Baby Day Spa

The bath is Harlyn's happy place. Bath time to her is what dinner time is to me. It doesn't matter what kind of mood I am in, when that dinner bell rings: serenity now. Harlyn's evenings are brutal, like getting smacked repeatedly in the face by a baby brutal. Once she begins her crying fit those little arms will flail and anything in arms reach is fair game. So we like to interrupt her punching match  with an impromptu bath knowing that her little whale jacuzzi will set her mood right. But yesterday Harlyn took her bath time to a whole different level of comfort and relaxation. I don't know if she was overly tired or if she just finds her Daddy's bath routine a drag, because this girl was out within minutes of her toes touching the water. I felt like we were working at a day spa and we should have been rubbing her feet with tiny stones and placing cucumbers on her eyes. I mean who does this?

 



40 Weeks, 6 weeks ago

Looking back just a few short weeks ago I have come to a conclusion: I was a big fat fatty. Well I realized that and something else: I am ridiculously sentimental. Its been six weeks and already I'm feeling nostalgic about being pregnant. I can literally be holding my newborn and be daydreaming about being pregnant again. Part of it is that people around me are continuing to have babies, so with every baby that pops into this world my uterus aches. Which is ironic because my uterus just got over the post pregnancy aches from Harlyns birth. Don't let me trick you into thinking that having two kids ain't no thang for me and that I am anxious to juggle another. I am barely keeping my head above water with these two people. Its just that pregnancy is beautiful, and if I ever get to be pregnant again I plan on relishing in the moment so much more.

And maybe I will eat a lot less sugar.

Easier said then done on both counts.

She's One Month Old

 

A few little facts about our sweet girl:

 She held her head up within minutes of her birth

Brad thinks she looks like a baby rhesus monkey

She has shoulders like a linebacker and they are covered with blonde fuzzy hair

She has flashed her adorable grin since the day she was born

She falls asleep the best with her face smashed right up against the boob

Her arms, fingers and legs are all so long for her little body

She makes a face like a whistler, with her mouth puckered into an O

She refuses to nurse if her head is covered, creating quite a predicament when she needs to eat in public

She cries just about every time Khage comes near her

She wakes up 1-2 times a night and every so often she spoils me and doesn't wake until morning

She is a super eater and Mommy is a super feeder, making us one incredible team

She cannot handle heat, breaking out in a heat rash within moments of being outside

Poor thing loves the outdoors but rarely gets to go out (see above)

She wont take a pacifier but loves to suckle

Just about every night, from 7 until she falls asleep, she is ticked at the world and doesn't know why

She clenches her fingers in the tightest little fists making it impossible for us to force her to hold our fingers

and we cannot believe she is only one month old and yet we feel like we have loved her forever.

If A Caveman Can Do It

I am loving this whole brother sister thing going on in this house.

Khage loves Harlyn.

Harlyn will grow to love Khage.

Currently Harlyn would rather Khage didn't bother her. 

I am constantly telling Khage how much she loves him, hoping he doesn't already recognize that shes kinda not that into him. I think there are so many reasons to blame for this; when he holds her he squeezes her and he has this thing about not so gently rubbing her face with, what Brad calls, his big ol' paws. Then there was that time that he lugged her around like a caveman. Sister was only seven days old when he took her out of her swing and hauled her to the couch where he was fixing to hold her. We caught him just as he was securing a comfortable spot for himself before he was set to drag her onto his lap. After we did a quick scan of her body for damage, we couldn't help but laugh. And all the while this darn narcoleptic didn't even bother to wake up, he could of dropped her and she still wouldn't have come out of her milk induced coma. In fact were not even sure he didn't drop her, or carry her upside down, or drag her by her legs. Poor thing has no idea what is in store for her being that boy's little sister. Sorry Harlyn, your brothers kind of a neanderthal. But a very sweet and loving neanderthal.

 

She's Here.

In all reality she has been here for three weeks and three days... but when you have a newborn reality slowly fades away and your replaced by a mindless breastfeeding, dinner making, house cleaning, diaper changing, toddler playing machine of a human being. My thoughts revolve around these two littles and things that used to seem so important, like brushing my teeth, quickly get thrown on the back burner. Not even joking, and totally disgusting, at one point I realized I hadn't brushed my teeth for TWO days. Yes, two whole days. Please don't hold it against me, I have then started brushing again. Cross my heart.
Back to my sweet girl, she's here and she's lovely. We are all so smitten with everything about her; the way her lips curl into those impish grins while she sleeps and the incredibly funky manner in which her hair stands straight up all on its own. We know she has passed the test and can stay as long as she wants because her big brother gave her the stamp of approval. Since she has arrived he has doted over her; sweetly placing random kisses on her face and begging us to let him hold her insistently through the day. And sometimes he doesn't even ask... but that's for another post.
We are so happy to welcome this beautiful girl into our family. She is truly a blessing and we have felt overwhelmed with gratitude from the moment she was placed in our arms. Our little family has never felt so complete. Harly Mae we love you through and through.