've also started keeping better track of her awake time so that she doesn't become over-tired, which makes it nigh on impossible for her to go to sleep.  Apparently, wake time is measured from eyes open to eyes shut, and includes feeding time.  Since she's 4 weeks, old, she's recommended to have about 1 hour of awake time, or until she starts showing drowsy cues (which are SO hard to tell in a new baby, and that's driving me crazy).  So we did that today, and she was only down playing for about 15 minutes after each feeding.

While I believe that that's also best for her, I miss my girl.  I can't wait until this stage is done.  I still think it's best, but I'm not a fan of the back-to-sleep-so-quickly-I-barely-got-my-kisses-in.  I don't wish she'd get bigger, or anything like that.  I'm just looking forward to us being out of this lesson-learning time, and her being more alert.

She makes me melt.
My heart hurt today, full of love.

It's been a month.  I've been a mom for a month.  I'm just now starting to trust my instincts with her.  Starting to realize that all the books are great and advice (asked for, mind you) is welcome, but as my Momma put it, God made me for her and her for me, and we're her parents.  It's a load of responsibility.  It's also chock full of smiles and happiness, sweet moments and great discoveries.  I'd never give it up.

Let's say she's dancing, not fussing.
Super cute blocks made by mi amiga.
She's opening a shop, I'll let you know when it's up & running!

<3 M.