Happy Baby

Some still photos from the same time as the video was taken. I love seeing happy baby!

4 weeks, 6 days: Video

My mom and her coworkers requested more video (as in, any) and who am I to disappoint?

Actually, I glibly said that all I had to video was Dev eating, sleeping, or crying. But then, she went and did this, just to prove me wrong. :)

4 Weeks and 3 Days: Happy Monday

How to tell it's a Monday when you're a stay-at-home mom:

• Baby seems uninterested in breakfast for the first time in... ever. Which is not good when you and your husband are on a schedule so that he can spell you before he goes to work so you can take a shower.
• Decide maybe baby is sleepy and take her upstairs for a diaper change.
• Which is when you realize that her blanket is covered in poo.
• Upon further investigation, you discover that she has pooped up her back, so her onesie is also completely soaked in yellow baby poo.
• Realize that there is no way to get said onesie off the baby without spreading the poop from here to kingdom come.
• Yell for husband to turn on the hot water and get out the sponge for an emergency baby bath.
• Baby now has poop ALL over her back, even in her hair. She is, thankfully, cooing happily at you from the changing table, which is now also covered in poop.
• And so are you.
• Rush baby to the bathroom swaddled in burp cloths for an emergency poop-ectomy requiring multiple wash cloths. Thank your lucky stars that husband hadn't left for work yet.
• Finally get all the poop off the baby, pick her up, start to wrap her in a towel—and realize she is urinating. All over you and the towel and the floor.
• Have a good laugh, because really? What else are you going to do?

Happy Monday.

1 Month Old

Dearest Devyn,

Today you are one month old, and I can't believe how fast the past four weeks have flown. You are already growing and changing before my eyes. This week you weighed 7.06 pounds, meaning that you're gaining almost an ounce a day now.

We've spent two weeks home alone together, and for the most part, it's going really well. Our days are mostly made up of eating, sleeping and changing diapers, but we do go out sometimes to change things up. It has been raining like crazy the last two weeks, so we haven't gone for as many walks as I would have liked, but you seem to enjoy them when we do go—at least, you enjoy sleeping in your stroller! I've been watching old episodes of The X-Files and catching up on episodes of Castle on the internet sometimes in the afternoon while you sleep.

We have been to the mall, out to lunch with friends, to a big consignment sale, to the grocery store and to the new mommies' group at the hospital. I hope we will make some friends for both of us at the group.

Yesterday I decided that it was time to start teaching you that naptime should be taken in your bed. Right now you pretty much only want to sleep in your sling during the day, and that predilection is starting to bleed over to the night time, so we definitely want to show you that it's OK to sleep in your own bed. So far... well, it's a little challenging. I'm sure you don't understand why I want you to sleep by yourself when you were perfectly happy sleeping strapped to me! Your Aunt Em gave me the very good advice to commit to trying it for two weeks, so that is what we're going to do. Our goal is one good nap in bed per day.

I can tell that you can focus on our faces now, which is exciting. I'm seeing more and more evidence of a smile when you're awake—you always smile really big as you drift off into dreaming—and you've started saying "GAH!" and "COO!" as happy noises, which is new and lovely.

You seem to like it when I sing to you, especially when you first wake up and aren't entirely sure you want to be awake. You also seem to enjoy bath time, whether we're giving you a quick sponge bath or a full sink bath. You love to be held and bounced, and you are starting to enjoy your bouncy chair, your swing and your play mat for longer times each day. You do NOT like to have your clothes changed, and you aren't always keen on going to bed when we think it's time, either.


Your daddy gave you your first bottle last week, and you took to it like a champ. As a matter of fact, you've never had much trouble with eating.

I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with you. Sometimes, I look at you and I am just undone by how big my heart has grown to encompass all the emotion I feel when I look at you. I read once that soul mates are two halves of a soul that found each other; if that's true, then you, my darling girl, are surely your daddy's soul and mine made whole again. You are such a miracle I can hardly stand it. You are definitely the best thing I've ever been a part of—and I'm starting to think that you are my life's work and greatest achievement.

In the wider world this week, the Space Shuttle Endeavor launched for its last-ever mission, the Mississippi river is cresting in a 100-year flood, and President Obama gave an important speech about his ideas for peace in the Middle East. He said, “[W]e cannot hesitate to stand squarely on the side of those who are reaching for their rights.”

I can't wait to see what month two brings us!

Love always,
~your mommy

28 Days Old

I didn't get a ton of advice, or even many comments from strangers when I was pregnant, but now that I have an adorable little baby in tow wherever I go, the comments are flowing like a flood.

Most are totally harmless: "She's adorable," "How old is she?" "She's so little!" — that sort of thing. But I've had two that were just weird.

First, two ladies stopped me at The Container Store a week or so ago to oooh and ahhh over the baby. One of them told me how glad she was to see that Devyn was wearing a hat (it was cold and rainy outside) and how some young mothers just take their babies out willy nilly without proper attire. But then she proceeded to lecture me how I absolutely should NOT take Devyn into the main part of the mall, because she could get sick being exposed to all those people and their germs (apparently she didn't count herself among the germy masses, because she got right in the baby's face). She actually said, "Did you know that?" Like she was bestowing some priceless wisdom on me.

(We went to the mall anyway. And, shockingly, it wasn't wall-to-wall germy crowds on a Wednesday afternoon at 2pm. Thank god.) :P

Then, yesterday, Dev and I went to the grocery store, and she did NOT fall asleep in the car as I had hoped, so by the time we got to the produce section, she was screaming from her car seat in the cart. I stopped in front of the lettuce to give her some attention and try to calm her down, and an older woman came up to us. At first she was just making small talk, "She's so precious," etc. Then she started talking to Devyn, saying things like, "It's OK darling," which is all fine. But then she looked at me and said, "Are you going to pick her up, or what?"

I answered that I thought I would just keep moving because she likes the motion, and walked away. What a weirdo! I got the impression that if I said I wasn't going to pick her up, that lady would have done it for me.

And we all know I can't be exposing my child to lots of strangers. *SHEESH*

23 Days Old

The Baby Bean had her first bathtub bath yesterday. After much contemplation about whether or not we really needed it, we bought the fold up foam tub that fits in the sink, and I'm deeming it a good buy. It basically turns my kitchen sink into a soft-sided tub, which is awesome.

And despite the faces she's making in these photos, I think she really likes bath time.

~*~

We continue to feel each other out in regards to what works and what doesn't in this new partnership. Gone are the nights that we needed to wake her up to feed her, but we are getting around three hours of sleep at a stretch overnight. I'm starting to understand that even if she thinks she wants to be awake for long periods (say, more than an hour or so) during the day, that's bad news and usually ends up with a very angry baby who has trouble falling asleep for her naps. It's also becoming apparent that she thinks 1 or 2am is an excellent time to be awake and not want to go back to sleep. And Brandon and I are both realizing that there is no television program worth more than going to bed early and catching a few extra hours of sleep—that's what Hulu.com is for. ;)

This new life is also teaching me a lot about patience, about mindfulness in practice. I have to remind myself sometimes when she's fussy and needs all my attention that there is nowhere else I need to be, nothing else I need to be doing. This is the reason I'm on maternity leave, the reason I stockpiled meals in the freezer. If I don't make it to the grocery store, Brandon can go later. If I don't manage to get us all out for a walk today, we can go another day. If the floor doesn't get swept or the laundry folded, they will still be there tomorrow. This time is about slowing down, living fully in each moment, trying not to over-think or second guess myself.

I read something once about children being the perfect zen teachers and that motherhood is a spiritual practice. I think it couldn't be more true. Every step I take rocking her to sleep is a step on my pilgrimage; every hour spent awake while I feed her in the dark of night is an opportunity for meditation and contemplation. I already know that Devyn is going to teach me so much, if I will only slow down and listen. The creases of her fingers are the lines of my zen rock garden; the whorls in her hair my mandala; each of her breaths my prayer beads. She is my path to enlightenment, if I am meant to have one at all; she is my road to peace.

22 days old

I just added a book of poetry by Edward Lear to my Amazon baby registry, and after you add something, it always prompts you with things you "might like to add to your registry."

For Devyn and me? It suggested Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album and the exercise program P90X.

Do you think Amazon is trying to tell me something? ;)