New family portraits

Here's a photo of us (3!) the day we left the hospital on Thursday July 5th. This was actually a nice photo - how often do you approve of everyone smiling & looking at the camera with their eyes open? Well, OK, maybe not ALL of us - Evie's eyes remained shut for the better part of 23hrs a day at this time. The fact that she isn't looking for food is photo opportunity enough for me.

The other photo was taken the day my mom left - Friday the 13th. Evie's 11 days old. She actually had a decent morning allowing us to sleep in (she fed at 5:30AM but I returned to bed for an hour). She let me shower AND put on make-up... and then she remained AWAKE for photos. Who-hoo! We piled outside to take advantage of this short-lived moment.

I'm finding that each day is COMPLETELY different than the one just before. There is no rhyme or reason to anything these days. Sometimes she sleeps and I have to wake her every 3 hours just to eat (at night we just her go and she generally is on a 3.5 hr. feeding cycle). Sometimes she fusses on/off for the better part of 2 hours with half-assed, sporadic feedings filling in 5-10 minute gaps.
I keep looking for a pattern of behavior (Does she eat around the same time day by day? Does she go to bed around the same hour so I can plan my night's sleep?) but there really isn't supposed to be one right now. This is a comforting thought to know that my kid is "average" and on target with the general baby audience. Although, I also get frustrated when I expect her to nap throughout the better part of the day only to find I can't seem to make her happy at all. Or that she wants to be stuck to me - eating (yes, I am nursing) - for up to 45 minutes with delays scattered throughout that time.
I have managed to figure out Evie's current eating style, though (which, will most likely change before this gets to press). She eats on one side and after 10-15 minutes she slumps off into what we call the "milk coma". She gets a huge, jiggly grin on her face and coos softly. Sometimes she twitches a little. She always stretches her arms up over her head and grunts back-n-forth, twisting her shoulder blades for an extra stretch. Then she smacks her lips and settles in on my lap. You must give her at least a FULL MINUTE to bask in this coma state before burping her or she will not only NOT burp ...but will whine a little, too. After burping her, she makes a "Robert DeNiro" squinty face and falls back ready for the next side. Sometimes—well, often, really—she needs to be changed at this time to wake her up. That, and this kid has EXPLOSIVE poopies that sound like an old catalytic converter back-firing. You have to time these things just right or you could end up with a splat on the changing table... we've had our fair share. The best is when she fills a diaper TWICE during one feeding. We must go through at LEAST 14-16 diapers a day. We are beginning to let her sit in a few to save the cash... is this wrong? (*wink*)
Parenthood is, so far, a humorous adventure...