3 Weeks of Parenting

Alrighty. I'm typing this post with one hand. I'm getting quite good at doing things one-handed. Baby in the left arm, working with the right. Let me fill you in on a little bit of what life has been like the last few weeks of being a mom.

The truth is, the first two weeks were blissful. Honestly it was exactly as I had imagined parenting a newborn would be like. My cute little angel slept most of the time, and when she was awake, she was so relaxed  and just looked around everywhere, taking it all in. Ellie was a happy, mellow little girl. Life was easy. I didn't know what to do with all the extra time on my hands. Except for a 24 hour period of not feeling well, I had felt better than I had for the whole previous 9 months.

Then the 3rd week rolled around and something changed. Ellie is not quite the happy little person we brought home from the hospital.  She now spends a lot of her awake time crying, and I don't know why. She always acts like it takes every ounce of her waking energy to digest her food. I believe she may either have really bad gas issues, or she is possibly becoming colicky - my nightmare come true. I feel so bad for my poor baby. Sometimes when she is crying, she looks up at me with an expression that says, "Mommy, I'm hurting. Please help me." And it breaks my heart because I feel so helpless.

Fortunately, though, she is consolable. She LOVES to bounce on the exercise ball (maybe because mommy diid that pretty consistently for her last couple weeks in the womb...) She likes to swing in her swing and stare at the birds rotate on a mobile above her head as well as the couple other toys I hung from it. She is beginning to like sucking on a pacifier as well. The only problem is that these methods of consoling her are only temporary.

So yah. just a fair warning - our beautiful, sweet Ellie might not be the happiest of babies when everyone comes to meet her at the blessing this weekend...

But we love her so much, even though her crying gives mommy some serious anxiety. We are definitely praying that her little tummy will soon begin cooperating with her - or whatever it might be that is bothering her.

Here is Ellie enjoying her swing. As you can hear by the TV in the background, I have been spending a lot of time watching TV. HGTV to be exact. 

Here is Ellie and Daddy practicing drinking out of a bottle for when Mommy goes back to work. She did a great job! 

Two of Ellie's future best friends - Natalie and Camille - were born a week and a half after her. So exciting! 

Ellie's first time letting me put her in the Baby Bjorn.