One Month

I am amazed by how fast this first month flew by, and honestly I am surprised by how much easier it was this time around. I normally tell new parents that the first month is the hardest- because everyone is finding their groove, and while we still had to find our groove (let's be honest, we are still working on finding our groove) Adeline's first month lacked the same levels of anxiety and stress that Cordelia's did. I'm not saying there weren't moments where I cried from exhaustion, but we have survived having a newborn before and we can do it again. 

Knowing how fleeting the newborn stage is makes me hold tighter to my newborn babe. I know the hours of holding her while she sleeps will soon disappear and knowing this makes it easier to remember that the dishes don't matter and the vacuuming doesn't have to get done. I still struggle with the lack of "productivity" some days, but mostly I just smell Adeline's sweet baby smell and tell myself to take a chill pill. 

It's funny, everywhere we go people ask the same two questions: "how old is the baby" and "oh how does she sleep". Well she sleeps like a month old baby- whenever she wants to and not always at night. Cordelia was a much better sleeper, but Adeline is at least sorting out her days and nights- well mostly. She wakes up about three or four times a night (depending on where you draw the line between when a day ends and when it starts). Her four am party hour (where she wakes up and wants to visit) can be especially hard. She is happy, but four am is not my best hour. 

The sleep thing is pretty hard on me because I am not a napper by nature- I tend to wake up groggy and confused when I nap so I don't make up for the lost sleep when Adeline sleeps during the day and Cordelia is at school. My own mind gets in the way of sleep more than Adeline does- I have a hard time winding myself down in between her feedings in the middle of the night- or even worse when I have a hard time falling asleep at all because I know she will wake up soonish. This leads me to writing blog posts at three am instead of sleeping, and the lack of sleep can be hard on my moral. When I am  tired my inner critic is able to shout louder and I have to work extra hard at keeping my own anxieties and depressions in check. 

What else can I tell you about month one? Adeline weighed in at 9 pounds and 8 ounces, she is starting to be a little bit more alert, and has a crazy case of baby acne. The baby acne makes me nuts because I want to "fix" it, I want to do something, but all I can do is wait it out- which I'm kinda bad at. I made her this dress while I was pregnant- its a little geranium dress - which is a free pattern by Made by Rae. I had so much fun making newborn sized geraniums I bought the big kid sized pattern so I can make Cordelia some too- ya know, in my free time ;-)

Darlips Baby Quilt

Not a lot of sewing has been going on in the Pinkham house as of late but in my blogging lapse I never shared this quilt I made this past spring. This is the second baby quilt I made and it was a gift for one of my best friend's baby. Sarah and her husband are better at waiting then Brendon and I are so they didn't know the gender of the baby so I kept to a neutral pallet for the quilt. 

However, I think that even if they had known ahead of time they were having a girl this quilt still would have been grey, white, black, and yellow because I was really digging black and grey baby things and Sarah's favorite color is yellow. 

Sarah also likes hot air balloons- hence the theme. I sewed up three balloons representing the three members of their little family, and I free motion quilted the whole thing. There is also a little heart hidden in the stitches just for fun. The clouds stand out more in person, they are a text print because Sarah has such a great love of reading.

I wish I had written down the names of the fabrics I used- I'll have to remember to do that next time! 

Welcome Sweet Adeline

Our sweet baby girl Adeline was born on the 7th of December. She joined our family earlier than expected but thankfully healthy and a sturdy 8 pounds 3 ounces. God knew we needed a sturdy baby because Adeline has a very enthusiastic big sister who wants to hold her almost every second of the day.  

I am not a religious person, but I do believe in God, and God knew we needed Adeline to help us get through all of the things that had happened this year. 

There are a lot of things that make Adeline different from her sister- not all of those things I can put a finger on right now, I just know in my heart that they are very different people. One of the biggest things right now is that Cordelia was a great sleeper and Adeline is my little bat baby- when we brought her home from the hospital she only wanted to be awake at night! She ate almost every hour on the hour, and she only wanted to sleep while being held. I think honestly I might have trained her to sleep like that by accident. During our stay in the hospital I kept her in the room with me at night- but I had such a hard time getting in and out of bed because my c-section incision hurt so bad that I stopped putting her in her little cart and tucked her into my hospital gown while she slept. I really enjoyed the hours we spent together like that, so I'm ok with the repercussions (well mostly- don't ask me at 4am how I feel about it).

Before I had a baby I didn't understand newborn baby smell- actually I didn't understand it until Cordelia progressed into toddlerhood and no longer smelled like a sweet newborn babe. I have to tell you I am overjoyed by every moment I get to spend hugging my sweet Adeline, and smelling her sweet baby smell. 

I actually had a hard time getting excited to take these pictures because that meant putting her down- and my level of creativity and drive has been on the low end these past couple of months.  Luckily, now that my blood pressure is back to normal, and I have recovered from surgery I am starting to feel a little bit more creativity- I still don't have time to make anything, but at least I have some interest in making things. 

It gives me things to think about as I hold my sleeping baby- right now I'm dreaming of quilts and what nursing clothing i'll make when I get a chance to sew- which hopefully will be soon because I am growing weary of yoga pants and t-shirts. 

But I promise I will never grow weary of these tiny feet. 

Superheros and Sidekicks

When I was pregnant with Cordelia my mother knew before I did. I was sitting on the couch next to her and said "Mom, I am so tired I feel like I am going to die, I must be coming down with something" and she looked at me and said "Katie are you pregnant? That's how I always knew I was pregnant". Turns out I was, and it turns out that level of exhaustion is a marker for my pregnancies as well- which means that this pregnancy announcement almost didn't happen. 

I'm glad that I fought through the fog and tiredness to make the dress because I'm happy I have these pictures to hold onto, and Cordelia was really excited about doing a big announcement this way. 

Cordelia had been asking for a little brother or sister for years, she played with every baby we came in contact with, she would rock and sing to the cat like a baby, she prayed for a baby- she wanted one with all her heart. Because of this is was really really hard not to tell her we were pregnant as soon as we saw the two blue lines on the pregnancy test- it also would have been great to tell her why on earth mommy was spending all her time laying on the couch! 

We told her as soon as we saw the baby's heartbeat at our first 6/8 week appointment, we just couldn't wait any longer. It was pretty funny, we were driving in the car and Brendon said "Cordelia, Mamma and I have some news for you, Mamma is pregnant- she is going to have a baby" Cordelia incredulously said "Papa you are lying, no she isn't, right Mamma- tell him you aren't pregnant".

It's pretty funny that Cordelia automatically thinks her Papa is pulling her leg. After we assured her that it was the truth she launched into all the ways she was going to help with the baby- how the baby would sleep in her room, how she was going to change its diapers- how we had to buy pampers diapers, and when the baby was big enough to eat food we had to get the Gerber food (Which goes to show that we watch a lot of t.v).  

I'm happy to say that while the enthusiasm for diaper changing didn't stick around, and Adeline isn't sleeping in Cordelia's room yet, Cordelia's enthusiasm for her little sister hasn't dimmed since we first told her about her. Cordelia spends lots of time dangling toys in front of Adeline, talking to her, fetching and holding pacifiers, cuddling and holding her, and all in all being a huge help to me. I don't want my babies to grow up any faster then they are- but I look forward to seeing them bond and become best friends.