Mara Lee

Crizazy. Draining. Good. Hard. Happy. Stressful. Interesting. Sad. Hilarious.

Life with a newborn has been all of the above. We knew in theory before I ever even got pregnant that having a baby would change everything, yet it was/is a shock to the system when it actually happened. I didn't expect that just about every day would be a mixture of all those adjectives. Despite the hard parts, we are smitten with our little Mara and think that almost everything she does is the cutest, coolest, most amazing thing that any child has ever done in the history of the world.

How Mara's Doing:
Mara is a tiny little thing (4th percentile), so her doc has me feeding her every two hours. This means I spend the whole day nursing her. Hopefully she has gained enough weight by tomorrow or I will have to start waking her up more at night to feed her. Barf. Mara generally has a five to six hour stretch of sleep at night. My sanity might go away if that blissful rest does.

Mara goes through about ten diapers and four outfits a day. One of her favorite tricks is peeing and pooping after she has been cleaned up and before her new diaper is on. I guess she finds potty humor funny like her super mature and refined parents.

How Mike's Doing:
Mike is pretty obsessed with his "Baby Girl." He asks for lots of picture messages of her when he is at work and smooches on her non-stop when he is home (even when I tell him not to because I want her to stay asleep--so disobedient.) He is definitely more tired all the time due to less sleep than he used to get combined with incessant worrying about Mara's comfort and well-being. He is really good at calming Mara when she is freaking out and has mastered the art of using only one to two wipes to change a dirty diaper (as opposed to the four to five he used to use. ;) )

 How I'm Doing:
My physical recovery was a breeze. I never even needed to fill my pain killer prescription. The first couple weeks were more harrowing emotionally and mentally. I may or may not have full on sobbed when Mom left. Mara cried a ton those first couple weeks--sometimes inconsolably for hours. I learned how to better cope with that. Thank you iPod and car rides. She doesn't cry nearly as often now or for nearly as long, so things have gotten a lot easier. I am still learning the art of one-handed eating, cleaning, and typing. (This post has been very slow progress.) I have managed to keep my goal of putting on make-up everyday. Go me.

Overall I would say the three of us are adjusting quite well. Isn't she stinking cute?!