Maria's Early Days

I am back to share a little about Maria's early days.

Maria's mantra for the first 12 days or so was "Party All Night, Sleep All Day."  She had a classic case of getting days and nights backwards.  The girl slept ALL day..and, at night, well, she was all about some play.  Then, a few days back, that changed to "Party party party."  She changed from standard college girl behavior to college girl on spring break behavior.  All she did was drink, drink, drink, and I was left in amazement wondering how she can manage on so little sleep.  Momma is no freshman.  Thankfully, she seems to be back to her original behavior, and I am hoping spring break won't come back again until next March. 

God really knew what he was doing when he made babies so darn cute.  After another sleepless night, wondering how I am going to make it another day, one look in that adorable little face, and I do not care if she does not sleep again for another 24 hours.   

Despite the sleep deprivation, I have already found myself with anticipatory nostalgia for this stage.  Many times, I catch myself thinking how much I will miss these precious first days when they are gone.

Maria's umbilical cord stub fell off on her one week birthday.  It made me strangely sad.  It also made me a little sad every time I reached down, out of habit, at my belly and it had gone away.  I was taken aback by how sad it made me that all the things that had her so connected to me are going away.  I am so HAPPY to be able to hold her in my arms, but I have also found myself wishing at times that I was just still pregnant.  That way, I would always know that she is safe and protected and I would not worry as much.

I check her breathing about 40,000,000 times a day.  Is that normal?  Sometimes I get so close to her face that she startles awake.  Other times, I actually give her a little shake.  Will I calm down about that after some days?

We have a water baby on our hands.  Maria LOVES her baths.  She was iffy at first, but as soon as we started to pour warm water over her, she just looked up at us in awe.  She actually became totally still and posed in a position similar to how swimsuit models pose on the beach.

I had NO IDEA how much laundry such a little person could accumulate in so little time.  I thought I had enough clothes and blankets to last weeks without running out.  I was crazy.  Wardrobe changes happen  a lot around here (hers, not mine) and blankets get dropped, wet, and dirty more than I ever imagined.

Christos will no longer allow the computer to stay on hardly at all.  He says the noise it makes (that constant hum) does not allow him to hear "all her little noises."  Which are adorable..and so much better than that constant technological background drone.

I adore the same above sounds.  I could (and do) listen to her all day long.  I have taken to calling her "Squeaks"  "Squeaky" and "Squeaks McGee" (??) because of all her little, well, squeaks.


Maria loves to hold her hands like a puppy dog.  Sometimes it is just one hand, but our favorite is when it is two.

When in said position, it is clear that Maria has my fingers.  As in, her fingers are very long.  Some would call them "piano hands."  However, if Maria also inherited my musical aptitude, she will not, in fact, be a piano player.

Maria also got my toes, meaning they are all curled and some are crooked.  They are an unmistakable trait of my dad's side of the family.  That was one of the first things that I checked.  I have already apologized to her many many times about that. 

So far, I am pretty sure she has my nose (and hands and feet) and her daddy's ears and lips.  We are waiting to see about her eyes, but I really hope she has her daddy's.
 

The whole time we were in the clinic, Maria had a mohawk.  The nurses would take her once a day to bathe her, and they would always spike her hair.  I was not really a fan, but, again, hairbrushes were not really on my agenda at the clinic, so Maria wore a mohawk for the first 3 days of her life.  Hopefully, that was the last time she will ever wear her hair that way.

We did not try swaddling until the 3rd night home.  In the clinic, I tried a few times to do it with a regular blanket, but she was so squirmy and I was afraid I could not do it and still be as gentle as I wanted to be when she had first arrived.  Also, the nurses kept coming in and freeing up her arms.  Swaddling is not something that they do here.  Anyway, about 4am on the third night home, I got out one of her little "Swaddle Me" blankets.  Oh my goodness!  Those things are amazing.  I am definitely a fan!  I cannot even imagine why I was trying to swaddle her with a regular blanket in the first place.  It is so easy with that thing!  And she does (for the most part) sleep a lot longer when she is swaddled.

Maria was born with such long fingernails.  I think that is pretty common.  It was a major issue for us, though.  I brought 3 pairs of little baby mittens to the clinic.  From her very first hour of life, she was able to take them off with her mouth.  She hated them, and I tried all 3 pairs.  I had packed baby nail clippers in my bag, but both Christos and I were so scared to use them.  We made numerous attempts, but always got scared.  We asked the pediatrician to do it, but he said he needs glasses and does not have them, so he cannot.  We asked a nurse, who agreed, but could only do it with scissors, not clippers.  As they did not have any scissors at the clinic, Christos went to the pharmacy to get some, but they did not have any more.  So, at last, and after many scratches on her sweet little face, a friend cut them.  They grow so fast though!  Thankfully, Christos has manned up, and he is now the official baby nail cutter in our house.

It takes two hands to count the number of days that pass between my hair washes. 

Since immediately following delivery, my lips have been crazy chapped.  Does that happen a lot?

I did not at all look good, nice, decent, or even presentable throughout my entire stay at the clinic.  I packed my makeup bag, brush, etc., with every intention of looking nice in all the photo opps.  I fully intended to be one of those moms who got comments such as "you look great...I cannot believe you just gave birth."  Ha!  That did not happen.  It was all I could do to run a brush through my hair twice in 3 days.  How do all those makeup-wearing, picture perfect moms do that?? 

Christos' mom has really been a lifesaver.  As there is no "covered dish culture" around here to help us eat through these first couple of weeks, she has literally made every meal for us for the past two weeks.  Without her, Christos really may have starved.

I am currently eating Betty Crocker vanilla icing with a large spoon and some cookies.  I make no apologies for that.  It tastes really good.


I apologize that I do not have oodles of pictures.  From the first day, Christos and I made a decision not to use the flash in taking pictures of Maria.  She seemed sensitive to the light, and we later asked the pediatrician about it and he said he did not recommend a flash in her face at this stage.  So, we can really only take quality pics in the daylight.  Hopefully, I will pick up the pace in my picture taking soon.