Wednesday, April 13, 2011

6 weeks old already?!

Every time I have children, I experience intense feelings of sadness and loss as my newborns disappear and turn into roly poly babies. The newborn stage only lasts about two weeks and then it's gone forever. Sigh...

We're back in the swing of things at the Freeze household (although I still have a few more dinners coming--thanks to everyone who has made us meals!). Inga has adapted quite well into our family. She's pretty easygoing. When she fusses, it doesn't last long and she can be settled down quickly. She's learned how to sleep on her back and how to nap by herself. She loves the sling and will nap quite soundly in it, so sometimes I leave her in and go about my tasks. Although she has no predictable rhythm yet with her sleeping and awake periods during the day, I usually get at least one good stretch of time every day that allows me to get stuff done. Things like making dinner, sewing slings, or playing outside with the other kids. I'm also resetting my expectations for how much I can accomplish in a day.


We close on the new house at the end of this month. I've started packing for our move, which will probably be in about a month. I'm so excited! We found a renter for our current house, a new tenure-track hire. It's just her and her husband, and she seemed to love the house (and she likes gardening!). We keep walking by our new house, taking surreptitious glances as we go by. I'm trying to plan where my gardens will go, since I hope to transplant many of my plants: asparagus, fruit bushes (honeyberries, juneberries, gooseberries, red currants), rhubarb, strawberries, & raspberries. I also want to plant several dwarf fruit trees at our new house.

Speaking of sleep, I feel SO well rested-ever since I gave birth. A million times better than when I was pregnant. I've never found the newborn stage particularly exhausting. My babies (almost) always wake up to nurse every 2-3 hours at night and then go right back to sleep. Now that Inga will sleep swaddled on her back, things are especially good. She often has a 4-5 hour stretch when she first goes down. I try to take advantage of that and go to bed at the same time.

Inga is super chubby now. Her double chin is so big that it wraps around her head, spills over onto her shoulders, and totally hides her neck! I don't know how much she weighs, but she was 9 lbs 6 oz at 3 weeks old. So she's probably close to 11 lbs now, I'd guess. She's done a total 180 with her cousin who was born 2 days before her. He weighed almost 2 pounds more than her at birth, but now he's a slim baby (it runs in his dad's side of the family) and she is a chunker. Go figure!

I anticipated that Dio would have difficulty adjusting to a new baby in the house, but Zari has had a much rougher time. She's finally found her equilibrium in the past week or two. Dio seems pretty unfazed by Inga. The biggest different is that he asks to nurse more frequently. I don't blame him, now that there's lots of milk! He doesn't nurse all that often, usually once a day.

A friend gave me her old Ameda Purely Yours breast pump (she forgot to send the bottles; they should be arriving soon). I hope to start pumping once a day so I can donate like I did with Zari. It will take dedication, but I really want to do it.

9 comments:

  1. Time flies! Glad it's all going well. I still have to watch your labor videos...

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  2. A post without pics?? No way! Pretty please?

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  3. I LOVE this post! Just so good to hear how you are adjusting to a 3rd child and glad to hear how well it's going and about the house and everything! Awesome! :)

    BTW... I might of missed it? What ended up being her middle name??

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  4. Congratulations :) my son is 7 weeks old and we are also moving house within the next 3 weeks!

    He is a very big boy-was 9lb7oz born and is in 6-9 month clothes! I adore chubby babies xx

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  5. Our second girl is a chunker too! Our first was so petite from the beginning, but not her little sister! The clothes my first daughter could wear at six months now fit her 3 months old sister! She also has a neck roll that wraps around her head :-) What a great description!

    PS - I am working on the postpartum self care info for you. I have a guide for Yoga teachers already written.

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  6. I feel that deep, deep sadness when mine zoom through newborn-ness, and its gotten more and more palpable with each baby.

    when their cord stump falls off I lose it and its the commencement of my baby blues/tears.

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  7. 6 weeks! That went quickly! I can't believe I had to go back to work at 6 weeks PP last summer. That's crazy. Good luck with the move! We moved with a 2 year old and an 8 week old last August and with lots of help from our friends, it wasn't nearly as dreadful as I thought!

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  8. I had a super-fast growing baby girl also! She was 6 lb 5 oz at 4 days old, and then 9 pounds 11 oz at 3 weeks! It was crazy. Now she can still wear clothes that she was in at 6 months, though, and she's 14 months old, lol.

    I agree with you about sleep- I slept a lot better once she was born than before!

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  9. I miss Flintstone being that small - though I know my husband doesn't. I'm glad to hear things are going so smoothly for you guys!

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