Greta, 2 months

I'll start with words and leave you with pictures.  Because, as usual, I'll assume you all want to hear what I have to say.  Particularly when I prattle on about my baybee, because everyone loves hearing about my baybee.  Maybe that's the blessing of blogs; since we Mama's get all our gloating on the internet, you don't have to listen to us go onandon when you sit next to us at a soccer game.

In case it isn't already evident, from my rambling non-sensical ramblings, I'm tired.  As in, pour-coffee-into-my-breakfast-cereal tired.  I'm certain it comes from two months without a solid night of sleep.  And really, Greta's doing pretty well.  The past few nights she's gone 5-7 hours, which is excellent!  Though that never really translates to 5-7 hours of sleep for me, because of course our bedtimes don't align, and of course I feel the need for a beer and some crappy TV once the kiddos are asleep.  These are the things that keep me sane.  So I'm pretty pleased with the sleep I've been getting, but I still just feel really out of it much of the time.  That is the way moms of newborns are supposed to feel, I guess.

I don't feel like I can really call her a newborn anymore, either.  She feels so solid and baby-like.  Much less newborn-like.  She smiles consistently, though I had a big fail trying to capture that.  There's really not a whole lot to say about a baby this age.  I'm so totally in love with her, but I understand fully why other people aren't necessarily very interested in them.  They just don't do that much!  She doesn't much like tummy time.  She smiles some and is a generally happy baby.  She's starting to became enamored with MJ, and it seems MJ is starting to become interested in her, as well.  Greta just stares at her when MJ sings to her or tries to play with her.  MJ has taken to calling her "Gigi", though pronounced with hard "G"s.  How would one spell that?  Elissa?  Clearly, I'm a fan of nicknames and we've taken to calling her Gigi as well.  A nickname of a nickname?  Why not.

Nursing has suddenly been going really well.  She had a big growth spurt last week, constantly eating, sometimes 7 oz. at a go.  I was pumping a ton to compensate for how much she was eating, and I just got tired of it and started nursing her.  And she was satisfied!  A first for us.  Furthermore, it has actually been upping my supply, which was starting to go down with almost exclusively pumping.  She nurses and is content, and when I pump afterwards there's not much, suggesting she really is eating quite a bit.  And she'll go a nice long stretch afterwards without eating.  Previously she would only eat a little, so I still had to pump after and frequently still had to give her a bottle after.  Now, in the middle of the night, we just nurse.  Throughout the day we do some of both.  I'm shocked that I'm saying this because I really felt like things were going in the opposite direction.  I thought my supply was going down and we'd never really start breastfeeding in a meaningful way.  I still am not convinced things will continue in this way, since it's only in the past 3 to 4 days this has happened.  It's been such a roller coaster.  It's hard to not get caught up in it all, even though I swore this time I wouldn't obsess so much.  And although I haven't staked my self worth on how much milk I can produce, I still find myself getting caught up.  Maybe it's inevitable.

So.  Sleeping and eating.  I think I've covered all the bases.  I can't get enough of this little girl.  I'm so excited to see the little person she will become.