Rock a Bye

Oh the lessons, they keep pouring in. But there's one thing I want to remember to tell new moms with newborns - it does get better. I remember the incessant crying in the middle of the night, we had no solutions, just making things up. Like she must have a bubble, that formula is giving her indigestion, she's over tired, she's still hungry, her little insides are still growing, whatever! What I know now is what I wish I knew then - its just newborn shit. They will cry and cry and there's not much you can do but keep them company. Trying to fix them, however pointless, is company enough.

I'm proud to say we made it through to 6.5 weeks without any major hospital runs for baby or parents. We had an underweight baby, which scared me enough, but supplementing formula has turned her into a tank again. We've had baby acne, and diaper rash, and yeast rash, and accidentally lightly scratched her head while trying to change her in the back seat of the car. But no 911! Success! Although after that one fateful night that she kept we awake until 6 am, M emerging from the bedroom I said to him ruefully, "if she doesn't sleep soon we're going to have to take her to the Emergency Room." Him, bleary eyed, assuming I've read more baby books than him, "really?" No silly. Its just newborn shit.

And I also now realize there's a reason why she kept us up some nights - it was to make us appreciate any decent amount of sleep she would give us from now on. And we proved to be the laziest family in the world by all staying in bed until 11am on this holiday Monday.

And my favorite time to look into her little face is when she's waking up after a morning nurse, making little E.T. neck stretches toward me, breathing out a big sigh, and resting her head in the crook of my arm again, eyes closing for one last cat nap. Oh I will stay here too, then. I can't believe we made this little angel.

Can you tell I had a good night's sleep?

Where is My Mind?

Things I've learned in the past month:

*Even if you think you're tired, there's an extra fuel tank in there ready to go. Where was that when I was in Vegas?

*Whatever trick used yesterday to calm the baby, may or may not work today. Its 85% likely that it will not work twice in a row. But keep it in mind because you will need it tomorrow.
 -such tricks include, nursing, clean diaper, bouncing in Bjorn, wrapping in Moby blanket, swinging in car seat, going for a walk, listening to heavy metal (dad), listening to indie rock (mom). Are there any I missed that don't involve pharmaceuticals?
*You can stay up all night without the help of alcohol or other stimulants. It's super weird.
*Similarly you can find yourself in your front room at 5am, rocking a baby in a chair with the vacuum on. That one spot near the front door is really clean.

Dealing with diaper rash, and latching on, and researching vaccinations, and... who am I?

Being a new mom can also feel like freshman year of college. You feel accomplished in getting as far as you have, but there's still going to be some harsh and embarrassing (sometimes public) lessons to be learned. Like trying to breastfeed a hot and bothered 3 week old in the neighborhood square. On a windy day. Read: unhappy screaming baby and fluttering coverup. We had to give up and abandon our mission. No drug store trip for me (such daily goals!).

And after all this, the recent Time magazine cover story, calling those that co-sleep and breastfeed and use cloth diapers part of some sort of hippie Attachment Parenting movement makes me feel well, like a hippy. In a good way. I thought this was what a lot of urban moms did? If they can/want to. So I'm overachieving, not failing, all right!

I have to admit, I look at the bed during the day and it does not look like a good time. We've had some rough nights lately, if you can call nonexistent sleeping at night that. I might as well take her to an all night double feature and start putting her to bed about 5am at this rate. I'm told it will get better. I need a youtube video telling me such.

But she's so cute. So cute! I will hang on. And keep learning.

E