Hard to believe, but we’ve had this little gem for over 13 weeks. As I type now, she coos and smiles at me. I read my writing out loud to her, so she listens to my blog posts and the new chapters of my memoir. Eventually, she’ll be reading, but as for now, she hears about baking, about family, about magical places we’ll one day go.
She gains strength and muscle control each day. Now when I hold her, she keeps her head up without any support. It won’t be long before she can sit by herself. On her 12th week birthday, she rolled over. Once for me and once for Ryan. More and more independence, which makes me both sad and proud. Motherhood, I guess!
I weighed her this morning on my bathroom scale, and she’s coming in a little over 14 lbs. She nurses all the time during the day. Probably every hour and a half. I don’t mind these times we spend together. She smiles now when she sees me lift up my shirt, and it makes all those difficult weeks of breastfeeding worth it. I wouldn’t trade this exchange for anything.
As for sleep? It also improved dramatically during the third month. She sleeps from ten to four without waking, and then we nurse once, and she goes back to sleep until seven. I’m more rested than I’ve been since delivering her, although I still can’t dip into that deep sleep I knew before. I’ve been told that sleep is never the same once you have children, and I think this is true. My first thought on waking? Her, always her.
And Lucy has found her voice. She babbles, she squeals, she yells. Even now, as I am trying to write and read these words out loud to her, she’s piping in with her own opinions. We have a feeling we’ll have a very talkative little girl. Margot is still her best friend and rarely leaves her side. Cricket is slowly slowly warming up to her.
I knew that being a mother would change my life, but I didn’t anticipate how this child would work her way into the deepest parts of me. I feel like my soul is divided amongst two bodies, and I carry her inside of me as well. What began in the womb now continues in the heart.
A huge thanks to my cousin, Andrea Robinson, who captured these beautiful photographs. She has a facebook page for her photography. I know she’d love a visit from you all!