Formerly the blog for my daughter Eliza, where we posted from her birth until she began Kindergarten, now all the old posts are integrated into Pattern Recognition.
Eliza carefully contemplates the wooden bears on her new Bjorn chair. Ah, who am I kidding…I know she can’t see a thing yet, and can barely focus out past 6 inches from her face. But she’s just so cute!
She’s fatting up as well, starting to gain a little weight. She’s getting cuter daily.
The days are all running together. Fridays used to have meaning. Now, it’s just a day like any other. Weekends are no different from weekdays. We’re measuring our days in 2-3 hour blocks that are marked by wet diapers and empty bottles. It also doesn’t help that it’s 9:30 in the morning but still dark outside, rainy and dreary. When we go back to work in a few weeks, maybe we’ll have more a sense of routine/schedule. Right now, I feel somewhat bewildered. Eliza is 13 days old today. That’s all I know for sure.
We’re quickly learning what the essentials are for little Eliza: burp cloths (cloth diapers work best), size NB diapers (we like Pampers Swaddlers), lots of wipes, formula, bottles, sleep sacks, and a hat that fits. We’ve already gone through one of the gigantic packs of diapers and two boxes of wipes, and this is only day 11. She also seems to like white noise, and we’ve been using a fan for this. Jason quickly got sick of the “nature sounds” of one of her crib toys coming through the monitor at night! And she’s so tiny, only Newborn size clothes fit her right now, and even they are a little big on her. Pacifiers seem not to interest her, because she prefers her fingers. She doesn’t like to be swaddled, because she likes to have her arms and hands out.
This is such an interesting process. . . every day we learn a little more about our little girl.
My two favorite girls in the world on Christmas Eve 2007.
Possibly my favorite picture ever.
Just wanted to share with the world how incredibly lucky I am.
Happy Solstice, Everyone!
Spent Christmas Eve at Jason’s folks’ new house in Georgia. Eliza and Parker were the star attractions, of course, and got way more presents than anyone else! đŸ™‚ All in all, it was a fantastic day. Jason is posting pictures of the festivities right now. Sorry for the volume…these are the first grandkids, so everyone went a little camera happy.
I’m slowly finding out that my body just doesn’t work the way that it “should.” It seems that I won’t be able to nurse Eliza, at least not without major help from formula. It is day 8, and my milk hasn’t “come in,” even though I am on some meds that are supposed to help. At first I was pretty depressed about this, since we had decided to nurse her due to all the well-known benefits (and because we have a rather pushy pediatrician who is convinced this problem is all in my head and that I must not be doing something correctly). But after finding out that there are others who have this problem, working with a lactation consultant who swears I’m doing everything “right,” following all the directions/advice, reading all the books…I’m starting to be at peace with this bump in the road. I am coming to terms with the fact that I gave it my best shot, and my body simply isn’t cooperating. It’s not the first time my body has been at war with my mind! At this point, though, we’ve decided that the most important thing is that Eliza thrives and grows, no matter how that has to happen. So formula it is.
My parents came over Thursday so that my dad could meet Eliza for the first time. He was suitably impressed, but could barely keep her out of my mom’s arms.
She’s doing really well, sleeping a lot (thanks be to the FSM). We’re slowly getting our feet under us, and I hope that we continue to get some modicum of sleep.
We’re going to try to head to my mom and dad’s house in north GA for Christmas Eve, if everything continues to go well.
Welcome to the world Eliza’s cousin, James Parker Barrett. My sister had him 4 days after Eliza entered the world, officially making my parents grandparents twice over within a week.
He’s still in the hospital, getting good and healthy before heading home, but he should be going home tomorrow. Congrats to my sister Jenna, and here’s hoping that he and Eliza get along!
We had to take Eliza out today: to Chattanooga for a follow-up OB visit for me, a visit to the lactation consultant, a trip to the UTC library to be shown off to Jason’s co-workers, and a visit to the hospital to see Jason’s sister Jenna, who just gave birth to an 8-pound baby boy (Parker) on Dec. 19th…only four days after Eliza! She was a dream…slept really well in the car for the hour to Chattanooga and back. Slept all the way through my doctor visit. She has even gained some weight, which is great news! She’s now 5 lbs, 12 oz…still a tiny little thing.
Today was a good day. We are all tired. Dad is taking a nap. Mom is catching up on emails and Eliza is resting quietly in her Moses basket (thanks, Trav and Samantha!!!!!).
Just to let everyone know I’m okay! Really tired, of course, but hanging in there. I’m getting used to feeding her almost constantly and snatching naps when I can. I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday when all the news from the pediatrician seemed negative: her weight was down too much, her bilirubin levels too high. But today was much better…she had gained an ounce! Now she is 5 pounds 8 ounces, which seems impossibly small for something that came out of me.
