The Hard Part

Jungle Onesie

As of yesterday, Sadie is two weeks old. It really is hard to believe she's only been in our lives that long. Our old lives feel very, very far away.

Scott and I are struggling to adjust to life with this tiny, temperamental creature. On the whole he seems to be struggling a lot less than I am. A lot of things come naturally to him -- how to buckle her into her carseat and hoist it in and out of the car, how to tuck her into the crook of his arm and fall asleep with her on the couch, how to tell why she's crying and whether she needs something, or whether she's just being cranky and needs a few minutes to calm herself down.

Me, I'm still kind of this quivering bundle of hormones with limited usefulness. I cry so much now that it's kind of hilarious -- especially because I'm not crying because I'm unhappy. It's more like every single expression of feeling, whether positive or negative, immediately manifests itself as tears. I cry when I'm tired, when Sadie won't cooperate, when Scott comes home, when my mother calls. Poor Scott -- he probably never figured he'd be dealing with TWO wailing females once the baby finally arrived.

Luckily we have been very blessed by having family close by. We really do have the greatest families anyone could ask for. They babysit, they invite us over for brunch to get us out of the house, and they are generally awesome. It is because of them that I am not freaking more about the fact that Scott will be leaving for Vancouver in a week and gone for as long as TEN DAYS. AAAAAAAAAACK.

See what I mean about the hormones?

Enough about our fragile emotional states -- on to the more interesting stuff. And by "interesting," I of course mean, "Mildly interesting to anyone who's had a baby, and insufferably boring to everyone else."

Sadie is growing, like one of those pills you put in hot water that unfolds magically into a sponge shaped like a circus animal. Even the pediatrician was amazed. After originally losing about 10 oz after birth, she has regained it all back and then some, and is now over 8 lbs. She is also tall -- or rather, long. When she stretches her legs out and raises her arms, she looks like a noodle. Well, a noodle with a giant head.

Her hair and eyes are getting lighter. The most amazing things about her are her blonde eyebrows, and blonde highlights. How come I have to spend $200 to get highlights like that, and nature just gave them to her for free? As for her eyes, we're still playing the guessing game as to what color they will eventually be. They started out dark gray, but now seem to be turning bluer.

Her digestive system has come online with a vengeance, and she now happily burps and farts her way through every meal. Seriously, the pooping? Is out of control. Newborns are supposed to progressively poop less and pee more as they get older. Sadie obviously did not receive this memo. There is nothing she enjoys better than taking a loud, bubbly, giant crap. No, I take that back. If there's one thing she enjoys more than taking a giant crap, it's taking an initial giant crap, then waiting until we start changing her diaper, then taking a SECOND giant crap all over the the changing pad and the hands of whoever happens to be wiping her ass at the time.

No, wait. There's one thing she likes even more than that, and it's taking a giant crap while we're giving her a bath so that she goes from clean baby to a baby who is suddenly sitting a sinkful of poop water.

Babies are fun.

But late nights and stress and explosive poop aside, there is just so much awesomeness there too. Today, for the first time, she looked at me and burst into a big smile. Not a fart smile -- a REAL smile. And then Scott came over and leaned his head down at her and she looked at him, and she did it again -- a huge, sunny smile. It filled my whole heart with happiness. So what do you think I did? That's right -- I cried.