New Mom, New Life Lessons

Hubs took an "artsy" shot of us Friday night.

Everyone tells expecting parents their "lives are about to change forever," "a baby changes everything," "you'll never be the same again," "you'll have to find a new normal."

Everyone is right. I didn't expect anything else.

What Elijah has taught me so far:
How to take showers so much faster
Getting myself ready in at least half the time
How to sleep much deeper in a shorter amount of time than ever before
Patience
Love, a crazy, deep, emotional, almost desparate kind of love that doesn't go away when he's screaming, has crazy steaming diaper-fulls, or his latest - big, projectile spit-ups.

It's a brand new life. Praise God, I wouldn't want to have any other :-)


****Please forgive the slight mishap with the blog pix. In an effort to create more space I deleted a few picaso albums, who knew that would remove pix from the blog as well :-(

3 Weeks!

My baby is growing so fast. Everyone says that about their kids... wow... I'm someone with a kid.... but really, he is growing fast! He doesn't even look like the baby I brought home.

 To celebrate, Saturday night  we watched the birth and coming home videos. It has taken this long for me to feel brave enough to watch what little footage we got in the delivery room. It was intense, David laughed at the expressions on my face as I watched myself push. I said, "Hey man, that was really painful!"

So here is what Elijah looked like at exactly 3 weeks old:

 Holding Mommy's finger

 Admired by Daddy

Elijah's sweet feet at 21 weeks gestation

 Elijah's beautiful foot at 3 weeks of life on the outside

Activities:
Sleeping almost 1-2 hours every 3 hours after a good feeding
Nursing consistently every 2-3 hours, 4 at night when he's feeling generous ;-)
Filling up his diapers like his career depends on it
Staring at nothingness as intense as can be when he's awake
Accidentally smiling at us while we stare at him in awe
Bouncing in his bouncer and swinging in his swing interchangeably depending on his mood, or which parent is watching him ;-) (I prefer the swing, David the bouncer)
Tolerating tummy time about 3 minutes a day

Mommy update:
20 lbs. to go to reach pre-prego weight
Substantially less issues with engorgement (hallelujah)
Stretch marks significantly fading
No tummy flab
Wearing largest jeans with bella band - still
Overall, happy with life, trying to be grateful for moments of boredom
Excited to have gone to church Sunday past!
Looking forward to attending worship as a family!
Planning hubby's birthday surprise on the fly