Ruthie was two weeks old yesterday and we have had such a rollar coaster ride these last two weeks. Every emotion possible has been felt in our home! We're working on developing a schedule (that seems impossible!). This will sound silly to many moms, but I never imagined it would be so hard to have a newborn in the house. I knew we'd be low on sleep. I knew she would cry and want to eat a lot. I knew that it would be a life changing experience. But, I never though I'd have so many questions and second thoughts. After all, I've had a lot of experience with babies. I know how to hold, comfort, feed, and change babies. The questions rage...Pacifier or thumb? (Don't tell my Pedi we've been giving her a paccy) Let her cry or pick her up? What if something's wrong? Am I spoiling her? Are we creating a bad habit? Will we regret this later? Will we regret NOT doing this later? And, the most frustrating thing about it is that there are no RIGHT answers. Everyone you ask has a different opinion, even the Pediatricians!
But, there have been many, many blessed moments with our daughter. She is so precious, perfect, and wonderful. She weighed 8 pounds and 2 1/2 ounces at her two week check up! She is growing and eating!! Here is a list of what we've learned about our daughter in these two weeks!
*She likes her tummy. She likes to pull her legs up and tuck her hands underneath her and to be held up on your shoulder or your chest.
* We call her many nicknames: Little One, Sweat Pea, Little Roo, Ruthie Roo, Froggy legs, Lovebug, Lovie, and mad bull (When she's crying so hard her face gets red!)
*She likes to play a little game we call- dirty the clean diaper we just put on! To no avail, at least once a day (and sometimes two times right in a row) she will poo in her just changed diaper! We can't even get her picked up from the changing table before she blesses us with another deposit!
*While we're on the diapering subject, she likes to pee while her diapers are off!! We change her clothes at least once a day because she has christened herself!
*She loves her car seat- when she's moving, but she HATES being put into the seat. She cries (screams really) every time we put her in!
*She has a temper! She will certainly let you know when she's not happy! I forsee some hum-dinger of tantrums coming when she gets to the age of 2!!
*She loves music. Often music will calm her down and/or help her to stop crying
*She does this really cute thing with her eyebrows. When she is sleepy or it's bright out and she just can't open her eyes but wants to respond to your voice talking to he. She raises her eyebrows really high without opening her eyes so you know she's listening!
*She does this really cute thing with her mouth. She has the cutest faces she makes and one that she likes to make is her little lips all set in a perfect "o". It's like you can hear her saying "ohhhh"
*She love's her daddy. She loves to hear him talk to her and is very calmed when with him!
*When you lay her down to sleep, if her legs lay flat then she's probably going to fall asleep/stay asleep, but if her legs curl up or if she holds them up then she's probably going to cry as soon as your head hits the pillow!
*We have a little sleep test to determine the depth of her sleep. (When she's being held...) If you hold her like your going to put her in her crib and her arms drop flat then she's really asleep and will probably make the transfer from arms to bed, but if she holds her arms stiff or up by her body then she's definitely going to wake up in the transfer. (Just in case someone is worried, we often put her in her crib while she's still awake in hopes that she develops the ability to get herself to sleep...we don't want a parent depended sleeper...but we've found it very hard to be consistent these two weeks in that. We'll keep working!!)
*She's ticklish!! (In all the right tickle spots!) We found this out when desperately trying to keep her awake during her feedings (so that she gets a full feed each time!) It's so cute to see her wiggle when we tickle her sides or tummy!
I am so glad that the Lord is strong in my weakness. I know that He has a perfect plan for her life and that he gave her to Tony and me knowing full well we didn't know what we were doing! We pray over her every night and ask the Lord for wisdom and guidance and grace. The very cool thing is that I've experienced in a very real way how the Lord's mercies are renewed every morning. Especially after a long night of eating, crying, and wake time (doesn't she know she's supposed to do that in the daytime?) when the morning comes it is bright and I'm revived and ready to take on another day! His promise comes to mind when I'm feeding her each morning.. MY mercies renew each morning! Praise the Lord!!
