Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Can I just say that my baby is simply and utterly YUMMY. Oh my Lord, somebody stop me from swallowing her in one bite. She always has been, but the past three days? Nothing but a big fat pile of smiles and full-out laughing (soundless, but body-trembling, eye-squinting, gum-flashing laughter). This is our day so far:

Wake up. Smile for 10 minutes straight. Poop.
Wimper for milk. Eat like there's no tomorrow.
Doze at the breast.
Wake up and smile some more.
Go in the swing without complaint. Stare out the window while Mommy showers.
Fall asleep in the swing.
Wake up and smile. Poop. (It was a poop smile)
Play with Mommy. Eat.
Lay under her jungle gym and stare out the window (I'm not sure if she's ever noticed the toys right above her head yet)
Get bored. Sit on Mommy's lap calmly while she writes this.

I do realize this is pretty much an ideal perfect world and such things never last. But I am definitely enjoying it for now. Probably that crazy intense brownie (or 2) that I just ate will ruin everything...

This is her 10 minutes ago:




And these are from this weekend at the BMG picnic:


Smiling with Salim. Some people have an immediate connection with small children and he has it.



Adiyah with a posessed Samaya



Right after asking, "Does she nurse or does she eat kabob or something?"



Sanam



Stephanie and Frank's beautiful baby, Clovy. See Samaya, her hair started out straight and check out those curls now! There's hope for you yet.



Not at the picnic, but cute.

Friday, July 17, 2009

They grow up so fast...

So our darling is quite the growing girl. At one month, she's about 10 1/2 lbs. And it's all going in her cheeks. She makes sure I go from feeling like a perfect mother to a complete failure on an every other day basis. Yesterday and the night before she slept almost not at all. Three hours when she first went down on Wednesday night, and then up on the hour or less until morning. Thinking I knew my daughter- I'm her mother after all- I was sure she would catch up by taking a long morning nap. And so logically she proceeded to stay awake almost the entire day with the exception of a couple 20 minute or less naps. All the way until 10:30 PM. This is not the first time this has happened.

I am always informing Sisay of my current theory on the WHYS of her lack of sleep and/or crankiness: It's the peach gummy rings I knew I shouldn't have eaten. Or the beans. Or peanutbutter. Or corn chips. Definitely the soymilk. I've heard some babies have a soy intolerance. And probably also the cheese on my sandwich. Maybe it was because I was out most of yesterday and she was overstimulated. That's it! She's not sleeping because she's overtired. On second thought, maybe she's in between growth spurts. She just doesn't need as much sleep right now.

Even my dad chimed in: Most babies come into the world drugged, addicted to nicotine and alcohol, having undergone a very stressful birth. Samaya slid into a birth tub in the comfort of her own home without being under the influence. She's ahead of the game. More like a 6 month old really.

She's always changing the rules. Maybe one of those ideas used to be right, but it sure doesn't apply now.

Then last night happened. She slept for FIVE hours. FIVE. Technically this is considered 'sleeping through the night.' Not only that, but the little angel then nursed for 10 minutes and fell gently back to sleep for another 3 1/2 hours. That's right. We have an incredibly advanced child. If only this lasted for more than a night. Today she has been an absolute dream. It's now 12:20 and she's already had a nice morning nap too. The awake portion: full of smiles. Of course as I write this the fussiness is beginning. I am learning never to expect or predict anything. People keep asking me if she's starting to have a schedule and all I can do is laugh. Sure, she has a schedule but she doesn't see the need in informing her parents of the daily changes she makes to it. That's fine, as long as she continues to shower her many wonders upon us.

Here are a couple pictures of her sleeping peacefully. I'm sending these images into the ether to promote good karma. Of course, it will most likely backfire, but I'm currently knocking on wood to reduce this likelihood.



Oh my lord, so cute. That's my family everybody.




This morning, during the aforementioned nap in my arms.