Monday, March 28, 2011

Scheduled

It has been awhile...Little Lady is 10 weeks old tomorrow! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. People keep telling me "enjoy it while she's little," and I'm trying but it's so hard. I can feel the time slipping through my fingers--the last 10 weeks have gone by so fast. I've packed up her newborn clothes. Clothes that were too big on her two weeks ago fit her just fine. She's not a tiny newborn anymore.


We're really enjoying the stage that she is in right now. She's cooing, "talking," and making lots of noises. She smiles all the time, and overnight her little personality has come out in full force. She adores bath time and cries when it's over. Her little legs have gotten chunky and she has little rolls on her thighs and arms...we call them her "dumplings."

I've been back at work for almost a month now. I only work three hours a day and I am able to take Little Lady with me so it's worked quite smoothly....some days more smoothly than others. When I take her with me, I leave her in the baby nursery, and even though it's only for a few hours a day we were expecting the typical little sicknesses that come with putting your child in childcare.


And the first little bug came this week. It started with a cough and by Friday morning was a full-fledged cold. It was her first sickness and I'm a first time mom, so Scott carried her to the doctor Friday afternoon because I'm a teeny bit paranoid. I had spent all morning debating with myself about whether I should take her....and I decided that having peace of mind was better for everyone's health around here.

She spent the weekend bundled up (or in just a diaper...because of 1, 287 spit-up incidents in 2 hours) calmly watching Baby Einstein in her swing. And I promise she actually watches it. It's amazing. A sweet friend is lending us the entire collection of videos, claiming that it was nothing short of miraculous. And she was right--Lady will sit and watch it on repeat at least twice before she even starts to squirm (which only happens when I really need to shower and I really haven't been able to, yet). So we did some of that...


..and only a little fussing. She's a content little thing, even when she's sick. We immediately went and purchased a humidifier, per the nurse's suggestion. I think it's helped Scott's allergy issues more than anything, but maybe it's helped her, too. I can't really tell if it made a big difference.


But unfortunately there's not much you can do for the 10 week old with a cold...or the nursing mama who catches that cold 2 days later.


I think were are adjusting to life with a baby pretty well. The hardest thing for me has been learning to adjust my routine and re-prioritizing how I use my time. I'm a big fan of the Babywise method and it has worked beautifully with Little Lady. From the day she was born I put her on a 3 hour schedule and she has thrived on it. She goes down for the night after her 8:00 feeding, sleeps til I wake her at 11:00 for her late night feeding, and then sleeps through the night until about 7:30 or 8:00 am.


She sticks to her schedule wonderfully and at her 2 month check-up weighed 10.15 lbs and was 21 inches long (10th percentile for height, 50th for weight....bless her heart. You can't fight your genes). So really, I can't say enough about Babywise. It's works. So if you're pregnant, read it. Fo' real.

I learned that I can't grocery shop with her...through no fault of Little Lady. I'm too short to see over the cart with the child carrier on it. It took a loud, rather embarrassing collision with a buggy and another near-tragic encounter with a crouton display case to realize that it just wasn't working.

I called Scott as I was driving away and said, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry but I am never going grocery shopping with the baby again. I also shouldn't go back to this particular Kroger anymore."

So we're loving this sweet little miracle. Life is good, and fun, and full of laughter. Except when I'm trying to shop...then it's not so funny.