Thoughts on a sleeping baby

She's sleeping. Ahhh. She's sleeping. Did you hear that she's sleeping?

This girl wore me out today, but now she's sleeping, and I'm not. Why? Because I'm on the computer, updating this blog! Where are my priorities?!?

This is my time for myself - a few precious minutes to check email, surf the web, or work on my current project, organizing my scrapbook room. One day I'd like to actually complete some scrapbook pages again. Although I REALLY need the sleep (today was another day with no nap for Mommy), I can't bring myself to give up this brief selfish time.

Aaron and Max are in bed - sleeping - too. Aaron puts Max to bed every night now, and reads to him. Tonight I was upstairs in Emma's room and could hear some of their conversation. Aaron has been reading the Chronicles of Narnia to Max - they are on the last book in the series of seven now. Max loves the stories, and his retention and understanding are amazing to me! Every night before they begin, Aaron asks him to recall what happened last - where they left the story. The kid always has better recall than I do! As they read, Max will stop Aaron several times to ask a question or just make an observation. He is so sharp and witty.

Max has also been very interested in Star Wars lately, and especially in the concept of Good and Evil, and Evil becoming Good. We watched Return of the Jedi tonight, and Max kept asking - "Is this when Darth Vader becomes good again?" And we've had to approach the issue of "it's OK to battle with the Bad Guys, and Yes, those are guns, and No, you still can't have a toy gun, and Yes, those are Good Guys shooting the Bad Guys." Sigh. You know, I didn't expect to have to handle quite this many philosophical questions this early. I love it though - Aaron and I learn and grow through Max - he challenges us to figure out our true feelings on many matters and justify or defend our decisions. It is empowering.

OK, she's still sleeping. I'd better hurry up and relax. Sweet dreams!

Emma's New Name, Part 2

Max now refers to Emma as "Nala". Go figure.

Emma's Week 6 Report

We made it to six weeks! This is the magic time, when all of our newborn challenges disappear, and our baby starts sleeping through the night and giving her parents huge, beautiful smiles as if to say "thank you, thank you for hanging in there for six weeks- I will now grant you a full night's sleep for the rest of your lives & I won't even think about underage drinking or sex before I'm 30."

Well, no, not really. Here's a more accurate portrayal.

We made it to six weeks! .....hmph... snore! Whoops, sorry, I fell asleep at the computer because I only got five hours of sleep last night. Max now knows the names of all of the major and minor characters on the morning children's shows, and his first words upon waking are "can you put me on a show?" Emma isn't smiling yet, even though Babycenter says many children do "reward their parents with a gummy grin by six weeks". Damn that Babycenter. They might as well say "The children of the GOOD parents flash big, gorgeous smiles before cooing softly and falling into calm, deep sleep for ten to twelve hours. This allows Mommy time for her morning Pilates and made-from-scratch bran muffins, before showering and dressing in freshly laundered and ironed clothes, in her pre-pregnancy size, of course."

Emma IS sleeping pretty well, but I'd like to put out a big, public call for an END to ALL inquires of this nature:
"What a beautiful baby! Is she sleeping through the night?"
"So, how's that baby doing? Is she sleeping through the night yet? Our little Billy slept nine hours a night from 4 days on."

Emma sleeps for pretty long stretches, they are just not necessarily at night. We're doing well though - we have a rhythm of sorts - I wake up pretty refreshed for the first night feeding, then pretty groggy and grouchy for the second one. If we need a third night feeding, she knows to expect nothing from me aside from a grunt and a nipple, and she might get a lecture on "why Mommy needs to sleep".

Other news: She is morphing into quite the chubby baby! We love it! Her newborn clothes fit now, and the cloth diapers are working perfectly. Yay, she has some baby acne (or could be a heat rash or a reaction to something - jury's still out). Her eyes are still dark grey-blue. She still loves Max's voice, and tolerates his rather exuberant kisses and hugs with grace. She is currently trying to break her Daddy's heart by deciding that she's desperately hungry every single time he tries to hold her. She LOVES her baths, and apparently they also make her poop. She is lovely and little and we love her every minute, even when we're exhausted and grumpy and trying to do ten things at once. Then Max puts one arm around Mommy, one around Daddy and leans over to give Emma a kiss and says, simply, "Let's do a big hug."

Big hugs to you all!

Emma's Week 5 Report

OK, so I didn't really post a week 5 report until now. Suffice it to say that it has been a long couple of weeks. Lots of stress and challenges - but I know this is only the mountain I have to get over before we emerge into the warm sunshine and soft breeze of the valley of well-adjusted-baby-and-family-land.


Positive thinking power!