Earth Mama

Life is going really well right now. I LOVE being a mom! I knew I would enjoy it, but I really didn't know that it would be this much. Carrie, my boss, keeps telling me how relaxed and natural I am. Marley is going through a fussy time right now (supposedly baby's fussiness peaks at 6 weeks) but it is really not that hard to deal with. I just have to figure out what she wants. I have a feeling that my next baby will not be this easy. She can control her head pretty well and she is starting to really enjoy her play mat. We bought a mirror that we are going to hang up next to her changing table so that she can stare at herself. She loves the mirror on her play mat.

She is getting chubbier everyday. She is definitely going to be a healthy girl! She probably weighs at least 10 and a half pounds now. I know breastfeeding is not this easy for everyone, but I am really enjoying it. It just comes really naturally to Marley and me. Feeding her at the office while I am working is way more awkward for the people that come in the office than it is to me. It's such a natural thing, and I guess having a baby made me care what people think a lot less. I have to feed her, so if someone feels awkward about it, they can come back later. I haven't had to do it at a restaurant yet, but I'm sure I will eventually. I heard my mom tell someone that she was good at birthing the baby, but she was a champion breast feeder. So, I really hope that got passed down to me, because I want to do it for at least a year. I have a rocking chair right now, but it's not very comfortable. So, if breastfeeding keeps working out and I will spending more time in it, I think I am going to buy a nicer chair.

The weather has gotten cooler here, so Marley has been able to go outside a lot more. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time outside when it was 100 degrees outside, but it's more pleasant now. And she loves it. The second I walk outside she calms right down and starts staring at everything. I ordered a sling on line, but it didn't fit so I have to send it back. But I really wanted it to. I love carrying her around up against my body. The one I am using right now is a front carrier, so her legs hang out of the bottom. But she LOVES it. The second I put her in she falls asleep for a few hours. It comes in really handy when I am going to the store or working. I keep reading on the Internet that moms who breastfeed, wear their babies in slings, etc. are called Earth Mamas. I like that...

Marley is 6 weeks old!

Marley has slept at least six hours at a time at night for almost two weeks now. It works out really well... at about 10 pm we give her a bath and I feed her. She falls asleep during the feeding or shortly after and sleeps until about 5 am. Then I change her and feed her again until she falls asleep. Then she will usually wake up around 8 am. It works out great! I have also found that the night time feedings go a whole lot better if she is in bed with me. So, she sleeps in our bed about 75% of the night. Sometimes if I wake up before she does I will be move her to the cradle, but she sleeps much better with us.

I am reading a book right now called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and it has really been helping. It talks about how babies should actually have a "fourth trimester" during their first 3 months out of the womb. They should be held, swaddled most of the time, rocked and swung, and they should have something to suck on. I have been doing it for a few days, and I really have noticed her crying a lot less. It makes me feel good to be able to soothe her so quickly. It says that it is impossible to spoil a baby for its first 3 or 4 months of life, so we should be holding her as much as possible. I think I am going to look into getting a different sling that holds Marley higher up, instead of on my hip.

Hurricane Ike came through this past weekend. Marley slept through most the drama that happened her and we were only without power for about 24 hours. Sleeping that night was miserable for me, but Marley slept about 8 hours! She had no idea what was going on.

We also started back to work last Wednesday. Since Marley has started sleeping better at night, I am a lot more pleasant and happy at work. I would still rather be at home relaxing with her, but at least she gets to come with me. I am working from 8:30 - 5:00 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and from 1:00 - 5:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Marley is really good and sleeps through most of it. It she's not sleeping, she's either eating or awake and in a good mood. Most of the people that come in want to see her and tell me how great she is!

School is sucking. It is really hard to remember (and want) to do it! If I spend a bunch of time working on it, I feel like I am missing something with Marley. I know in reality that not much will happen in the hour I am doing school, but I still want to be with her. Not starring at the computer.

Oh, and I had my six weeks check-up yesterday and everything was normal. Now I have to start exercising... yay.

Marley has started sleeping almost 6 hour chunks at night! Granted, she still stays awake every morning from midnight until 3... but then she sleeps for 6 hours! So, getting rest for that big chunk really helps.

When Marley was 3 weeks old (almost 2 weeks ago!), we took a bunch of pictures at my moms with her nice camera. We need to do it again now, because she is so much bigger than two weeks ago. But here are a few of them:

I know everyone says this about their baby, but isn't she beautiful?! She has started smiling a lot more. It is the most precious thing! It is amazing how much you can love someone. Even at 3 in the morning when she is screaming at me, I just smile sometimes because I still love her so much! I hope she can feel it.

So, how's Marley?

Marley is officially one month old as of yesterday, and I realized I haven't really written anything about life after her birth. Although she is not yet to the awake-for-more-than-two-hours stage, it has been so much fun. When we first brought her home, she would sleep for 3 hours, wake up crying to be fed and then fall asleep while I was feeding her. She slowly started to stay awake a little bit longer after being fed. Now, she is not on a schedule, but she is probably awake for 7 or 8 hours out of 24. Her favorite time to be awake is from 12 am - 3 am. While I have been trying to discourage this by keeping her up in the evenings, sometimes you just can't help it. If she wants to be up, she is going to be up. And even though it makes me completely tired the next day, I love every minute of it.

Being a mom is by far the best thing I have ever done. Even in the middle of the night, I love being the one she needs and the one to comfort her. She knows my smell and my voice and when someone strange is holding her and she starts crying, all it takes is me holding her to calm her down. I love that feeling! Breastfeeding has been really easy for me so far. My milk came in the Monday after she was born. And there has been no shortage since... I plan to do it for a year at least. It is amazing to be able to do that for Marley and I feel lucky that I can.

A week after her birth, she had her first doctor's appointment. She weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces! He was a little worried that she had not gained all of her weight back from birth and said that if she had not by her two week appointment, then we would have to start supplementing with formula. That really got me worried, so I pretty much started making her eat all the time! By the next week, she had gotten back to 7 pounds, so he was not worried. We took Marley to the doctor today for her one month check-up and she already weighs 9 pounds, 6 ounces! I can't tell she has changed that much since I am around her everyday, but she really has! She has moved into size 1 diapers instead of the newborn size. She is also in perfect health, so we are very proud.

Marley gets the hiccups about four or five times a day. She has been sleeping in our room in the cradle most of the time. She sleeps with me in the bed if I'm taking a nap with her and Asa's not there. She sleeps much better on her stomach than on her back, so we have been letting her. We haven't had any problems with it and she sleeps much better and longer. Kima has been doing great with her. She follows me around the house when I have Marley and she lays on the ground next to us while I'm feeding her. She also puts her nose on the activity mat when Marley is on it. She is already protective of her because when people come over and hold Marley, she moves and sits by whoever is holding her.

We saw her first real smile on Saturday. I was holding her in the kitchen while the lights were off. As soon as Asa turned on the light and she saw me, she smiled this huge, open-mouth smile. It was beautiful. I think I smiled for 10 minutes straight after it.