30 January 2008

Pay attention to the post time...

As you can probably see - It's approximately 3am as I'm writing this. My daughter from the time she was born, didn't want to sleep anywhere but in my arms. This trend has continued, and I believe that at this point, it's only 75% her doing. I have to admit that there is a part of me that loves having this tiny person snuggled into my chest each night.

But tonight is different. Tonight, I'm not tired. I've been up since I fed her at 1:30am, watching 30Rock on the Netflix streaming video. I've watched the clock and wondered when she's going to get hungry again. I'm sure it will be about 10 minutes after I finally fall asleep.

In the first week or so that she was home, she had her days and nights reversed. We have this straightened out, but I think it's me who has my days and nights reversed at this point.

I'm giving her (and myself) until she's a month old to continue with the current sleeping arrangement. After that, I will be trying to train her to sleep on her own in the cradle or the pack n play. I really think this is going to be just as difficult for me as it is for her. Every noise she makes, I want to check on her. Every time she hasn't made any noises for a while, I want to check on her. I'm sure you can see where this can be a problem.

I'm learning that being a parent is confusing at the very least. On one hand, I want nothing more for her to sleep on her own, but at the same time, I want to hold her every second of every day. Even if it isn't the best thing for either one of us.

It's amazing how much you can love something. This love started before she was even born. We knew we loved our daughter unbelievably. Now that she's here - well, you don't know how much you're willing to sacrifice yourself, or what you believed you were, for another person. The hours I've lost in sleep and time to breastfeeding, diapers, and comforting my daughter are nothing. Ask anyone if they want to be woken up every 2 hours (or every hour during a growth spurt) and have their body mangled and tugged on - I'd be willing to bet it's not high on their priority list. Ask a parent if they want that, and they don't seem to mind. At least I know I don't. It's an adjustment, but it's not impossible.

I'm sure I seem like I'm rambling or that I'm on some parenting soapbox, but it's not my intention. (C'mon! It's 3am for Christ's sake!) It's just me getting what I'm thinking down somewhere. I can't talk to anyone about it right now, because Harper is resting peacefully on my chest and Rob is lying in bed...snoring.

I'm just going to continue to get as comfortable as I can in my recliner and watch more 30Rock in hopes of drifting off to sleep. I'm sure someone will get hungry in about an hour anyhow.

Thanks for listening.

22 January 2008

Little hands, little feet... little baby!

We've been home for a little over a week and Harper is 11 days old. Having her in our everyday life has been an adjustment, but a welcome one. We're adjusting to our new sleep schedules or lack there of. Harper seems to only want to sleep when she's on one of our chests. This is apparently a common issue, and should resolve itself with a little intervention from us.

Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes and words of encouragement. The 2 days of labor were difficult, to say the least. While I wasn't in a ton of pain for the majority of the time, it still isn't an experience that I would recommend or wish upon anyone.

The c-section and the recovery from that hasn't been all that bad, actually. The worst part has been the sleeping situation. But we'll get better at it.

Rob heads back to work tomorrow. That's when the true test begins.

08 January 2008

Cautionary Whale

Just consider this the "before" picture. Here I am, 40 weeks pregnant and trying to make Harper appear via Wii Bowling. She moved around like mad when I would sit between frames. I really thought it might work!

I had no idea how round I was until Rob took these pics. We've been taking periodic pictures of my stomach to track the growth, but this is the first time I actually appear to have a basketball under my shirt.

For those of you who don't know: Unless something amazing happens in the next 16 hours, I'll be heading to the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning (like 5:30AM early...) for an induction. If I'm being honest, I have to say that I'm not 100% happy about this outcome. It's rather nerve wracking to schedule the date that your life is going to change completely. I'd rather be surprised about the time I'm going into labor.

This also means that I'm trying my best to stay busy today and get everything done that I want to get done before Harper arrives. Otherwise, I'd be pacing the hallway while my nerves took over completely.


One thing I've worked on today are these cloth wipes! Cute, aren't they? Rob and I plan on using cloth diapers 99.9% of the time with Harper, so it only makes sense to use cloth wipes as well!

The wipes are pink on one side and this fun grey pattern on the other. I used flannel and decided to make them 2-ply. My hope is to get good at this and be able to set up an Etsy shop and sell a few.

My friend Bek loaned me her serger to complete them. I have to say that I have no idea how I lived without a serger before now. These only took about 45 minutes to complete. So easy! I'm going to be looking into purchasing one for myself and my mom to share.



This will probably be my last blog post for a while. (Not that I've been posting a ton lately, anyhow...) I'm sure that I'll be spending plenty of time getting used to having a 3rd family member and answering her every whim. It's a strange thought that tomorrow, I become a mom. I suppose it's strange for anyone who knows exactly what day their life will begin to change.

Harper will hopefully arrive tomorrow, January 9th. This is providing I don't labor all day and she's born after midnight, making her birthday the 10th. There's a good chance that we'll be coming home with her on Friday, Jan 11th. Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm going to try to post more over at Lammle Lounge to update everyone on how she's doing. Check that site often for updates!

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