Side note: My life is crazy, yes. Adjusting to being a stay at home mom is pretty nuts. Chris's life is CRAZY. He is adjusting to being a dad while working, going to school full time, and playing in 2 bands. The man is a super hero. VanLadyLove is playing in Vegas this weekend. Guess who they are playing for. Sister Wives! Random right. I guess the dude and a few of his wives were at there show last month when they played in Vegas, and became huge fans. They asked VanLadyLove to come play on the show. So watch for them next season!
No one can explain to you how your life will change when you bring home your first little one. You have to experience it to fully understand. It's pretty surreal, and unreal to be honest. I have never done anything harder or more rewarding than what I'm doing now. I'm beyond blessed that I was able to leave work and stay home with my Elsie. I know not everyone can do that. I'm so grateful! I worked "full time" for Canyons School District as a American Sign Language interpreter, but the meaning of "full time" has CHANGED quite a bit for me now. Sometimes going to work sounds like it would be a nice relaxing break from home life (being an interpreter is NOT relaxing FYI). The first month having Elsie has been wonderful, but at the same time I'm glad we're past it. I'm finally into a routine, and I feel like I sorta... kinda... know what I'm doing by now. She's still alive, isn't she?
A month in, life is much less traumatic than it was at first. Nothing can prepare you for that first night home. I think Chris and I got 1 hour of sleep. If that. Everything, all night long, was terrifying! I am not exaggerating. Day by day, things got better. I loved her every second of the whole experience, but boy was it tough. I seriously can't explain it. It's the most wonderful, scary, crazy, hard, exciting, happy, emotional time of your life. Ya know what... just get a list of every emotion we humans can feel and you'll get pretty close to how you feel with your first newborn at home. Again, I am not exaggerating.
Thankfully, I had a lot of help. Amazing sisters, sister-in-laws, mothers, and cousins were priceless to me. To be honest, they still are. My questions never stop. If you were to see our google search history right now, you'd probably laugh. We really have no clue what we are doing. I'm pretty sure no new parent does.
It's crazy to think I've been doing this all day routine for a whole month. Feed, wake time, nap. Feed wake time, nap...etc. it went by so fast, but every day felt like an eternity. Nights were never ending! Luckily, we have an angel baby who is already giving us 5 straight hours of sleep at night, and then 3 more after eating. Sleep has made all the difference.
She already feels so much bigger to me, and we're shocked at how alert she has gotten when she's awake. She's already starting to look like a baby, and not a newborn. This is heart breaking and SO exciting at the same time. Most people thinks she looks like her Daddy, but a few here and there see me. She is more White than Balaich, that's for sure. We love her smiles and other silly faces. We adore the eye contact and sweet cuddles. We can't get enough of her heavenly smell and softer than soft hair. Chris and I both constantly marvel at how perfect she is. We can't believe we get to be her parents. Most of the time I don't feel worthy of her. I already know I can't live without her, which makes me so thankful she's sealed to me forever. Sometimes I wonder if she knows how deeply I love her. I'm pretty sure she does.
We can't wait to see her little personality. She's bound to be a goof ball. Poor girl has some wacko parents! Happy One Month Elsie June! We Love You!
Some Elsie Stats:
(More for my memory than for your information)
Weighs: About 11 lbs. Of course this is based on our home scale and could be way off.
Length: No clue... oops. Longer than at birth. That's for sure!
Sleeps: 5 hours at night. She started sleeping 5 hours at 3 weeks old. Little angel!
Likes: Dad. (He gets the biggest smiles out of her!) Her bouncy chair. To eat!
Dislikes: Going down for naps. That's all really.
She's the happiest baby and seems to like everything =)
Love this! Your description of becoming a new parent is perfectly accurate! When tyler and i first saw a pic of her we both said Alex! But now that you mention it i can see some Chris. She is so dang cute! I must come visit! I know this isn't what you want to hear but post her birth story! :)
ReplyDelete"Longer than at birth" you're killing me over here. haha She sounds like a doll, and she is beautiful.
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