10 Things I Love... About Being A Mommy

Sweet A is two weeks old today. It seems pretty unbelievable, but I barely remember what it was like to be pregnant with her. With a slew of doctor's appointments and a few visitors, I feel like we've hardly had any time together as a family to establish a real routine. We're slowly getting to know Sweet A as her daily awake time increases, and we've even been able to take her on a couple of adventurous excursions. But it's the small things and the precious little moments together that have really captured my heart.

This edition of "10 Things" is dedicated to our first two weeks together, and the things I love about being a Mommy so far.

1. Sweet A's coos and mews and sighs and grunts. The sounds my Sweetness makes are so adorable, especially when she makes them in her sleep.

3. When Sweet A falls asleep while feeding and possessively wraps her arm around my breast.

4. Watching Mr. H interact with Sweet A. He won't change her diapers yet, but he's getting more and more comfortable with holding her, burping her and getting her ready for bed. And he doesn't panic and hand her off when she starts to fuss and cry. Not right away anyway.

5. Watching Mr. H react to Sweet A when she *ahem* passes gas. Yeah, it's sophomoric, but he cracks up every time, especially if he's holding her. And if she happens to sigh or smile afterwards, even better. She makes her daddy proud.

7. Awake time. Watching my Sweetness watch the world and be enthralled with all the light she sees (because I don't think she can see much more yet) is an amazing and fascinating thing to see.

8. Sweet A in a nightgown. Sweet A was only  7 lbs. 7 oz. when she was born, and dropped to 6 lbs. 9 oz. when we came home. She's a tiny little thing and she doesn't fit into the plethora of 0-3 months clothing that we have for her. In fact, we took Grandma to the store while she was visiting and beefed up Sweet A's NB wardrobe. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find any nightgowns in the NB size, and since I love putting her in them for bedtime, she has to make due with the 0-3 months gowns. She swims in them. It's adorable.

9. Cuddling with Sweet A in bed. Two out of three of our nighttime feedings occur downstairs on the living room couch (I can't use the glider in the nursery because of my busted tail bone), but our 5:30-6:00 am feeding takes place in bed with Daddy and me. And afterwards we snuggle up together for a couple hours of sleep.

10. Discovering what Sweet A likes and dislikes. She likes car rides and stroller rides. She dislikes formula (and so does Mommy. Her doctor wanted us to supplement her feedings while we were dealing with high bilirubin levels. It didn't go so well, so we quit). She likes her vibrating chair. She dislikes pacifiers (and so does Mommy, but Daddy insists on trying them out from time to time when she fusses). She likes being naked. She dislikes getting dressed.

I can't wait to learn more about my Sweetheart as she grows and finds her place in the world. All these precious moments have made the lack of sleep and regular meals worth it. Oh, and losing 20 lbs. in the span of a week hasn't been so bad either.