Laowai

I can’t believe our baby is one week old today. Every day I have intended to post pictures and thoughts but every day passes by so quickly and before I know it it’s around 11:00 p.m., I am nursing again and then I’m ready to fall into bed. I want this blog to be a sort of journal and album for our little family so hopefully I can post more regularly as I feel better and have more control of my time.

Right now all I can say is that I’m blissy with love for my baby and my husband. And I thought I’d make a list of the stuff that has filled our lives for the past seven days.

– Who knew that having a baby required opening and closing little snap fasteners a million times a day.

– My mom and sister and Jenna stayed with us for a few days and I was soooooo happy that they were here. They cooked yummy comfort food like apple crisp and meatloaf. They held Bea and let me take naps. They cleaned up after me. They listened to my concerns and offered good advice. But best of all they filled the house with laughter. I think without them Brian and I might have gotten a little bogged down with the stress of having a new baby. Instead I had to constantly tell them to stop making me laugh because it hurt and I thought my stitches would bust open.

– I don’t see my features or Brian’s features when I look at Bea. Lots of people have said that they see my eyes or my lips in her. I hope she gets her dad’s strong jaw line instead of the double chin that tends to show up in photos of me.

– After one or two difficult nights, Brian and I are feeling much better about our routine and we are delighting in getting to know Bea’s little preferences. She likes to pee right after daddy has put a clean diaper under her bum – hmmm maybe this is most funny to me. She likes to lay with her head on my shoulder and fold her little arms under her chin. She makes a funny little rythmic grunting sound when she eats.

– We had a bad day after we went to the doctor’s office on Satureday and she was 13% under her birth weight. It turns out the scale at the doctor’s office was low on batteries and so she most likely did not lose that much weight. In the meantime the doctor recommended a crack-pot lactation consultant that among many other wacky things recomended I put cabbage in my underwear to reduce swelling and put breast milk up Brian’s nose to heal his allergies. It was not a fun time but we got enough laughs out of the experience to last us a long, long time. I keep trying to picture me getting milk into Brian’s nostrils.

– Jenna was here for her birthday. Jennifer had to cancel a birthday party back home in order to come see her new niece. We had a mini birthday party with a cute-as-a-button cupcake and a little pink candle. I’m looking forward to celebrating their birthdays together in the future. I can’t believe Jenna is a year old. I loved watching her toddle down our hallway in her footed PJs with a big smile on her face.

OK that’s enough for now – It’s been too many minutes since I’ve gazed into my baby’s beautiful glassy eyes.

A note to Bea’s grandmas and grandpas or any other relatives who might be addicted to baby photos like we are: Look in the column on the left for the Bea’s First Days Photo album. And if you want to send a message to us you can click on the title of any post to leave a comment.