In the Saddle

The Georgia Report…two months

Georgia spent her two month birthday being a big fat crying crab. I think there’s some rule somewhere that if a baby has a good couple of days, you can almost assuredly expect a disaster day fairly shortly after. Yesterday and the day before were amazing…she was calm, smiley and content. It culminated with a seven hour nighttime stretch last night (don’t think I didn’t leap up at 4 in the morning, realizing that she hadn’t cried at 2, and rush to make sure she was breathing), which was unprecedented and awesome.

But it was the end of calm, smiley and content.

She woke up at 4 and basically was up for the day at that point. I don’t know if she was thrown off her game, if she had a tummy ache, if she was overtired, or just crabby in general…or a combo of all of those…but baby girl did not want to be put down. She screamed bloody murder when changed, when her blanket swaddle was adjusted, when put in her car seat in a thwarted attempt to take her outside. I know I can’t cry when she cries, but when she goes nuts like that…like cannot catch her breath hysterical…it’s really really hard not to get upset. I hate hearing her cry like that, knowing that I have no idea what to do to soothe her. I did the best I could. Lots of shushing and swaying and giving her kisses, letting her know I was there to help.

Towards the evening she calmed down considerably, after some nursing, a big burp, spit up and poop. It was like a storm had passed. Her eyes looked bright and engaged again and she smiled and cooed and talked to us. It was a relief. Too bad I was still wound up from the day. Now I’m pumping and am utterly exhausted. It’s been a day for sure.

The good news is, these days are fewer and farther between. Plus which, she is just amazing…so very bright and alert. She has good tracking with her eyes and is starting to become so much more tactile, reaching for and grabbing things and beginning to understand where they attach to (i.e. the string on the hood of my sweatshirt) and even beginning to hold her own bottle. She holds eye contact for a long time. She is incredibly social and talkative, cooing a ton, especially on the changing table.

She knows me as her mama; most of the time I’m the most successful at calming her down. She turns her head when she hears my voice. She smiles when she sees me. That is the reward they give you for all your hard work. That is what makes it worth it.

Other things of note:
- At the doctor on Monday she had her first round of immunization and handled it like an utter champ.
- She’s super tall…in the 95th percentile! What?!?!
- She is very calm when there are a lot of people around her, talking. The beginnings of a social butterfly?

I am doing well, too. Very few baby blues days…when I get them they center around things like today (endless crying) and feeding (nursing v. pumping v. formula) (which is a whole other post). I’m exhausted and my body feels beaten up, but mostly I am increasingly in love with this child. She is a great little baby and I’m grateful for her. I’m grateful for a lot of things these days…