Life At Home

As I expected, life at home with a newborn is, well, tiring. Kate has settled into a pattern now that involves (1) eating as much as possible, as frequently as possible, (2) sleeping for very short periods and then (3) once again eating as much as possible. In the event that we change her diaper, she will also dutifully wait for about ten seconds after we put on the fresh diaper and then soil the fresh one. Apparently she doesn't like pooping into anything but a completely fresh, new diaper -- she has standards, I suppose.

Given the current object of her affections, I may have to change Devoted Wife's blogname to Devoted Mom. She bears the brunt of the work, given that she possesses the primary feeding apparatuses. Her hearing is also apparently far better attuned to tiny cries than mine is; I usually wake up during the night to find that she is already awake and feeding Kate. I dutifully ask "Is there anything I can do to help," knowing that the answer will likely be "no," and I roll over and go back to sleep. I wonder if the fact that I wear an eye cover when I go to bed now gives Devoted Wife any clues as to my plans when the crying starts . . . . My designated daddy time usually occurs after the 5 a.m. feeding, when I try to settle Kate down and we share some quality time choosing between TV options like "Beverly Hills Cop III" on TNT or an infomercial for "The Magic Bullet". I'm usually able to take an afternoon nap -- it will be an interesting change when I have to go back to work a week from Monday (I took a week of paternity leave this week, and plan to take a week of vacation next week).

On Thursday we took Kate to the pediatrician who said that everything on Kate appeared to work correctly. The Doc was a bit concerned about Kate's weight loss from her birth weight three days before, so she asked us to come back the next day to get Kate reweighed. When we came back the next day, Kate was back to within an ounce of her birth weight (leaving me to wonder about the accuracy of the 1920's-era scale the pediatrician used on Thursday -- there was a nice, new electronic scale there yesterday). Like all new parents, DW and I were looking for any signal that our child was superior (or at least better than average) in any way; we grinned smugly when the doctor lifted her carefully off of the exam table without supporting her head, and told us that her holding up her own head for several seconds was "very impressive." (Yes! Our daughter has a strong neck! I'll call Harvard!) We also learned that her weight placed her in about the 25th percentile but her height/length was in about the 60th percentile. With that height to weight ratio, she must take after Devoted Wife rather than me. Her long legs support that theory.

DW's sister Macall arrived yesterday to lend a hand, replacing DW's mom. Macall's extensive nannying experience has proven invaluable, and she's a tremendous help when DW or I need a nap or to just get something done (like blogging). I'm thinking of building a guest house so she can stay with us all the time.

Kate's first bath was relatively uneventful, except that I was surprised to see that she seemed to really like the water on her hair. However, that could have just been gas, which she seems to have a lot of. Her best facial expression is what we've termed the "One-Eyed-Willie". She likes to pull this one when her eyes are closed for some reason (such as following one of her twenty daily feedings) and then she partially opens one eye with a suspicious look that seems to say "Just what do you think YOU'RE doing?" I've been unable to get a photo of this yet and have almost resorted to prodding her when she's asleep to try to get her to start waking up so I can snap a pic. What's the fun of kids if you can't maniuplate their sleeping habits for your own amusement? But the time when she's sleeping is so much more peaceful that its a tough tradeoff to make.

Anyway, she's beautiful and we love to watch her when she sleeps, when she eats, when she gives us the "One-Eyed-Willy" and when she just stares around the room in wonder. I'm glad to find that we're not tired of her yet.