One Month with Bella

This pretty much says it all.....

Little tiny girl who likes her sleep. 

Our first month with lil sis was one full of love, laughter, learning, little sleep and lots of snuggles. We can very easily say that we soaked up every bit of her newborn-ness. She fit into our family so well from day one that the transition from one child to two seemed like a breeze. I often found myself saying to Riley "having two is so much easier than one." I couldn't figure out the logic in that statement or why I felt that way but I rolled with it. As life has sped up a bit over the past four weeks things have since become a bit more hectic, but that first month, oh that first month was so sweet. We toted baby girl everywhere with us. I was often asked why on earth I'd even attempted to leave the house with both of them in the first couple of weeks. I cannot sit still. I just can't. I try to. But I can't. While I certainly haven't been writing about our recent surge in memories made, we've been busy making plenty of new ones out and about.

 

Let's start with my favorite thing: the sisters and the way they love eachother.

 

 

Where Bella is, Hallie is. She kept a constant watch on little sister. She had a bazillion questions about why she peed so much and why she only drank milk and why she liked to sleep so much and why she couldn't play yet, etc. It was all so precious. She never walked by her without sharing a forehead kiss and a semi-scary sort of hug. She took on the role of big sis so easily. I'm not really all that surprised. She's got such a big heart full of nothing but love. Well, and a little bit of sass. But she saves that part for me. I found out what it was like to re-live Hallie's newborn days....it was literally as if I were holding Hallie. THEY ARE NEARLY IDENTICAL! Hallie eats that part up. Bella knew when sis was in a room with her and was constantly moving her head in the direction of her voice. Cool moments to witness. Hallie's heart swelled. It was pretty obvious that her new role of big sis was super important to her.

Let's talk about sleep now. I really can't complain. Yes, I was sleep deprived. But that's a given. Here's the difference between my first mommy experience and the second time around.....Bella is a quiet little lady. When she woke I could barely hear her except for the rustling and squirming. I'm not sure if it's because I never let her get to the point of screaming or if she was a polite baby who didn't want to wake up the whole house. I'm gonna go with the latter but either way she's a pretty sweet snuggler at night. She woke about every one and a half to two hours with some generous three hours stretches thrown in. 80% of the time she's drift right back to sleep after eating....but the other 20% left me bobbing my head and prying my eyes open to stay awake with her while she stared at me with her wide eyes saying "let's party mom." I slept with baby girl on my chest for the first three weeks. She would stir if placed in her swing or her big sleeping pillow. So the chest it was. Talk about being warm and snuggly....she knew how to wrap me around her finger. The couch was our domain. On one side I had all of the essentials....wipes, a stack of diapers, a pacifier, burp clothes, a couple of blankets, nursing pillow, bottle of water, phone, a snack and the tv remote. The quiet didn't work well so I left some very quiet background music on. Usually country was a big hit. If we had a bad night I'd change up the music the following night as if it would change her sleeping habits. Ha! Wishful thinking. The mornings were our favorite time. Hallie would crawl out of bed to find Bella and I snuggled up on the couch. She curled up beside us for some cartoons or just some quiet time. She would examine sissy's fingers and toes and if she happened to be awake (which she rarely was) she'd greet her with a "good morning sissy, it's your big sissy talking to you." If I happened to wake up before both girls I would race to the shower in an attempt to feel human as quickly as possible and get dressed at lightning speed. Falling back asleep wasn't an option with Hallie running around so I found that getting dressed and ready early in the day helped with the sleepiness. If I'd stayed in my robe I'd have probably spent the entire day yawning and trying to fight sleep while sitting up. As I alluded to, Bella's sleeping habits during the day were basically this....sleep. all. day. long. Friends and family started to wonder if she ever woke up. Many didn't see her eyes for quite awhile. Trust me. She had eyes that first month. And they were beautiful when she decided to open them every once in awhile.

 

She enjoyed her diet of breastmilk and quickly proved to be a great eater. She had a fairly consistent dining schedule of every two to three hours until she hit the three week growth spurt. Whoa nelly! She ate about every hour for three nights in a row......this was fun. She fit into some of Hal's premie clothes for the first two weeks and then we stuck to newborn and some smaller 0-3 month onesies. 

We have trouble settling on nicknames around our house. It's a struggle. Bella became known as "B", Miss B, Bells, Sister....basically she's never going to know what her real name is. Even though we couldn't make up our minds about what to call her she seemed to love us anyway. But it was overwhelmingly obvious who she loved the most....big sister won that award. She loved to hear Hallie's voice, her eyes would get wide when she heard her speak and she quickly quieted down once I would place her in Hallie's arms. Not sure why God has entrusted a neurotic lady like myself to raise such sweet little girls....

During that first month we discovered her sweet demeanor and her laid back style. She loved being held, hanging out in her car seat, swinging in the swing, bouncing in the bouncy seat....a content little lady she was no matter where she was placed. We kept wondering when that shrill newborn cry would emerge. Or when she would show a sassy side. But that never happened. She remained calm, quiet and oh so sweet.....

Oh and entertaining too......

In addition to welcoming many guests to the house, she had too many outings to count. The doctor's office, sissy's swimming lessons and dance camp, Nanny's work, grocery store, library, the park, putt putt golf course, daddy's office, a birthday party, the voting booth, an election watch party and lots of play dates. Church was her most memorable first trip out of the house.....

With each outing I found myself wondering how two could be so simple. There were some days that we would leave the house around 8:00 and not return until 1:00. Bella usually slept peacefully in her seat until she needed a little snacky. She'd wake and eat a bit and doze back off. Not a peep out of her in her car seat for an entire month except a few whimpers. Yes, I just said that. I felt like I was being Punkd. ;) The girl was an angel on earth in my books. And daddy and sissy's books too I assume.                                                                 

I'm writing this at week eight so my memory is a little shaky these days thanks to the inevitable "mommy brain." Scattered thoughts have spilled out to make this first monthly update. My hope is to give the blog continued attention despite the ever growing list of responsibilities and tasks. After all, it's my "me time" and the best form of relaxation I know. Another pretty awesome form of relaxation?? This right here....