The first month of being a mom is a whirlwind of emotion and commotion.
I’m too tired to feel elated but my heart is blanketed with peaceful contentment and love that I have never felt before. Each day that passes harvests new joys, new challenges and new lessons on motherhood, as well as little glimpses into the developing personality of my beautiful little baby. Little by little, Ellie and I are finding our rhythm together and our little family of four (Finnegan counts!) deepens in love with each sleepless night that passes.
I look forward to upcoming months of more sleep and a more defined schedule, but in the meantime, I am embracing the uncertainty and unpredictability that comes with having a newborn who herself is just getting to know and understand the world around her. As a lover of lists, I celebrate today’s milestone of one-month old with two lists: one month by the numbers and one month beyond the numbers…
One Month by the Numbers:
300 diapers
90 hours of feeding
80 outfits
60 loads of laundry
20 hours of pumping
400 minutes of burping
120 hours of less sleeping at night
7 pat-down baths
2 doctor visits
1 pound and 14 ounces of weight gain
30 nights of midnight prayers
One Month Beyond the Numbers:
(beyond what numbers can measure)
The soul-warming effect of baby snuggles
The tiny unpredictable smiles
The dramatic baby facial expressions
The excitement of seeing tiny bouts of developmental progress every day
The sighs of relief emitted after a crying bout is comforted
The bright blue reflection of her eyes in the sunlight
The chunky rolls in her arms in legs that boast of good growth
The baby murmurs of contentment she sings as she eats
The joy she finds in the company of her pacifier
The bloated belly that expands each day from her voracious eating