Zach, Sara, and Kenleigh Mae: November 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

3 Months Old

Today Kenleigh is 3 months old. I seriously can’t believe how quick time is flying. My first trimester seemed to be the longest three months of my life. I love being a mother more.than.anything! I can’t imagine anything in life that feels more rewarding. It felt like it was a tough adjustment period for me for a little while. Kenleigh was pretty fussy early on and I wasn’t sure when that would ever end. I didn’t know the right ways or the quickest ways to calm her. I am her mother and I didn’t know the right ways to calm her. This was hard. I felt like my entire life stopped so I could take care of this little girl. For a long time I felt like I couldn’t leave the house or even function in the outside world. I was constantly stressed. All while loving my new little girl. A few people had mentioned that I seemed different. Of course I was different. My entire life just changed. Yet some felt that I didn’t seem as happy as I was. This made me sad. I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t even realize I was different. Looking back though I was. I was just as happy – I was happier actually. I just didn’t know how to emulate it. Of course in a quick conversation is seemed obvious but those around me closer sensed my level of stress. I’m not really sure if it was post partum depression. I’m sure to an extent it was. I know that it was a huge release of hormones into my body all at once along with a huge life change. It was scary, it was stressful, it was amazing. Over the last several weeks I personally have noticed a change. I enjoy Kenleigh even more. I didn’t know it was possible. We are figuring each other out. I calm her now – she wants me. We have our own touches with each other. I enjoy her differently. I enjoy her constantly. I stress less. My emotions are level. She’s my blessing. An incredible blessing. My life doesn’t feel like it’s adjusting anymore. I’m a mother. I will always be a mother. I’m sad it took me a while to figure out how to be a mother. To some it is very natural, for me I had to adjust. This shouldn’t have surprised me. I still burn toast. Of course it wouldn’t come easy. Not for me! I still burn toast but now I’m a lucky, lucky mom!
Anyway, Kenleigh was so excited for her three month birthday that I think she woke up every hour the night before. Actually I know she did. This morning Zach got Kenleigh up and let me sleep in for a bit. I guess he had plans of his own to celebrate. When I woke up I came downstairs and Zach and KMae were nowhere to be found…they must be in the basement. That was out of character. We haven’t hung out down there since she was born. Literally. I went to see what they were up to and this is what I found. Zach was down there entertaining her with a little Xbox. I seriously laughed so hard. She was so content lying on her play mat watching him play. They were bonding. It was cute. Father-daughter morning in our house was fun. I let them be.
For the last couple of weeks our good little sleeper has become a bad little sleeper. I’m not really sure what happened. She used to wake up only once a night for a quick bottle and was back to bed. Lately she has been up 2-3 times a night and sometimes (too often) more. I think in the next few weeks we are going to try some sleep training with her if we can’t get her back on track. Not sure how that will go. Here are a few more updates.
*She is still smiling a lot and laughing. She has even started belly laughing. Not a ton but when she does it I can’t help but crack up myself.
*She still hates tummy time. Any suggestions?
*She still hates being in the car. She has gotten better but it’s totally random on if she’s going to scream or not…more screaming than not still.
*She is ok to not be rocked to sleep for her naps anymore. Now I just put her in the swing at naptime and she goes right to sleep.
*She is the SLOWEST eater on the planet. I have tried faster nipples and she chokes. She just likes to eat slowly. She's dainty!
*She pays more attention to her toys and is actually entertained by them.
*She has discovered her hands. She is always staring at them and sucking on them.
*She pulls on my hair.
*She is starting to drool a ton.
*She’s still perfect.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have to say Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year with having Kenleigh and all. At the very least it gave us that much more to be thankful for. In general I have always hated Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong – I’m fully aware of the meaning of Thanksgiving. I get it. I’m thankful. I’m thankful for so much. I try to remember all year everything I am thankful for. For example: I’m thankful for Thanksgiving because I get another day off work, a long weekend, and time with family and friends. Yeah right until they fall asleep on me. Brings me to one of the reasons I’m not a fan of the holiday. EVERYONE sleeps…so lame! Seriously, we never get together and we finally do and now you want to sleep? We eat food that in my opinion is top of the line gross. It’s true, Thanksgiving feasts are not my favorite. Not even close. I’m not sure why…really, I’m not. The napping though, I still can’t get over the napping. I can count on maybe one hand the number of naps I’ve taken in my adult life…I think those were all during my first trimester of pregnancy. Basically what I’m saying is that I didn’t choose to nap. My body kept shutting down…it just did it…all on its own. I couldn’t nap if I tried. So while y’all are napping I’m sitting around twittling my thumbs in front of a television of football. Oh I can’t change the channel. Inevitably someone will complain. Even though I know they were napping minutes before. This year though was different. I had Kenleigh. She has no problem entertaining me while everyone else is napping. I’m thankful for Kenleigh. I’m thankful for my new little family.
This year we went to my mom’s house early and hung out there for a while. Kenleigh was a huge hit. She is so cute…so, so cute. Not sure if I mentioned how cute she is. My nieces Launa and Teiha are always so fun with her. I’ve been a little protective and haven’t let them hold her so I decided to give in on Thanksgiving. You know – give them something more to be thankful for. I’m thinking Kenleigh wishes I wouldn’t have given in. As soon as I handed her over she had had it and she was sure to let them know! After my mom’s we went to Zach’s parents for dinner. Just the five of us…it was a quiet night. But no naps – more to be thankful for! Now onto Christmas. I love Christmas!

Launa and Kenleigh - Launa cuddles even through the screams!