First weeks with Avery

I cannot believe that this little girl has been in our lives for just three weeks. It seems like she has always been with us.

After 30 hours of labor, she was finally born on March 9th. She decided to try to come out sunnyside-up, which stalled things for awhile and made things a little tougher on me, but in the end she came out just fine and all is well that ends well.

She started crying as soon as she was born (and so did I), and was perfectly healthy from the beginning. She ate well right away, and hasn't stopped since. (Her goal was to get back to her birth weight by her 2 week appointment -- which she exceeded by a full half of a pound.) No jaundice or any other problems, so we were sent home the next morning.

She is a super alert baby. She fights to stay awake, sometimes for as long as 3 hours at a time. She has started awake smiling (as opposed to sleep smiling) at us a lot more these past few days, and this morning she spit up on me and giggled. I am sure the giggle was involuntary and as a result of feeling good, but it sounded just a little bit naughty.

Speaking of naughty, I am typing this all with my left hand while sitting on the couch. Why? Because a certain baby will not nap unless I am holding her this week. I got her to sleep and put her down 3 times in the last hour, only to result in screaming. She wins this battle, because I have learned the hard way how cranky she gets without a nap, and we are definitely in the "whatever it takes" stage still.

Who, me?

Our biggest struggle, predictably, has been night time sleeping. Her first few days she absolutely would not sleep anywhere but our arms. She has gradually become more flexible with us, with some good nights and some tough nights. We are experimenting with swaddling, white noise, and different sleeping arrangements, trying to find a winning combo.

Fortunately, she is a good eater and otherwise easy-going. Screaming can usually be remedied by burping her or playing her some music and dancing with her (Her two favorites are Tengo tu Love and Hallelujah). Or just picking her up if you had the nerve to put her down :-) (Silly you.)

A rare moment: happy girl in her sleeping in her Rock and Play Sleeper

A friend asked me recently what I think about being a mom. It is hard to put into words. On the one hand, it is already the most exhausting and challenging thing I have ever done. But it is so incredible. I never knew you could love someone so intensely. It is so rewarding to see her grow and figure things out (like: diaper changes are not the end of the world). And nothing melts my heart like when she is crying and I pick her up and she buries her face in my neck, sighs, and smiles. I feel so blessed.

She is here!

I am too tired to write anything coherent, but our little girl got here four days ago. More details later!

PS: To my pregnant blogging friends--don't forget to take your trash out when you head to the hospital or birthing center!