Stats

Melina is nine weeks and one day old today. Today she weighed 12 pounds 1 oz. with her clothes on.

She is just starting to outgrow some of her 0-3 month clothes.

The Face that Launched 1000 Ships

Melina continues to be a delightful little baby. She is smiling and laughing more often, and she has just discovered that she can suck on her hands for entertainment. The more babies I meet, the more I'm convinced that she's hyper-cute. (Is that a terrible thing to say?) I mean, of course, all babies are cutest to their mothers, but I think we have a special one here.

She's been napping on her belly lately. It's so cute the way her little butt sticks up in the air.

She's also cute when she's swaddled up. She looks like a little inchworm, with her little round head sticking out. Then she sticks her legs up in the air and looks like an inchworm searching for a blade of grass to land on.

I have been very happy being a SAHM (that's Momese for "stay at home mom") lately. Of course, the beautiful weather helps. Today I was weeding under the old pear tree, with Melina in her Moses basket wrapped in gauze to keep away the bugs, drinking lemonade, and I reflected back on my office job and realized... working in the garden on a beautiful sunny day is infinitely better than working behind a desk on a beautiful sunny day, no matter what stage of your career you're in. At least for me.

Today I went to my first mom's group "meeting." It's a long story how I met these women, but there are three of them and they seem very cool. They all have babies under a year old. It was great to talk and compare notes. On Tuesday I'm going to a different mom's group meeting. I'm also involved in one online mom's group based in Portland (haven't met any in person yet) and two online groups based in cyberspace. Suddenly I'm surrounded my moms.

Melina is making some funny sounds these days. I think she's experimenting. She's come up with some really alarming cries that make it sound like she's being attacked by wasps (heaven forbid). They are very effective.

A Few Reflections at Eight Weeks

Almost eight weeks have already passed since Melina entered the world! It's hard to believe. I've been meaning to write here, but, well, I'm taking care of a newborn. So here are some stream-of-consciousness reflections...

She's already grown so much. It's hard to recognize the little doll that she was just after birth (photo below). She's already developing so much, though she still has a lot of the same "mannerisms" that she had when she was first born, like the startle reflex, where she throws her hands and feet out when she's surprised. She also does this adorable snarfling at the breast when she's hungry. She's not doing it quite as much as she did when she was a newborn, though. She looks very serious and moves her mouth back and forth frantically, trying to latch on. As she grows, she gets better at latching on and looks a little less frantic, which is kind of sad.

She's a pretty easy baby. In general, I'd say she's a pretty easy baby, though she definitely has her moments of crying and screaming like a banshee, mostly in the car. But she goes to sleep very easily at night, and is usually pretty easy to calm.

Her crying breaks my heart. When she does cry - especially in the car when I can't go to her immediately - it just rips at my heart. She has actual tears running down her face and looks like I've just destroyed any trust that she may have had in me. It's terrible, horrible, awful.

More soon.