Stop to smell the diapers

Have you experienced those days of slight panic as your try and fit your baby into too small newborn diapers because somehow it might mean that she will stop growing up?  Well than you are crazy, because I have never felt that way...I am just writing this post of how I would imagine your panic as your baby grows up.  

I use the word panic in is least serious sense.  It isn't a fearful panic, but simply the realization that your (not my baby) is growing up and you really can't do anything to stop it.  You can only fool yourself into thinking that she still fits into newborns.  Her thighs are getting plumper, her belly is becoming rounder, and her cheeks are taking up more room on her beautiful little face.  She is grabbing toys, playing, interacting, kicking like she has been doing some squats in the weight room, and smiling as if the paparazzi is just around each corner.  She. is. growing. up. Your baby, not mine.

Then, after you can't justify using another newborn diaper, you go up to size ones.  You think to yourself, this is great, she just moved up to ones, I have cases of ones, obviously she will be a size one for a long time, if not indefinitely.  You forget the panic of moving out of newborns and fool yourself into thinking that you will have a size one baby and the world is your oyster.  

When you see me I see you returning a case of size one diapers because your baby moved into size two diapers before you could use all of the size ones, I won't mention how fast time goes and that your baby is growing up.  Don't worry, I'm sure she will be in size twos forever.  

And now, in all seriousness, I am thankful that my little girl is growing up.  She is healthy.  She is happy.  She loves to eat. She loves to smile.  She is loved by all that meet her.  She is a child of God.  She is a blessing! I will cherish each stage, each size of diaper, because they don't stop growing.  

A Mother's Intuition

When I was pregnant with Daley I heard a lot of advice on raising a little girl.  One piece of advice that was repeated time and time again was "trust your mother's intuition."  What every person failed to mention when they gave that advice is that you will most likely doubt your mother's intuition until you see the fruits of your labor...and sometimes those fruits will come in that instant, days later, weeks later, or even months later.  Instead, they simply said "trust your mother's intuition."

Case in point: bedtime.  Daley girl is a champion sleeper.  Since she was 5 weeks old she has slept at least 7 hours at night, often 8 and the occasional 9 hours.  I am so thankful for this!  So why mess with a good thing, right?  The only set back about her sleep habits is that she wasn't going down for the night until midnight.  She would be awake until midnight, dreadfully tired, but awake.  So, this is where my mother's intuition told me that she probably didn't want to be awake that late but her second wind was kicking in at some point during the evening.  This is also where the doubt came in, telling me 'why mess with a good thing, she is a good sleeper, just be thankful for that.'

Tyler and I moved forward with our plan to try and get her to bed earlier, desperately hoping that we weren't messing with a good thing.  No magic potions or sleep dances, just trying to create a calm bed time environment around 10:00pm.  It took about a week of her continuing to stare us right in the eyes from 10:00pm to midnight, and then we had three nights in a row of 11:30pm.  So, a week and a half later I was thankful for my mother's intuition.  The doubt left my mind and I felt like I did the right thing. Tonight, Daley girl is sleeping at 10:30.  

I know that they late nights aren't over, but I am a woman that trusts the Lord and has a great husband; my late nights are not spent alone. That makes me one grateful momma!  

One, two, buckle my shoe

How many of you thought I was pregnant with baby number 2 when you saw the title to this blog post...maybe you thought I was making an announcement with numbers similar to Mindi, but I assure you I am not making that announcement at this time.  Instead, I am catching up on Daley's month 1 update and right on time with her month 2 update.

 At 1 month Daley is:
 - trying to smile
 - sleeping 4 to six hours at night
 - taking 3 hour naps during the day
 - dirtying the diaper with ease
 - holding her head up with a little wobbling
 - such a sweet baby

At 2 months Daley is:
 - smiling big and proud of it
 - sleeping 6 to 9 hours at night (whoohoo)
 - taking 1 to 2 hour naps during the day
 - still dirtying the diaper with ease (she's a healthy girl)
 - holding her head up with only an occasional wobble
 - very active when she is awake
 - a fan of kicking her feet...hard
 - making great eye contact
 - grunting, her favorite form of communication
 - well loved by momma and papa

Each day is a blessing!