Two Months Old

On Monday, my baby girl turned two months old. Having a child is the weirdest thing. Its the feeling that this little person was just born yesterday, and yet she's been a part of our family forever. I cannot imagine a life before middle of the night feedings or foot bouncing or swaying while I stand because I'm holding a little fussy girl who doesn't want to be still. I wouldn't trade our now lengthy outings and poop explosions for the pristine clothes or quick grocery runs of the past. More importantly, it all feels right, as if this is what my life was taking me towards before it all happened. And I know there is more in store for me, but right now, at this point in time, I am perfectly content to snuggle and admire this little chunkella until her cheeks get even chunkier.

By the way, the cloth diaper thing is going just swell. I'm improving my time and pretty soon I think I'll be good enough to teach Mr. Llama the ways of the cloth (lol) and have a partner in crime. The changes are pretty simple and honestly, I like them better than the disposables. They seem more durable, more...sure of themselves? Not that they're sentient or anything, they just seem more substantial to me.

Turns Out I'm a Little Hippie

In babylandia, Little Llama slept for a full eight hours in a row last night. Eight hours! And then, then she when back to sleep for another two and a half hours. Thats ten and a half hours of sleep!!! Which means I got a full eight hours myself, and some baby free hours in the evening. It was magical, you guys. Now please keep your fingers, toes and other appendages crossed that she'll continue to sleep for such an awesome length of time at night. And if she wants to cut out that feeding between eight and ten hours, I'd totally support her in that too and just fill her full of even more milk calories during the day.

Also breaking news, we've run out of the disposable diapers so many friends and family generously gave us. They got us through the new-born phase and a month of size ones, and now we're faced with the prospect of buying our own diapers. So after a lot of research and conversations with people who know, I decided to do something radical and switch from disposables to cloth diapers. Ick, gross, I know. Haven't I heard that cloth diapers means I'll have to scrape poo into the toilet and deal with leaks all over and do laundry every three hours? Yes, I have heard those things, but it turns out they are actually wrong.

In reality, cloth diapers are a lot easier to use than you'd imagine, super cost effective, leak way less than disposable diapers, and (for the amount I ordered) only need to be laundered every third day. I'll be  using something called a prefold, which is a flat, cushy piece of cloth that you just wrap around baby like a diaper and close using a snappi (a magical invention much like the thing that holds an ace bandage in place, but designed for diapers). Prefolds are not water proof though, so I'll also be using covers, which are a ton better than the rubber pants we used to wear as babies. Also a ton cuter. See?

So now I have prefolds, covers, snappis, as well as a special laundry bag for the diapers on order and should be receiving them either the end of this week or the beginning of next... which means I shouldn't have to buy disposables again until we're traveling somewhere where we don't have access to a washer and dryer. Bam. How is that for a productive weekend?

Oh andplusalso we went to church where my baby was the fairest of them all (I don't even care if I'm biased) and here's proof.

^^^Okay, okay, this one is from Saturday, not Sunday. But you get my point.

On Being a Baby

It must be very frustrating to be a baby. I mean, first of all, your parents put you in a crib to sleep instead of just holding you all night. What the heck is that about? And secondly, you get pretty terrible gas that comes out with super unlady like sounds accompanied by either spit up or poop. Sometimes both. And you have zero control over your bladder, which means that there's usually something trickling out and making your diaper (how embarrassing) uncomfortable. 

Of course it has its upsides to, this baby-hood. You get to keep your parents up until mid-night and then wake them every three hours to eat just for a few minutes, poop, be unswaddled and changed then reswaddled, poop again, then have to be unswaddled and changed and reswaddled all over again before being latched back on a booby to be nursed back to sleep. Its a complicated process, but very rewarding for the baby in question. 

Also when you're a baby you don't have to help with household chores on account of you don't have control over your limbs quite yet and would probably spit up on the freshly mopped floor anyway. Not that you'd get in any sort of trouble for this, because all you'd have to do would be smile and your parents would forget the floor and make fools of themselves trying to get you to smile again-- which you would do only after a few minutes so you could watch all the silly faces without any sort of interruption. 

Yes, being a baby would be sweet indeed if I didn't know how phenomenal being the Mommy is. Not only do I have control over my bladder and limbs, I also get to watch the most amusing little person flail around and smile and hiccup all day... and a lot of the night. 

Andplusalso, I get to snuggle her, which is the best thing in the world. 

After a Month...

Today is the day I declare my blog maternity leave officially over. The past few weeks Ruby and I have been getting to know one another and getting used to the whole being alone thing. Because I'm not going to lie, I was pretty terrified when all our family left that I wouldn't be able to keep up and do everything I needed to do by myself while Leighton worked. I mean, those first two weeks of baby girl's life, we had family doing laundry for us, cooking our meals, fetching me glasses of water, rocking the baby to sleep in the middle of the night... how was I supposed to keep up when they were gone and I was in charge of the cooking and the cleaning and the baby and the middle of the night sleep rocking?  How could I do it all and feed the baby every few hours and still manage to keep up with my blog and my reading and hopefully creative writing?

For me, the answer has been to work one thing in at a time. At first, all I did was watch Charmed on Netflix and nurse the baby. Then I managed to shower, and that was glorious. Soon I was doing laundry and fixing some meals and cleaning the house once a week like I did before. And now that I just finished the last episode of the last season of Charmed, It's time to bring back in the blogging and be more productive during the day. Gosh I'm excited about this.

I mean look at me. I'm sitting on the couch, typing up a post and bouncing the baby in her borrowed bouncer with my toes at the same time. I am wonder-woman, basically. Now please hold while I rescue her pacifier for the millionth time.

In Ruby land, our lady is five weeks old now and smiling at us on purpose. She gets especially smiley first thing in the mornings after she has been changed and fed, and after naps when I hold her close and smile at her while making a variety of high pitched noises. It is the cutest thing. Also, she's now wearing size three month clothes (and has been since she turned a month old) and size one diapers. Her hair keeps getting longer and longer too, except for the spot in back that seems to be going bald.

Oh, and the Fourth of July! We did end up in Santa Cruz, but the trip which normally takes about 40 minutes, took us 4 HOURS. Because I was dumb and didn't realize that everyone else in the city of San Jose was also trying to get to the beach for the holiday. Fortunately, Ruby slept like a champ and then ate like a champ when we arrived and slept as we walked around and enjoyed the ocean. And then we turned around and came home. Which only took us 40 minutes.

So here are the photos I took of the Rub-Meister when she turned a month old on the 19th. I can't believe she's getting so big! Slow down, time! Slow the heck down!

Oh and PS: Ruby told me to tell you guys to make sure you tell all your daughters to keep their paws off of Prince George, because he is hers. Please and thank you.

Happy Fourth of July!

Today we are going to go to Santa Cruz and visit the beach maybe? I don't know how that's going to work with Baby Llama, because we basically treat her like a tiny vampire because her skin is so delicate... but I have some super SPF sunscreen and baby sun hats and light blankets... and maybe we'll invest in a gigantor umbrella?

Hopefully it works out and we don't spend the entire time huddled in in the shade of a single palm tree.

However it goes, I'm sure you'll get to hear all about it tomorrow.

Oh and I almost forgot! Yesterday kidlet had her two week pediatrician visit. She now weigh's 8 pounds 10 ounces and is 21 inches long. When she was born she was 8 pounds even and 20 inches. She's getting so big! I'm afraid I'm going to blink and miss the whole teeny tiny baby stage because guys, its passing super quickly already. I mean, she's only a newborn for a little while, and then she's just a baby followed by a toddler followed by a child... and then she's a teenager and dating and growing boobs of her own before heading off to college and meeting some eligible dude and getting married and having babies of her own that start the vicious cycle all over again.

Tell me that isn't depressing. Now I need a root beer float to get my mind off of the inevitable.

And here are some pictures of my cute newborn for you to stare at as a reward for reading this nothing post.

Weekend Review

What can I say about grandparents? We've had a weekend with both sets in town and Ruby has rarely had to be anywhere but in someones arms. Watching them love on her pretty much makes my heart melt. Especially my father, who hasn't historically been a baby holder but who grins so wide when she is him his arms. It's fantastic to behold.

And my mom, she's been so great. She arrived two days after Ruby was born and was so very helpful for the nine days she was here. She vacuumed and cooked and did dishes and laundry and basically made my life so easy I could just focus on sleeping and eating and nursing for the first week and a half of Baby Llama's existence. And now my mother-in-law is here and being just as amazing. I am truly spoiled.

Sunday we had Ruby's baby blessing at church and it was so special because her Daddy and Grandpa and Abuelito all got to be there and participate in it. And she looked pretty glorious in a vintage little white dress with a white flower headband and an adorable silver and pearl bracelet. I mean, we made a pretty darn cute baby, and all gussied up she looked superb.

Anywho. Granparents rock. Spread the word.

A Blog Without Words

Because words really aren't necessary when there is this much cute.

P to the S: If you've never tried smores bars before, do it. A friend brought us some today and I pretty much devoured the entire plate. I couldn't help myself!

P double S: I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend with both sets of grandparents in town and much loving of a chunky little baby girl. So heads up if I miss a day or two of posting!

Aren't sleeping babies the cutest? What is your favorite dessert and will you give me the recipe? What are your plans for the weekend? 

What Was Her Name?

Ruby's umbilical cord fell off yesterday. Gross. Underneath there was what looked like yellow pussy stuff, so I called the pediatrician to see if it was normal and what-not. She ended up asking us to come in to the office so she could put some silver nitrate on the base (which was apparently not pussy, just umbilically) to dry it out. As it turns out, Baby Llama has a really big belly-button, which explains how she became such a little chunker in the womb. She got lots of nutrients through that thing!

Speaking of chunkers, the pediatrician also told me Ruby has managed to gain seven ounces in two days and is less than an ounce from her birth weight now. She then told me I could probably feed her every three hours instead of every two, and that I should let her ignore the second boob if she falls asleep after the first. But I don't want to, because do you know how much engorgement sucks? A lot, okay? So I'm still wanting to wake her up as often as possible to nurse and basically I feel like that one witch whose name I don't know from Hansel and Gretel who fattens up children to cook for dinner. And Ruby does look super tasty, so its hard to keep from taking a nibble.

In other news, I did manage to do some new born shots yesterday, but I'm being lazy and haven't yet uploaded them to my computer. So you only get one today, but it is a good one, so please enjoy. I'm no professional photographer, but I have a pretty decent camera which I think makes up for it in some ways.

How scrumptious does this baby look? Don't you just want to nibble on those cheeks? Should I continue to fatten her up until she has at least four wrist rolls on each wrist? 

Look What We Did

Ruby Anabelle Smith. 

8 pounds. 

20 inches. 

Born at 7:13 pm, on Wednesday June 19th. 

After 7 hours of labor and 38 minutes of pushing.

The Llamas are in love.