Life with Lily

First, I want to send a huge thank you to my mom who stayed with us for a week and a half after Lily was born. We were able to focus all of our attention on Lily while my mom took over the entire household - cooking fabulous meals, doing the laundry, dishes, grocery shopping....and the list goes on and on. It truly helped us to ease into our new life with the baby. So, thank you, thank you, thank you, mom!!

We were also fortunate enough to have my sister, Angela, come to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was so nice to celebrate the day with family, especially since we cannot travel with little bits quite yet. Also, thanks to Ang for helping us put up the Christmas tree - a task that certainly would have been a lot harder without help.

In fact many things that seemed easy before are a lot more...well, involved. Going to the store, working on my projects, or just eating or showering all have become things that require some strategic planning if they are actually going to happen. This of course was expected but like many things, you can't fully appreciate it until you live it.

We are extremely fortunate that Lily is a very easygoing baby. For the most part, she only cries when she is hungry. Otherwise, she is very content and very alert. Within one week, we fell into a sleeping/eating rhythm, and she only gets up twice during the night to feed. This will most likely change as she goes through growth spurts and other things, but we are thankful for the current situation while it lasts.

My favorite experience with Lily thus far occurred just last night. Lily woke up and made her normal nighttime sounds - not crying, just noises of discontent. When I picked her up and held her, she looked into my eyes and fell back asleep within 60 seconds. No rocking, feeding, etc was required. It made me feel so good because I felt the power of being "the mom", being able to calm and comfort just by my presence. By far, the coolest thing ever.

The biggest challenge thus far (no surprise) is breastfeeding. This is a mentally and physically challenging task that should elevate breastfeeding moms everywhere to sainthood status. I have had a great support system to get me through the grueling first weeks - a big thank you to my friend Gretchen for the advise and inspiration to persevere. I think the worst is behind us and soon Lily and I will be old pros.

Having lived through the first couple of weeks with a newborn, I must also mention my undying devotion to a few things that have made my life infinitely more pleasant. In order, they are...
1. Epidural
2. Nipple shields (for breastfeeding)
3. Swaddling blanket
I was/am a much more sane person because of these things.

Lily had her first doctor's visit yesterday, and she is gaining weight beautifully. She is now 8 lbs. 8 oz. She did not have to get any shots, but they did a heal prick. For the first time, I saw real tears, but like the trooper she is, she calmed down quickly and even fell asleep by the time we went downstairs to visit my work/her daycare. (Her pediatrician's office is located on the second floor of the same building as The Young School - how cool is that?)

So, all in all, life is great. As my father would say, "It just doesn't get any better than this".