One month update...

Still here! We're all doing well and are even getting a bit o' sleep now- it's fabulous. Funny how you don't miss things until they're gone.

Just a few bullet points ... things I've thought of during feedings or burpings or changings:
- I can't believe how much laundry we do now. Baby clothes are teeny, so why the increased volume? The answer, my friends, is that babies tend to be shit factories. One baby can easily blaze through several onesies per day. Did you (non-parents) know there is a kind of dump a baby can take that explodes right out of the conventional diaper, no matter how well that diaper is fastened. The poo jets up from the crack and out of the back of the diaper, so it is possible that the holding adult doesn't even know they're covered with dung until later. Amazing.
- Because I nurse all the time in this big recliner by the french doors, I've become an expert at the wildlife on our porch. By day it's squirrels, blue jays, finches, and chipmunks, and by night it's owls, flying squirrels, bats, and the neighbor's scavenging dog.
- A baby can go from placid to OMG TERRORIZING in .4 seconds flat. This ability is most frequently demonstrated in public places...crowded video rental stores, for example. (It seems like she could be nice for 4 minutes at Blockbuster...it isn't like we're leaving her at home to fend for herself while we go out to see Die Hard 4.)
- "Random people touching the pregnant belly" is NOTHING compared to the new version, "Random people telling you how to raise your child." These aren't people I even know, and yet they'll come up to me and say things like, "Now, don't let em sleep with you, or they'll never learn to be independent," or "I can't believe you haven't pierced her ears yet...what if people think she's a boy?!"*

*on the subject of baby ear piercing, let me say this (and I'm sorry if I offend anyone): It really annoys me when people pierce infant girls' ears. Who gives a rat's ass if you can't immediately tell the gender of a baby? It's a BABY. (Also, in my hometown, infant ear piercing is generally something that fender-lizard rednecks do, and the CZ earrings are invariable coupled with those awful frilly pink headbows that they practically have to staple to get to stay on. ...Just so we don't see them at wal-mart and mistake a Bobbie-Jean for a Bobby Gene.)

Currently Listening to: Paranoia in B Major, by The Avett Brothers

Comments

[mfreeman]

I attached silly bows with toothpaste to my bald-headed daughter. There. I admit it.

[Chad Wit Twinz]

I'm already looking forward to that kind of sleep! And "blazin' through the onesies" actually sounds kind of cool, hmm? Hope all's well, it's getting crunch time here. Talk to you guys soon.

[the old gray mare]

I thank God every day that Pookie has a resiliant Mom who doesn't succumb to the pressures of advice, however well-meaning, from strangers and not so strange alike. It's obvious when you see Leila and Pookie that Leila is in touch with exactly what Pookie needs...and what she doesn't need, like freakin' holes in her ears at this tender young age. Great job, Leila!!

[TomC]

Ah, the incredible poop explosion. I'd almost forgotten that. Thanks for reminding me. ;-)