That thing called motherhood

I have no time to achieve anything other than taking care of Baby Em these days. Not that I have had plenty of time for myself for the last nine months. But the fact is that she's slowly sleeping less and less, her naps becoming shorter and more rare, her nights becoming shorter as well, and I fear that the situation is only going to get worse. She'll start walking soon, I mean she's already standing, so very soon I'll be running after her and will have even less time for myself.

How do other mothers do it? I spend every day and every hour with her, and don't see how I could have some free time other than leaving her with someone else, such as a babysitter. And I am not quite sure that I'm ready for that step yet. Probably soon though, as I seriously need time to start doing things like emptying the last boxes, organizing the closets, getting in shape, reading a book, going back to my sewing projects, just to name a few. Besides, affording a babysitter implies starting to work again. Definitely not there yet. I have enough in my plate as it is thank you.

I often wonder how mothers of more than one child manage everything. Two mothers of nine month old babies I know are already pregnant again, and they seem extatic. One of them is pregnant with her fourth. No joke. I am by no means saying that a second child is out of the question, but definitely not so early. I wouldn't even have my 1 and 1/2 hour of "free" time per day with that scenario. Thank you but no thank you. Not for me. Not yet at least.

M. sure seems to be ready for that second baby though, considering his reaction the other day:

me: "I have good news."

M.: "Tell me."

me: "Try guessing."

M.:"Hmmmm... you're pregnant?"

No need to continue how that conversation went, right? Point proven, he's ready. But he's not the one spending 24 hours a day with Baby Em, nursing her, changing her diapers, playing with her, carrying her, getting little sleep, having no social life, and in charge of a household. I guess if I were in his shoes, I'd be ready too. Hell, I'd even consider having more than 2 children. Fathers/men have it much easier imho. Yet I wouldn't change my place with him for anything in the world. I'd miss out on that incredible magical fullfilling beautiful and undescribable thing called motherhood.

Birthday baby

Emily is six months today. It's unbelievable how fast the time went by, how much she's grown and changed in such little time. After the very hard first three months with daily colics, we really have the impression now that she was not completely with us yet - which explains why they call that the missing fourth trimester.

Emily is now another baby. She is patient, curious, playful, loves to listen to music and singing (she actually sings with) and laughs a lot. She hates to lie on her stomach, but loves to sit up to watch everything around her. Her new discovery these days is doing v and b sounds all day long.

I actually cannot believe she's only been with us for six months. It's as she'd always been here.

Tia Tambo

Emily's aunt Tia Tambo came to see us for the long weekend. Although I have to admit I had my fears, as my sister is 24 years old and more importantly still in the middle of an irresponsible party-till-you-drop-with-whatever-is-needed phase, everything went extremely well and I really enjoyed spending these days with my sister. As for Emily, she immediately adopted her. She usually needs some time to be apprivoisée (i.e. tamed), but didn't this time around. She spent 4 days smiling and even laughing for the first time with her aunt. She calmed down when Tia Tambo sang and read to her. My sister is the eldest of her 8 cousins on her mother's side and that taught her to take care and entertain small kids. She proved it to me these past days. I am now looking forward to being in Miami and letting Emily spend more time with her aunt. They both love each other SO much already!

co-sleeping

Emily has been sleeping with me since her very first night. It was not planned but just happened that way thanks to the hospital's midwife advice and my gutt feeling. Although I was completely exhausted after the birth, I just spent that first night staring at my daughter sleeping next to me. A night I will never forget.

She has been sleeping in our bed with M and I ever since then. Nevermind critics and other points of view, I have become a firm believer of all the advantages of co-sleeping. Besides, it feels right. And it will thus continue that way for now. I am however considering buying one of those co-sleeper cribs that you fix to your own bed, allowing her to be next to me, but giving her - and most importantly us as a couple - her/our own space. It certainly sounds ideal at this point, but our american bed is quite high (70cm!) and finding a european co-sleeper crib high enough seems to be a problem. My actual mission.

Life is sweet

We are finally finding some kind of rhythm. Emily has good nights, spending more than 12 hours in our bed until around 10h30 in the morning. I am not saying that she sleeps through the night, as she wakes up quite often to eat, sometimes as often as every one or two hours, but she then falls back asleep immediately. In spite of these frequent awakenings, I am starting to recuperate some sleep at last.

As soon as she's awake, Emily spoils us with wonderful smiles. The whole room lights up when she looks at us smiling. Our hearts fill with joy and they feel as if they were going to explode. I know it sounds corny, but that's how we feel. She sleeps very little during the day; she mostly wants to play, or to cuddle in my arms. She's also loving the daily massages I am learning at the Baby massage classes.

Life is sweet.

one hand and no time

Emily is growing fast. Too fast for my taste. She's already wearing clothes for 3 months old when she's not even 2 months, and is heavier on my poor back by the day. She's more beautiful and awake every single day. Her smiles are becoming more and more frequent. She still has her colics, but they have improved thanks to homeopathy, microtherapy, and osteopathy, meaning they thankfully don't last as long.

We've had many visits since her birth - my father, my brother, my mother twice, my grand-mother Yaya, without even mentioning the frequent visits of the locals. I am still expecting a few people though.

As for I, I only have one hand these days, the other one holding Emily in my arms (as I believe in the missing fourth trimester as they call it), and no spare time which explains why my last post was already one month ago.

Post Scriptum

Emily is also true to her Spanish blood. Her mala leche is definitely worthy of the D family and her Latin temperament is already showing!

Life with Emily

True to her genes - as punctual as a German and precise as a Swiss clock - Emily was born on the due date, i.e. June 3rd 2008. At 19h14 to be exact, after a 16 hour labor. To everyone's surprise, as my doctor had repeated during my entire pregnancy that Our Little One was a small baby, she weighed 3830 gr, measured 50 cm and had a 37 cm big head.

So much has happened since then. We are both back home since the 7th, M took the following week off which we spent all 3 together, my mother came to spend two weeks to help me, and I have been spending and treasuring every single second with Emily for three weeks now. I can't imagine my life without her, remember what it was like before she came. It's like if she'd always been around.

She had a very calm and quiet first week, and has grown nervous and impatient since her second week, having colics every evening for hours. We are trying everything, Sab simplex drops, the swaddling technique, the cherry pillow, reducing certain foods from my diet, but we haven't found THE magical remedy yet. If there even is one. We probably just need to wait the famous 3 months for it to pass. However, if you know of any other cure, I'm all ears.