It is amazing how much you forget after having
a baby. I couldn’t remember anything from the first few weeks or months of
Oskar’s life and am so thankful I captured some of the milestones and memories
in a blog post over two years ago. The milestones definitely helped keep me
sane these past few weeks and prevented me from expecting too much from Alva.
So along those same lines, here is a recap of Alva’s first 12 weeks, not
because I think I will need it for baby #3 but just so I can remember some of
this crazy time.
Week 1 - I rewatched the Oprah episode with
Priscilla Dunstan and reacquainted myself with the five different types of baby
cries. With Oskar, every time he cried I was convinced he was hungry and Martin
swore he had gas or needed a diaper change... with Alva I was now adamant most
cries were due gas; Martin was positive she was hungry.
Week 2 - The grunting returned and the googling
began (mostly about sleep including: when does the witching hour begin? Around
three weeks. What is a normal sleep schedule for a newborn? Awake for 45 to 90
minutes but no more than 2 hours at a time (in Alva’s case more like awake for
only an hour at a time). As little as 10 minutes counts as a nap. Newborns
won’t know day from night until two weeks and don’t try or expect a schedule
until at least six weeks)
Week 3 - I started to lay down the foundation of
a routine (unfortunately not a bedtime routine for Alva like we started with
Oskar). No this was a routine for me which involved morning drop offs for Oskar at school with Martin
and then Alva and I heading to Victoria Pastry Company or "VPC" for a latte and a croissant (my second
breakfast of the day). I also started overbooking my calendar again with coffee
dates and lunches and researching how to lose the baby weight.
Week 4 or 5 - I officially fit back into normal
clothes... however given that I still have a large belly and a lot of extra
loving, I am not sure what that says about my pre-pregnancy self... not sure
that morning croissant is helping my cause either.
Week 6 - We got our first smile!
Week 6.5 - All hell broke loose. Martin went up to Timber Cove for the day to
work on the place and I had both kids alone for the first time. We ate Cheerios for breakfast and snack and
possibly lunch; all rules went out the window and by the end of the day the
house was trashed. I seriously don’t know how stay at home moms or single
parents do this! It didn’t help that Alva refused to sleep the night before and
the whole morning. Thankfully Oskar was incredibly patient and helpful. He
helped burp Alva and we turned me rocking Alva to sleep into a dance party.
Week 7 – We got 7 hours of continuous sleep!
Week 8 - Holy crap it has been 8 weeks?!
Weeks 9 – We spent most of the week trying to
adjust to the jet lag and it wrapped up with another solo day of just me and
both kids (thanks to Columbus Day and no day care). We took the bus to the Marina, found a new playground, grabbed a coffee and snack and picked up a
birthday present for Martin.
Week 10 – I gave into the fact that Alva won’t
nap anywhere but in the ergo baby or stroller...we might need to fix this as
this won’t work in the long run. But at the same time she is sleeping from 7pm
to 3am each night and then going right back to sleep until 7 so I don’t want to
complain too much.
Week 11 – We hit a rough patch, not for Alva
but my sanity. Call it hormones or lack of sleep but I was definitely low on
patience with Martin. And I am sure Oskar picked up on it as well given his few
meltdowns. The good news is that in the meantime Alva has found her hands and
likes her giraffe lovie which helps her soothe and calm down. The bad news is
she still hates tummy time and howls after just three minutes.
Week 12 - Despite our lack of trying, Alva has
put herself on a pretty solid routine... asleep at 7pm and awake around 7:15am.
Like most things parenting-related I
can’t take any credit. Call it due to or a result of being a second child, Alva
is figuring life out with or without our help.
On a personal note, week 12 (and soon to be 3 month mark) marks the transition from newborn to baby (at least in my eyes). And while Alva is perfect in every way, I am one big bag of mess. My hair is falling out in clumps (I think this ends around 6 months); my stretch mark cream, to no one’s surprise has done nothing for the claw marks on my stomach and I keep wondering when my belly button will look normal again, if ever (based on photos from post Oskar it didn’t look too horrific around the 10 month mark). I have also developed flu or menopausal like sweats and chills (sans fever) and a hopefully temporary case of insomnia. I know I know, it took my body nine months to create Alva I need to give it time to heal and restart. I am just afraid apathy will sink in and instead of getting back to normal I will resolve myself to larger clothes, one piece bathing suits and a hand held fan for the hot flashes.
