Baby Elsie is at my feet being rocked in her bouncy seat...one of those things we swore we'd never use. Unfortunately, we forgot to communicate with our child, who in fact seems to love it. Good thing we didn't get rid of it before she arrived. This morning, for example, she woke up screaming and continued for quite some time, until Daddy suggested the bouncy seat. Mommy laid her down, and INSTANTLY, folks, instantly, she was quiet. And she stayed that way.
We also received probably the most wonderful baby gift to date this week (although, if you gave us a baby gift, rest assured it was truly wonderful and we love it): a miracle blanket. Pretty much it's a swaddling blanket for dummies, i.e. us. She is wrapped up in it right now, after screaming for no reason (again) for awhile this evening. This blanket is wonderful. If she's tired, she'll fall soundly asleep in it, but if not, she'll cry for a little while until she figures out she is, in fact, quite comfortable, then she'll chill and look around and relax. for a long time. Can you understand why we love this blanket!?!? :)
Parenting is such a wild adventure. Daily we are being broken and humbled and reminded that no matter what we plan, God has something different in mind. For example, we are all about baby-wearing and keeping her close to us and not letting her cry it out, ya da ya da ya da. But we have a baby who doesn't particularly enjoy being worn very much. And we have a baby who actually likes alone time. And we have a baby who cries for many hours most days (don't worry, we still don't let her "cry it out," but she can certainly scream in our arms for many hours). Life is interesting.
In other news, we are really enjoying being a family of three. We love you, all who visited us and helped us through the first crazy month. But it's really nice to just be us now. We are liking it. Elsie and I have even made it through some outings...by ourselves! And I think we're going to make some new friends. We met a whole group of moms and new babies at the Farmers' Market this week (introduced by a friend from our birth class), and they invited us to shop with them each Tuesday, and go walking with them. Yay!!! It's amazing how babies open doors of communication and friendship.
Here in the Village, for example, we used to walk all the time and see lots of people - and say "hi." That's all. Now, we can't pass someone without having some sort of conversation about where we each live, how old she is, how old their kids/grandkids/nephews/nieces/friends' kids are. It's really fun!
Well, while Elsie's chillin', mama's gonna go finish dealing with that load of clean diapers...just in time to put in another load of dirty ones! 'Night, friends.
