6 weeks: The end of maternity leave

The furry baby-sitter (KitKat)

The six hours of straight sleep that occurred last Thursday night was just a fluke. After that one wonderful night, she has stayed up late, only slept 3-4 hours at a time, and after the middle of the night feeding, will not go back to sleep. That middle of the night feeding was taking about 30 minutes, she would fall back asleep, and I would be back in bed… Now it takes two hours to accomplish the above. Jason went in to work a little late both Monday and Tuesday in order to get a few extra hours of sleep. It is quite hard to function on only four hours of sleep. It is quite clear to us that the up-all-night bar days are way behind us.

Meeting Great-Aunt Carol last Sunday before the game started.

Natalie survived her first Super Bowl. She should have, she slept through most of it. She was oblivious to the laughter roaring from her parents at the dog collar Doritos commercial and the groaning from the (mostly) naked men commercials. Yuck!

I have been working on getting Natalie back into her crib. She had been taking naps in there and I had just started putting her to sleep in the crib at night. Grandma O. put her in the crib a couple times when they were over and that was the last time she slept there. She is quiet for about two minutes after laying her down, then the hysterics start, along with the alligator tears (which kills me – if she does that for the next 18 years, I am in major trouble). Finally, Tuesday afternoon, after “fighting” all day, she stayed asleep when I placed her in her crib!

Natalie is starting to get a bit too long for her newborn footed sleepers. When she kicks all the way out and stretches, the material is pulled very tight. I have, sadly, folded those up and set them aside. I have been sorting through our 0-3 outfits to see what is on the small end (since no two brands are sized alike!) and most of those still swim on her. Therefore, we are in the awkward in-between phase. Her newborn sets with pants are, for the most part, still too big in the waist. I have resorted to safety pins, which I was trying to avoid on the wiggler, but while we have no shortage of clothes, we are having a hard time with clothes that fit. If only every girl (like me!) was so lucky to have a completely new wardrobe every few weeks! As my parents say, “you used to be so cute”… Apparently, I have worn out my cuteness.

Her well-stocked closet

Wednesday we got a new outfit on for going around town. Finally, the yellow and blue butterfly outfit, that I have been anxiously waiting to put on Natalie fit! We went out so I could get a much-needed haircut, then brought Jason lunch at work, ran some errands, stopped at Grandma K.’s, and stopped by my work so the girls could see Natalie again. It was really nice to get out of the house. Except for screaming all the way through Target, she was a hit everywhere she went.

With dad in our blue and yellow butterfly outfit

Thursday, in our pinned up pants we went out for my six-week post-partum visit. Can you believe it has been six weeks? Overall, the six weeks have flown by. On a day-to-day basis, though, being cooped up in the house due to the weather with a screaming child, it has really drug by. The adult interaction is nice. It is wonderful to converse with someone who talks back (in a good way).

Today is a lazy day at home. I hope to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies this evening. Then we will see what the last weekend of maternity leave brings.

Natalie in her Rainforest bouncer with her Sophie the Giraffe.