Questions they ask...

I am asked many questions every day as a new perfect mother.

Is she a good baby? What, am I going to say, no? Of course she is (no really) but WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? I am still stuck on this, and maybe wrote about it already. But seriously, what makes a baby good? Not crying? Ok, you try not talking and we'll call you a "good" person. That is how she talks to me (although I do not get her vernacular quite yet...). Is it sleeping through the night? Umm... well, not yet, but some day! I doubt we'll be in high school not sleeping through the night. And if it takes that long, that's okay, she is just like her momma. (Yup, woke up EVERY night until high school and slept with my parents- I'm not embarrassed, I love them!) Maybe a good baby just sleeps constantly, niiiiiice, no brain function. Whatever, I just have a good baby because she is mine, and she can't be bad, she is a baby.

How is she sleeping? Through the night yet? I'm not going to lie, this makes me want to punch you in the face. No, my four week old baby (and yes, she is FOUR WEEKS OLD TODAY!) does not sleep through the night. Yours did? Great! I bet you are remembering incorrectly- fiesty today, reign it in, reigning in, reigned. Through my 9 months of research, 8 while pregnant, one now as a mommy, all books say babies should NOT sleep through the night until at least 6 weeks of age, I'll smile largely if we get that... but I'm not holding my breath. I don't want to FORCE my BABY to do stuff, and I feel like if I can get her to sleep through the night with a little guidance, rock on, if not, well, I guess I'll be bleary eyed for awhile, like every other mother.

Is Brooklyn going to be a big sister? I think if I had a vaginal delivery my response would be quite different, but of course she will be a big sister. It may not be to a HUMAN (does that sound normal?) but she will be a big sister. We hope to have many children, and when God chooses to give them to us, HELL yea! But, if B doesn't sleep through the night, it may be difficult to GET a sibling, so, I guess we'll pray for that! :)

How was your recovery? I bet it is so hard to lift her! No, not that hard. Week one was difficult, my muscles felt like they could rip, but I'm starting not to remember anymore. I really tried to "do it by myself" not like I want to be a single mother or anything, I do not envy the work they do, but I do not think Jon should get up at night with me when I am at home all day and can take naps, he can't take naps, I can. Again, after Week 1, it was all okay. She is getting harder to lift now as she is tipping the scales at 9 lbs 3 oz- and growing daily! Oooftie girl! Keep going, I wanna see ROLLS! :)

How long will she be in your bedroom? If she continues to jabber for hours at a time in the night (usually early morning or right before she falls asleep) she will be outta here in no time. I know someone with the spiritual gift of gab, clearly spiritual, I think my daughter was blessed with this. And if she is anything like Jeanny the other gabber, Lord THANK YOU! But in all seriousness, I love leaning over to comfort her, to grab and feed her, and to hear her breaths all night. I'll be okay to move her to her bedroom, but as long as I can get some sleep, we're fine with her right by my side.

How is breastfeeding going? Wonderfully, it hurt for 3 weeks really. Not searing pain, but at times, it was worse than my contractions. Sometimes flames, paper cuts, bruises, those sorts of sensations. But my child is growing and pooping proudly (we wake up in the night to her grunting it out, so funny/annoying/disgusting- did I mention I don't change her at this point in time? She sits in it, because as soon as she is done she falls right asleep. And the only way you can think I'm a bad mom for that is because I hear her poop, if she were in the other room, I'd have no idea, therefore, perfect mother, I'm training her butt for sleeping through the night, okay?) And, I feel SKINNY for once in a long time. My legs look skinny, my waist is tiny, my arms don't flap in the wind (as much). There were days when I questioned if my milk was coming in, if it was working, it hurt too bad, ladies, push through it and just do it.


So, you're really cloth diapering? Yes, mostly. When we go out I tend to use disposables, however, we have had more explosions with disposables than cloth (didn't think that'd happen huh?). AND, truly, I LOVE my prefolds! They are more work, I have to basically diaper my child twice each time I change her, but they work SO WELL! We have exploded 2 times with cloth, both at night when feeding. Most of my nighttime dipes do not have leg gussets, which are made to hold stuff in, but they do have tight elastic around the legs. My Katydids, which I thought would be the bomb.com have leaked urine! GROSS! No poop explosions in cloth... strange huh? Whatever, and in exciting news, I did find a natural detergent... but it is more pricey than the Charlie's Soap we are using. It is at Earthly Goods if you are interested.

My baby is four weeks old, and in the past four weeks:
- she stole mine and Jon's hearts
- she went through about 100 disposable diapers
- she met all of her cousins
- she snuggled her great grandpa (Grampy), great grandma (Grammy), and other great grandma (3 more to go!)
- she slept on Grandma's chest, Papa's chest, Mommy's Chest and Daddy's chest.
- she spit up the size of her body
- she slept 7.5 hours one night
- she smiles and coos all the time
- she farts. A LOT.
- she accidentally rolled over and was quite frightened with BIG eyes
- she holds her head very well
- she went to Tastee Freez
- she met Jeanny and Ashley, two people I hope she can be like
- she learned how to blow raspberries, on my boobs.
- she giggled through her sleep, PRECIOUS!
- she had a photo shoot with Aunt Heather
- she went to every hardware store in town (multiple times)
- she was called HUGE and tiny within one hour
- she keeps her eyes open for a very long time
- she outgrew size newborn
- she snuggled her aunts and uncles, I LOVE that! (Except for Uncle Ben... he still won't hold her, and I have accounted for this in her baby book)
- she opens her eyes very largely a lot, and it cracks me up!
- she amazes us!

And... I'm going to eat lunch in 6 minutes so I can wake up my baby and feed her, because I want her to be on some sort of a schedule, and I have to work this afternoon, sleeping baby = easier work.