I thought I would try and keep this blog going for awhile and share my thoughts as she grows. As you can already see the posts are much further apart. I just don't have the time or mental capacity currently (due to sleep deprivation) to be blogging every week, but since I really do enjoy writing, I will attempt to keep it updated as she reaches milestones.
Where to start... As I mentioned this first month has been a whirlwind. Everyone knows that the new baby is the boss and your life now revolves around her. It did take a few weeks to adjust to her schedule. The days of me sleeping in until noon are long gone and now I'm lucky to get 2 hours uninterrupted. Everyone and their neighbour mentioned the lack of sleep part while I was pregnant, but until you are confronted with it face to face, it really doesn't sink in.
Pretty consistently since birth Ali has wanted to eat every 2.5 hours. Since I'm breastfeeding, there really isn't any sharing of responsibility in that area. During the first 6 weeks its not advised to use bottles (if it can be avoided) because it can lead to nipple confusion and that can mean they will have a difficult time getting a proper latch when breastfeeding. I really enjoy nursing her. Its our quiet time together where I can talk to her, sing her songs and look into her eyes. No matter whats going on in our day, or who is over visiting her, I know that every 2.5 hours I get to have her all to myself. There have been times, particularly as 4am when I'm exhausted, that I really wish Rob had the ability to breast feed, but then I go pick her up, sit in the rocking chair and realize I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I consider myself very lucky. Ali is a very quiet baby and doesn't really ever cry. I think in the 4 weeks she has been here, I've heard her cry maybe 6 or 7 times and that's only when I really can't help her at that exact moment (ei, she becomes hungry while I'm driving down the highway) other than that she is very content to just look around and take in her surroundings. She is great with new people and noise doesn't bother her in the least. Just yesterday I was vacuuming her room while she was napping in her crib. The only noises she does seem to make are grumbles. She grumbles while eating, sleeping, stretching, and pooping. Its quite adorable to hear these deep rooted grumblings coming out of such a tiny being. The first few times she grumbled in her sleep we would leap out of bed expecting her to be waking up, but she just grumbled away and kept on dreaming. I will gladly listen to her grumble for the next year rather than have her crying or screaming.
Milestone wise, the only major things to happen in the past 4 weeks, were the losing of the umbilical cord and having her eyes focus on an object. With the umbilical cord the hospital told us it would take 10 days to 3 weeks for her to lose it. To our surprise, on her 4th day of life, I went to change her diaper and noticed her black nub dangling from her onesie. I was shocked that she lost it so early, and honestly a little concerned, but after talking to some other parents realized it was perfectly ok to lose it that early if it had dried up and fallen off on its own, which it had. I was quite excited to because it finally meant she could have a bath in a tub instead of just a sponge bath. She hated the sponge bath (I don't blame her), but once she was in the warm bathtub she enjoyed every minute of it. We sing songs while lathering up every body part and then rinsing off. I look forward to when she will be able to sit in the big tub and play with toys during her bath time routine.
As for her eyes, she was able to see just a few inches from her face when she was born but now she looks at me and locks eyes. She sees her mobile on her swing and looks around at everything while she's awake. It was fantastic the first time she looked "at" me instead of "towards" me. Completely warmed my heart to see my daughter looking into my eyes. Soon she will be accompanying those gazes with smiles and laughter and then I have a feeling I will do everything I can to make her laugh all the time.
I can't believe how quickly she has grown already. When we brought her home we had to go out and buy a few "newborn" outfits because all the clothing we had for her was far too big. Now there is a box beside her change table quickly filling up with outfits and hats that are too small. Its hard for a parent to see since I stare at her daily, but looking back in photos its clear to see she gotten significantly larger. When we left the hospital she had dropped to 7 lbs even, and now she is already up over 8 lbs.
I was also shocked at how much he face has changed already. The swelling from the delivery has gone down and her features have really developed. Of course the first thing anyone who sees her tries to do is figure out which parent she looks like, and so far consensus is that she looks a lot like Rob. She definitely has Rob's eye shape/socket and his chin, which are the most noticeable features, but has my eye colour, hair colour, ears and nose. It will be interesting to see how that changes as she ages. Personality wise she obviously isn't showing anything significant yet, but she sleeps/wakes up like her father, meaning when she falls asleep she is out like a light, and when she wakes up its a very gradual process, whereas I on the other hand, struggle to fall asleep but when its time to get up, I'm up bright eyed and ready to go. I really love watching her grow and develop and become her own little person!
2 Days old
4 days old
10 days old
16 days old
20 days old
