And Time Becomes a Mystery...

So I haven't posted in a while, mostly because time has become a mysterious thing to me... baby-world has it's own rhythms and rhymes and somehow the days and nights just go on by.  I do get some things done (dishes, occasional cooking, and necessary showers) but other things, such as writing on my blog and organizing the hundreds of baby pictures, just don't seem to happen... no matter what intentions I set for myself in the morning.  Baby-world runs on Baby-time!  It's a magical time....

We recently had the grandparents here for their first visit and introduction, and it all went really well.  I came to realize how keeping to our little girl's rhythms was very important and had to work at putting aside my need to be the good hostess in order to get her to bed on time, so there was learning all around.  And it's wonderful to have the different generations together, and to hear the stories of what new Mummy & Daddy were like as babies, and to be told that "what comes around goes around" (yikes, I wasn't much of a sleeping baby!!).

And, now that we've reached 9-weeks things are beginning to settle:

1. Her digestive system seems to be maturing and settling, she doesn't struggle with that as much and I'm very grateful for that.  We did give her a regular dose of infant probiotics (Udo's) and I do feel that helped. 
2. Sleeping longer sessions in the night.  She can go longer without needing milk, AND I have started swaddling again... I realized that she woke up so frequently because her wee little arms were flailing about or she was smacking herself in the face if she became startled and swaddling takes all that away.  And, she loves it!  We've been getting 5-hour sleeps for the first part of the night and then with a feeding and diaper change and re-swaddle, she's back to sleep within 30 minutes for another 3-hours!  It's wonderful!!!
3. Smiles, ah there's nothing in the world like your baby smiling at you, gazing into your eyes.  And this morning she tried to laugh, so precious!  No sound came out but her grin was enormous and her eyes sparkling as I raised her up and down on my knee with some silly mummy vocals that went along with the game.  She loved it!
4. Pooping.  She generally goes once a day, or every two days now which is really much nicer than several times a day.  And I know when she's trying by the look on her face.  This gives me hope that I can hold her over a toilet sometime soon and see how that works... early potty-training??
5. Opening to the world.  She is now keeping her eyes open more and more when we go for walks, rather than conking out immediately.  We stopped at a tree the other day and checked that out and today I took her to the Farmers Market and she was pretty wide-eyed the whole time!  And did that ever earn her a lot of attention and complements from the vendors!

So, day by day in this mysterious Baby-time things are growing, changing, progressing, moving along like the flow of a gentle stream and I am so thrilled to be floating along with her.  Sometimes there's a little white-water to navigate, sometimes we rest in the eddy's catching our breath, and other times we are floating along taking in the sights, smells, sounds and enjoying each others company.