Month #2.

This month has been a bit of a roller coaster.

Libby has been becoming more & more alert each day, which I imagine is a bit jarring the same way being awoken from a dream is jarring. She’s also, like the rest of us, pretty congested with the onset of fall, making breathing, a thing she just got a handle on, difficult. So she’s been pretty fussy & clingy & restless.

The evening hours from 5ish to 10ish are hardest because she won’t let us put her down without yelping. We have a little dance routine we do – feed, burp, get really upset, change diaper, dance/rock until we’re not upset, try to put in bassinet/rock n play/crib, get upset again, get picked back up, dance rock some more, try to put her down again, screams, change another diaper, feed some more… I’ve gotten into the habit of singing Fiona Apple’s “Paper Bag” or Lana del Ray’s “Blue Jeans” to her, or that Dave Matthews Band song “You & I” but I only know the chorus to that one, so it gets a little repetitive. Clearly I need to learn some lullabies. Or get some new albums in my brain.

We also bought a humidifier to try to help with the congestion. Seems to be helping. At the least it felt like a pro-active purchase. When your baby is crying & you’re not sure what will make her feel better, just feeling like you might be doing something to help her feel better makes you feel better.

On the flip side, once we do actually get her to bed, she is sleeping a lot longer. She’s been doing about a 5hr stretch, midnight to 5am, pretty consistently. Wednesday night though she went to sleep around 10pm, slept right through her 11pm or midnight-ish & 4am or 5am-ish usual meals, not waking until 7am! Which should have been great for Mommy, but Mommy’s boobs were still on the feed 2x in the middle of the night schedule, so they woke her up at practically throbbing at 3:30am. I’m told they will adjust, so let’s hope. Milk soaked pjs are not comfortable.

Also when she’s not fussing, Libby has been learning to SMILE!!! Which is pretty much the BEST. THING. EVER. It’s hard to catch the really magic ones on camera because I’m usually too busy being super excited that she’s smiling to grab the camera in time.

Another new discovery: saliva. Lots of it. Seemingly every time I look away from her face & look back, drool and/or spit bubbles are happening. Which also means more spit up, I guess because there’s just more fluid to deal with? All I know is that ever since she got drooly, she’s also started spitting up way more often.

So to sum up:

Amazing cute drooly smiles which meltdown into fussy fiascos soothed by questionable lullaby tunes & cool mist to fall into a peacefully through-the-night slumber.

We’ve also started putting Mommy back together again.

I’ve been trying to get out of the house several times per week, even if it’s just a walk up the street and back. I’m getting used to the baby in the car, baby out of the car drill. Plus I’ve gone to see all the doctors: OB six week follow-up (got the all clear, but still a little sore), dentist (no cavities! don’t know how, brushing my teeth not exactly top priority), dermatologist (no skin cancer! bummer is that skin tag removal is not covered by insurance, pregnancy left me with several), and even a podiatrist (once my sausage-like pregnancy feet finally subsided, I was left with a cyst by my left pinky toe – fun!). The good news is the pregnancy & delivery shot us right past our deductible, so we don’t have to pay the king’s men & horses quite as much as we will in the new calendar year. Wish insurance paid for massages, facials & mani-pedis because a spa day is next up in this process. Followed by shopping for clothing that actually fits because my maternity stuff is mostly too big, my normal stuff is mostly too small. So if you see me out and think, hey was she wearing that outfit the last time I saw her out? The answer is yes, yes I probably was. But at least I’m out!

Oh and Libby got to spend time with all her grandparents this month 🙂

And even more photos because we took ’em & figure I should show ’em:

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