Finnie Beginnie

What no one tells you is that when you have a baby not only do you make room in your heart to love your new daughter but your capacity to love everyone near and dear to you expands as well.

You’ll feel overwhelmed with the need to tell them, really tell them, so they know absolutely how important they are to you.

For me this is especially true with my mother. Every time I see her smile at my daughter, do something kind for me or thoughtful for my marriage, I want to take her face between my hands and tell her until I’m sure she believes me, “You are wonderful and kind and I love you and I couldn’t be a mother without you.”

Olive’s new soothing technique.

Mommy achievement unlocked?

I just successfully peed while holding a sleeping baby.

The good thing about a baby who never sleeps?

It doesn’t matter when a sleep-related curve ball is thrown at us, she never slept to begin with anyway!

Things that haven’t/ won’t make her sleep worse than the 2-3 hour stretches she already only gives us:

• Rolling over
• Transitioning to her crib
• Sleeping in an unusual/new location
• Missing a nap
• Milestones
• X-month regressions
• Teething

Milestones

You know how people tell you that your baby will wake up having mastered a new skill overnight? That was totally Olive in the last 36 hours.

Yesterday morning she rolled back to front. Last night she outgrew her Rock n’ Play by rolling over in it. Ryan moved her to her crib where she instantly flipped to her tummy, cried for 10 minutes and then fell asleep. I’m kind of hoping that she will be a better sleeper on her stomach. Actually, I’m really, really hoping. We really need to catch a break in the sleeping department.

She also seemed to refine her thumb sucking skills yesterday. She still chews on her hand and fingers but she can reliable just get the thumb in and is on the track to using it for comfort.

Then today we went to a coffee new mom meet up group thing at Dean & Deluca and she hung out for 2.5 hours without making so much as one squawk. She loved all of the people and looking all around. She likes to be in a sitting position. So I let her sit on the table, either with me holding her trunk a little or her reclining her back against my chest. Everyone commented on her size, of course, but also about how alert she was.

Then we got home and she laughed! It was so cute and unprompted.

The fact that she wakes up every 2-3 hours during the night is so exhausting that it’s been a gift to watch her gain new skills and become more interactive. I can’t wait to find out what her little personality is going to be like, even if I go through life blurry eyed and sleep exhausted to get there.

Put it in the baby book, Olive rolled over from front to back this morning. Yesterday she figured out how to flip her leg over and today she put it all together. We were hanging out on the deck, looking up at the leaves, having a little chat and then she decided, today will be the day I conquer gravity! She flipped herself all the way over but couldn’t get her arm out from underneath her, so she chilled out for awhile and sucked her thumb and then she just wiggled that little appendage to the other side. And then she realized that she was on her stomach and she hates being on her stomach and what the hell is this bullshit. So then she cried.

But the point is, she rolled over! Go, little Olive, go.

Phantom crying is never more prevalent than after your baby has been awake and crying for two hours in the middle of the night and you’ve just managed to get them down.