Sunday, January 01, 2012

The Ladybug is 2 months old

Dear sweet Ladybug.  You are two months old already.  When your brother was born, we missed his one month update as well.  It seems that between being born and having your two month birthday, so much goes on that it is impossible to sit down and write it all for month one.  So here I am, trying to remember back over the past two months. 

Well, here's something I remember clearly.  You were born.  We didn't get a whole bunch of pictures of you being born like we did with your brother because you came so fast!  These were all taken on mommy's iPhone because we didn't even have the camera out yet!




Because you were born so late on a Thursday night, we stayed in the hospital until Sunday.  We were all ready to go home by that time.  Your brother came to visit you in the hospital but you were just starting to breastfeed and he wanted to be up on the bed and once he was up there, he was squirming and kicking and wanted to get close to mommy.  So your dad had to take him out of the room.  We tried to do it again once they came back, but Little G had a major tantrum in the hospital room, so Daddy took him home.  That's why we don't have a single picture of the two of you together when you were first born.  I'm so sorry about that...but trust me, you are better off for it :)


Soon after you were born, Gram came to meet you.  You were a touch jaundiced, so the instructions were to keep you in the sun.  Gram was really good at doing that.


While Gram was here, we took your picture for your birth announcement and we were able to capture the beautiful gray eyes you had when you were born.  They are already changing to brownish green, so I am glad we have record of your gray eyes.


We eventually tried again to get a picture of you and Little G together, but this time you were the uncooperative one.


Finally, we succeeded one day in your first month while you were both on the couch.

Even thoughI am in my pajamas and even though the background of this picture belies the state of chaos our living room seems to have been in since you were born, this is one of my favorite pictures taken since you were born. You are so snuggly and lovely and gentile.  For the first few weeks of your life, your daddy and I joked that you slept 23 hours of the day, but it seemed to be true.  You were definitely difficult to rouse to eat those first few weeks!

When you first came home, Little G insisted on participating in all of your activities with you.  Whether it be bouncy chair, gymini or in mommy's arms, Little G insisted you do it together.  Your brother is so gentle with you and loves you so much.  For the first few weeks you were home, he called you Clarin-in-in-n-n-na, but now he seems to have a better handle on it correcting us to call you Clarinnna (he's not so great at pronouncing "d's".



Grammy and Grampy came to meet you for your firstThanksgiving and you turned one month old.  You outgrew all of your newborn and 0-3 month outfits from Carters...but who are we kidding, they size them too small.

Aunt K and Martha came to visit soon after Grammy and Grampy left and you charmed them with your sweet disposition.



We tried to get a family photo, but mommy had to rely on propping the camera up on the recycling bin in order to get it (one of the pitfalls of not living near family that you can just call up and ask to take your picture).  Little G was too interested in the pile of leaves anyway...but this was our first picture taken as a family.


Often times you fall asleep during tummy time which is definitely not what we were used to with your brother who screamed 15 seconds into tummy time every. single. time.  We are trying so hard not to continuously compare you to your brother and vice a versa, but it is so striking how different your personalities are.  As daddy says, Little G came out with his hair on fire...you we can barely wake up to eat.  And on the eating front it is hilarious to me that Little G would suck down his bottle in one fall swoop...like a piranha.  You, however, take your time...we joke that you swirl it around in your mouth and sip it like fine wine.



Everynight when Little G goes to bed, you come with us to read his bed time story.  Then, as of the past few weeks, we have put you to bed too...usually around 8:00pm...and you have gotten up anywhere between 2 and 4 in the morning for a snack and then gone back to bed until time to take Little G to daycare.  This is pretty much the same schedule that he had at your age, so we are glad to be on the same track.

We've been getting baby smiles from you in the past few weeks.  I think the first one was around week 5 or 6.  One thing I have noticed is that it doesn't seem as though you have any dimples.  But you have hair.  Lots and lots of beautiful, thick, fuzzy hair.  It is without-a-doubt, the first thing anyone comments on when they see you.  I had this hair when I was your age - my dad used to tell me how people commented all the time about how beautiful my hair was.  Usually this was during a total meltdown and hairbrush-throwing session since I also had this hair up until 6th grade.  So I promise to let you venture into the world of hair products as soon as you want to.  But here's a secret.  As much as I hated my hair growing up, I can't not begin to describe how much I love yours and thus actually forgive my head of hair for being so horrid all of those years.



A couple of weeks ago, I started flipping you over to your tummy after diaper changes since you would be really awake and alert and you started lifting your head up at a 45 degree angle.  You've also been giving us beautiful smiles and small coo's.  


Just before Christmas, you and your brother visited with Santa.  You were none to impressed, but he was totally smitten.

Ladybug, you are without a doubt, the most delicious baby.  We are so filled with joy to have you in our lives and we are so proud of all of your achievements.  These past two months have flown by in a way that is positively scary.  Part of it is because you were born so close to Halloween and then very quickly it was Thanksgiving and then Christmas...a time of year that goes quickly for those WITHOUT kids...so you can only imagine how fast it has seemed for us.

One thing I have learned from mothering your brother is that we really have to hold on to these days because they do go so very, very fast.  We all love you more than we ever thought was possible.  The moment you were born, my heart and my capacity to love grew.  It was so strange to be in the hospital with you and think to myself that we had a whole other child at home waiting to meet you.  I can barely remember our lives without you in it.

Until next month my love...

Mommy

6 comments:

  1. "You, however, take your time...we joke that you swirl it around in your mouth and sip it like fine wine."
    Presh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cute. And per the usual very thoughtfully done, especially the part where you consider comparing your two children. I was wondering if you've thought about the way in which gender has (if at all) impacted your reaction/thoughts/actions to your daughter in just these two short months. I think that totally adorable and refreshingly not pink outfit owl outfit made me think of this. In what, if any, ways do you see others interactions with her as different from her brother? How do you feel about this? I was just wondering if it's something you've thought about at all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interestingly, the biggest differences between our interactions with our daughter and our son stem around the fact that she is a much easier and much more laid back baby than Little G was.  I don't think that has anything to do at all with their sex or gender; it just so happens that our more spirited child (up until this point) has been our son and our more gentile baby is our daughter.  

    Potentially because she is still very little and her personality is so-far just based on her reactions and interactions to input that is generally non-gender specific (eating, sleeping, pooping, crying, smiling), I haven't given much thought about any differences in our interactions with her or her brother as far as sex or gender comes into play. 

    As far as other's interactions they are surprisingly similar.  Little G had a faux-hawk and frosted tips when he was born and Ladybug has thick, fuzzy, long black hair.  So both of my children have received the same first impression comments from friends and strangers alike, "Look at that HAIR!!" is usually the first thing anyone says.  

    ReplyDelete
  4. Too cute. I love that little G wanted to do everything with his new sitser at first! So so sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I want to say that this post is amazing, great written and include approximately all important infos. I’d like to see extra posts like this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ladybugs or lady beetles are oval-shaped winged insects that eat aphids.

    ReplyDelete