Survivor

Well, we have almost made it through Lily's first major chest cold. Nothing pierces the heart like listening to your baby's raspy cough and being helpless to do much of anything. She was finally getting back to her smiling, babbling self for awhile today-but then it came time to go to bed and she was all slumpy again. I have been trying the whole "leave your baby in her crib to nap no matter what" plan and it really, REALLY stinks...especially now that she has a cold. I was in tears by the time I went to get her out of her crib yesterday. My poor husband was vexed enough by a crying baby-add to that a sobbing wife and he was just finished!

Thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and she is coughing less and less. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when she will hopefully wake up with bright eyes and a big smile. I haven't seen that in a couple of days and that was my whole reason for dragging myself out of bed at 6 am!

Isn't it nice to be adored?

I was out to lunch with my sister the other day and I brought Lily along. Lily was studying me as I ordered and snacked on appetizers with my sister. My sister has a three-year-old and one on the way, so she knows the ups and downs of motherhood well. Seeing Lily's gaze, she said "Isn't it nice to be adored?" It really is. I am so thankful for my little girl-so thankful that God gave me something so precious to take care of. I still look at her every day and marvel at the fact that God created her using me!

What is it about 2:05 am?

What is it about 2:05am that babies want to see so badly? If you can answer that, can you tell me if 2:47, 3:25, 3:55, 4:47 and 5:36 hold the same appeal? I love my daughter dearly and do want to spend as much time as possible with her, but not when she is just a shadowy spot in the middle of her crib in the middle of the night.

I remember as a young girl going to my first sleepovers. We always found it such an exciting challenge to stay up all night. It was great until the pain of sleep deprivation hit you like a semi truck the next day. The nice part was that we could blissfully sleep through much of the next day to make up for it. In college, all-nighters were more of a necessity than a joy. When midterms or finals were piling up, it seemed there was no choice but to stay up all night cramming or writing papers. No blissful sleeping the next day there, though. We would have to sleepily slog through a three hour final AND try to be clever enough to answer the questions correctly! Maybe Lily is training for her first sleepovers or college cram sessions a bit early!

Now if I could just get her to take daytime naps longer than 20 minutes...

Mom and Lily

Mom and Lily

I started this blog for several reasons: I was inspired by my friend, Amanda, and her blog; my whole world has been upended by the arrival of my daughter and our subsequent move to Tennessee; and I can type a lot faster than I can write most days. It seems that blogs can be made up of little snippets of thought and make perfect sense. On the other hand, the pregnancy journal I was keeping for my daughter, Lily, seems to ramble and shift with every turn of the page. Now my biggest obstacle seems to be getting photos in the right place on the site and figuring out how to do that using the photo program already installed on my computer.

This next chapter of my life was a huge leap of faith. My husband and I moved to Tennesse seven weeks after our daughter was born. We used to live in Ventura, California, but moved to Tennessee so that we could provide a bit better for Lily. My parents and my siblings are all within 20 minutes of our new home, which was a big incentive for me as well.

My daughter was born in August (two weeks earlier than expected) and she changed my life in ways that I could've never imagined. I love being a mom. If only this was a job with a salary, my life would be cake. I love watching her sleep, listening to her babble in her three-month-old language, kick her arms and legs like a rock star, looking into her big blue eyes and wondering what she thinks when she looks back at me. Even the lack of sleep is not as painful as it could be-as long as I get that huge smile from her when I go to get her out of her crib in the morning.

But, speaking of lack of sleep, I have a feeling that many of my early blog entries will be written in the early hours of the morning or late in the evening when Lily is sleeping. We are currently working on learning how to nap during the daytime. It is almost more exhausting for me to teach her how to nap than staying up would be for her! I'm learning to let her cry for a bit before going to soothe her...I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm working on it!