Nine Weeks

Nine and a half weeks of delicious

Amelie and I are sitting in a coffee shop this morning. I still have so many little niggling items on the To Do List and I thought a change of scenery might help.

So many thoughts, so little time.

I'm officially smitten with Amelie. She's so sweet and kissable. I remember, now, in Calliope's infancy finally understanding the phrase, "I could eat you up!" There's something about those silky dimpled arms and legs that makes me feel like I could never kiss her enough.

I'm already mourning the end of maternity leave. Even though it's (hopefully) still a month away. And then I'm only working for five days, spread over two weeks, before I have the two summer months off. Calliope will be in daycamp for a few of those weeks but it still feels like it will be different. Less indulgent, more real life.

Amelie is smiling more frequently, and those smiles... yes, delicious. Nothing like a gummy toothless smile.

Yesterday she intentionally brought her fist to her mouth for the first time. And she's enjoying kicking her pudgy little legs more and more.

Her hair is definitely growing into a more appreciable fuzz. It's a little shocking to me since Calliope's hair didn't grow for months and months. Luckily the cradle crap hasn't spread from her eyebrows to her scalp, and even her eyebrows are looking much better.

I've been afraid to jinx myself by talking about her schedule but I think I'm ready: sometime around seven weeks, she successfully adapted to eating every three hours, and immediately started having a seven hour stretch between feedings at night. I was still doing a dream feed at bedtime and the early morning feeding started getting later and later. Now she's eating every four hours during the day and as of last night, no dream feed. So she nursed at 8, 12, 4, and 8... and then 4 am. Not bad for nine weeks! Now if only I would go to bed earlier myself. But I feel so relatively well rested it's hard to be disciplined.

She's also taking lovely long naps: generally she's up for an hour and then sleeps, with brief wake ups for the pacifier or just to look around, in between. I know this is bound to change soon but for now, it's great. Not that I don't love spending time with her while she's awake. But it's reassuring to be able to get things done. I do feel a little guilty about how focused I am on my project list.

The only drawback is I was a little surprised that Amelie didn't gain more weight at her last doctor's appointment. If the midwife's scale is correct, she had gained nine ounces in fourteen days. Which is still well within the healthy range of a half ounce to once ounce per day, just a slower gain than she had previously. Of course, Calliope's weight gain slowed down similarly, just a little later and a little higher. But Calliope was a bit taller. And glancing back at my blog from 2011, looked thinner. So probably it's not surprising that she weighed a half pound more at two months. Nine and a half pounds just seems low for two months. But I look at her and she certainly appears to be thriving. She's got nice pudge on her arms and legs, and a sweet little round belly. She's getting stronger and more developed by the day. And she's never crying from hunger. So I shouldn't worry, right?

Two months of sisterhood

Two months

Trying out the hand me down baby wrap again. 

Sweet snuggles

Tummy time at nine weeks. I love the wrist creases.

Versus tummy time at eight weeks