It’s hard to believe, but this Friday our Clare will be one month old! The first two weeks seemed long, but the last two weeks disappeared in the blink of an eye. On one hand it seems like we were just in the hospital having her, but on the other hand I can’t really remember life without her. J describes it best by saying “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love her.” Parent love is a crazy thing – it’s the most instant, deepest, natural love in the world. I can only compare it to falling in love with a spouse or partner, except that there’s no heady infatuation phase. It’s just BOOM you see your baby and it’s immediately “I love you more than my own life.” Unlike falling in love with a person, it doesn’t matter who your baby is or what they are like – you instantly love them and think they’re perfect. It’s a good thing too – since these little buggers can certainly test you.

Fortunately for us, Clare is a fairly easy testing baby. Oh she has her moments, but compared to some stories I’ve heard from other parents of newborns, our girl is easy. She likes to sleep and eat and generally doesn’t just cry for no reason (though now that I’ve written that I’m sure she’ll scream tonight just ’cause). Sure she has her fussy moments, but we’re getting better about recognizing them and dealing with them. I’ve noticed that after a meal we get 20-30 minutes of sweet, happy, alert and smily Clare. Then she’ll yawn once or twice and turn into fussy, tired Clare. So we just shush and cuddle her until she falls asleep. Roughly 2 hours later the whole cycle repeats itself. She likes to take longer naps in the morning and early afternoon, and is more awake (and sometimes fussier) in the late afternoon and evenings. She loves to eat and will really lose her cool if she’s hungry (hmmmm, she may take after me in this regard). The really cool thing is that she’s starting to recognize J and I a little bit more. We’re starting to get smiles we think just might be in response to us (not just in response to having a full tummy) and she’s watching us more and making more direct eye contact. This is particularly evident when we’re changing her diaper – she watches us the whole time. It’s as if she’s now realized we’re not just a part of the background like the chair upholstery or wall paint, that we’re a reoccurring cast of characters in her life and she thinks she might like us (some of the time). She’s always been a cuddle bug, but she’s started to snuggle in more and even protest when she’s not cuddling (like a particularly long night when she would only sleep tucked in next to me and not in her bed – aka our first venture into co-sleeping).

She continues to grow and while her newborn clothes still fit her skinny little body, she’s beginning to outgrow them in length. We measured her the other day and she’s now 22 inches long, up from 20 (or 19.5 depending on who did the measuring) when she was born. I’m guessing she’s still gaining about an ounce a day (maybe less) so she’s probably coming up on 8 pounds. Sigh, my little doll baby is growing up.

Mama with Clare in the sling