10 Days and Counting
Addie turns 10 (days) today. It seems like she's been here longer than that and not nearly that long, all at once. The redness and swelling from the birth has pretty well diminished, so she looks a little more like a real person now. And, yes, there will be photographic proof of this at the end of the post.
Having a baby, to me at least, is not nearly as difficult as I would have imagined. Of course, I'm not the one nursing her every 1-2 hours, and she hasn't reached the point in her life where she can do things on her own, but it hasn't seemed to drastically affect our lives, at least not in terms of how we spend our time. I do imagine, though, that this is due in large part to the fact that Ame and I both are sort of home-bodies; we never really go out to do much other than taking a trip to Wal-Mart.
Cat is gone. She left on Sunday, a week after Addie was born. Having her around was really helpful, because she did a lot of cooking and cleaning, freeing up me and Ame to focus our time and energy on the baby. Still, we're glad to have her gone. While her help was much appreciated (and while our apartment looks better than it has since we first moved in), it's nice to just be the three of us.
One of Addie's unexpected (to me, anyway) developmental stages was farting. I'm assuming that this has something to do with the whole digestive system and all. Or maybe she just swallowed a lot of air in her first few days. Either way, the smell of rotten eggs was not a foreign one to the Hunter household for the first week of Addie's life. She's still letting go of a few -- which has led to more than one precautionary diaper check -- but the air as a whole is fresher now. All in all, that isn't a stage that I think I'm going to miss.
Nights are getting easier, too. I think that Addie is getting more used to this whole life thing, and she's sleeping more at night. This in turn means that Ame is sleeping more, which is something that I think we're all happy about, though I'd imagine that Ame herself is leading the "Happy That She's Sleeping" brigade, as the after-birth adrenaline has finally worn off. No longer can she go all day on only three or four hours of sleep.
It's fun getting to know Addie's personality and temperament. For one, we're beginning to recognize various faces that she enjoys making. For example, she has about three after-nursing faces that are quite common: the "Ahhh, I'm satisfied" face, the "No more milk" face, and the "I can't believe I ate that much" face. We have a good picture of the last one.
Also, she seems to be developing an "I don't want to do that" type of personality. This is best evidenced by our attempt to use saline spray on her a couple of nights ago. She's been a bit wheezy and congested, so we bought some saline spray from the store to use for her tiny little nostrils. The first time we used it, she seemed completely unaffected, almost as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of this newfound sensation. The second time was more or less a repeat of the first. The third time, however, she had figured out the game, and had decided that she didn't want to partake in this anymore. Ame propped Addie up on her knees, like the first two times, and got the spray ready. Addie, however, though half-asleep, wasn't going to take this one lying down. We held the spray bottle up to her nostril and she promptly twisted her head to the side. Fair enough, we'll try again. Again she did the same thing. So we tried holding her arms down to her sides and holding her head straight, but she still didn't want to take it. All this without a fuss or a tear, and with eyes firmly shut. Eventually we won, but I don't think that the job would have been any easier even if we had an extra three arms. A feisty (and strong) little bugger, she is.
I think that's about all I have for right now. Except, of course, the pictures.
Sleeping is still a strong point for Addie:
The aforementioned "I can't believe I ate that much" face:
Despite being dressed in a boy-looking shirt (that was, in fact, her father's), fashionista Addie strikes a pose:
Sometimes she's amused...
...and sometimes she's not:
It's tiring to be a baby (and a mother, too, it seems):
Having a baby, to me at least, is not nearly as difficult as I would have imagined. Of course, I'm not the one nursing her every 1-2 hours, and she hasn't reached the point in her life where she can do things on her own, but it hasn't seemed to drastically affect our lives, at least not in terms of how we spend our time. I do imagine, though, that this is due in large part to the fact that Ame and I both are sort of home-bodies; we never really go out to do much other than taking a trip to Wal-Mart.
Cat is gone. She left on Sunday, a week after Addie was born. Having her around was really helpful, because she did a lot of cooking and cleaning, freeing up me and Ame to focus our time and energy on the baby. Still, we're glad to have her gone. While her help was much appreciated (and while our apartment looks better than it has since we first moved in), it's nice to just be the three of us.
One of Addie's unexpected (to me, anyway) developmental stages was farting. I'm assuming that this has something to do with the whole digestive system and all. Or maybe she just swallowed a lot of air in her first few days. Either way, the smell of rotten eggs was not a foreign one to the Hunter household for the first week of Addie's life. She's still letting go of a few -- which has led to more than one precautionary diaper check -- but the air as a whole is fresher now. All in all, that isn't a stage that I think I'm going to miss.
Nights are getting easier, too. I think that Addie is getting more used to this whole life thing, and she's sleeping more at night. This in turn means that Ame is sleeping more, which is something that I think we're all happy about, though I'd imagine that Ame herself is leading the "Happy That She's Sleeping" brigade, as the after-birth adrenaline has finally worn off. No longer can she go all day on only three or four hours of sleep.
It's fun getting to know Addie's personality and temperament. For one, we're beginning to recognize various faces that she enjoys making. For example, she has about three after-nursing faces that are quite common: the "Ahhh, I'm satisfied" face, the "No more milk" face, and the "I can't believe I ate that much" face. We have a good picture of the last one.
Also, she seems to be developing an "I don't want to do that" type of personality. This is best evidenced by our attempt to use saline spray on her a couple of nights ago. She's been a bit wheezy and congested, so we bought some saline spray from the store to use for her tiny little nostrils. The first time we used it, she seemed completely unaffected, almost as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of this newfound sensation. The second time was more or less a repeat of the first. The third time, however, she had figured out the game, and had decided that she didn't want to partake in this anymore. Ame propped Addie up on her knees, like the first two times, and got the spray ready. Addie, however, though half-asleep, wasn't going to take this one lying down. We held the spray bottle up to her nostril and she promptly twisted her head to the side. Fair enough, we'll try again. Again she did the same thing. So we tried holding her arms down to her sides and holding her head straight, but she still didn't want to take it. All this without a fuss or a tear, and with eyes firmly shut. Eventually we won, but I don't think that the job would have been any easier even if we had an extra three arms. A feisty (and strong) little bugger, she is.
I think that's about all I have for right now. Except, of course, the pictures.
Sleeping is still a strong point for Addie:
The aforementioned "I can't believe I ate that much" face:
Despite being dressed in a boy-looking shirt (that was, in fact, her father's), fashionista Addie strikes a pose:
Sometimes she's amused...
...and sometimes she's not:
It's tiring to be a baby (and a mother, too, it seems):
posted by Wes | 3:28 PM
1 Comments:
She is so beautiful! I haven't called to congratulate you because I didn't want to wake the baby, and I am not terribly tech savvy, but hopefully this blog will get to you. I am so happy for you all and I will call sometime in a few weeks to get caught up. By then you may feel up for some outside conversation. Take care of yourselves, and that beautiful baby girl, and call me if you need absolutely anything!
Karen
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