Kris & Ju

I hope all parents feel this way - we've realized how FUN Alaise has grown to be.  In such a short period of time, she has learned so many things...  Most of all, to smile and laugh as a form of response.  Today for the first time, she laughed when Kris started talking to her.  She's laughed plenty before, but only when we were playing with her.  This morning, when Kris smiled at her and started talking, she laughed and buried her face in my chest.  It was the most endearing thing I've ever seen!!  It is absolutely amazing to see her respond to us, and I especially love watching her "flirt" with Daddy, as she plays coy and shy, with a huge smile on her face.  Her joy is so apparent with her laughters and smiles, and it brightens my day. 

Alaise is 4 months old today.  I have a difficult time fathoming how long 4 months actually is.  Watching her grow, as her eyes sparkle in recognition and interest, 4 months seem so long and so short at the same time.  She's starting to grasp at objects, loves to bat at whatever is in her way, have a strong hold on fingers, interested in watching her hands as she moves them.  She loves to smile, and the laughters are amazing.  She fusses the most when she's tired, and she often wakes up from her naps or in the middle of the night talking to herself.  The cooing in the middle of the night is frustrating, but I can't help but laugh, listening to it.  Her hair is getting long, and everyone always comments on how much of it she has.  She has a crest - her hair waves in a funny way, so it puffs up when it dries.

Wow, it's been almost a month since I blogged!

So, I'm sure every mom has preference on all the baby stuff that they acquired during pregnancy.  I thought I'd jot down some of my thoughts on these products so far. :)

It feels so good to feel normal.  I've felt pretty darn good for the last week, no pain, no need to take any pain pills.  :)  For some weird reason, I've had lots and lots of muscle pain and tenderness even a couple weeks ago...  I don't know if it was related to the birth or not, but it sure feels good to have all that gone!  It's such a blessing, it's hard to appreciate not being in pain until you've been in pain for a period of time.

On the side note, I've come to realize that I can't imagine not having Alaise as my child.  All those months of trying to get pregnant...  I told myself that maybe God wants THAT CHILD for us, so it's taking longer.  Out of millions of children that we could have, we were waiting for that one special child that God wanted us to have.  I really truly believe this was true for us!  I can't imagine not having Alaise as our baby girl...  I'm sure other children would have been awesome as well, but I'm so glad God let us have this one.  She's so wonderfully precious and perfect.

Anyway.  Just my thoughts for the day.

I was telling Kris the other day - it is amazing that I can love a person so thoroughly so immediately.  Considering the time it took me to get to know & grow to love Kris, it's just really weird to love another human being almost immediately, without condition.

Kris listened to me and said, "You grew to love me.  You grew her, to love her."

Well said.

OK, so Kris and I haven't gone to a church in a while.  We keep meaning to find a church to become a part of, but can't seem to find one that we like, plus it doesn't help that we believe that going to church on Sundays doesn't make us better Christians.  We also really dislike church politics.  Nonetheless, I really want to find a place where I can worship and have fellowship with others, plus we definitely want to raise Alaise in a Church environment.

Alaise is 1 month old today.  It's incredible.  It's unbelievable.  Did 1 month really go by since I gave birth?  It's really difficult to comprehend.  I'm afraid that I'm going to blink and next thing I know, her 18th birthday will be here.  She is absolutely precious, I love her, I kiss her everywhere, I hug her, rock her, comfort her, whisper in her ears, and just adore her.

I was reading someone else's blog and came across this and it warms and breaks my heart at the same time...

*But for now I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.
*But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
*So quiet down, cobwebs.  Dust, go to sleep.
*I'm rocking my baby.  Babies don't keep.

So, I thought I'd jot down a short diaper update.  How's my newborn stash of cloth diapers that I purchased working out??

Well, to be completely honest, I only got my first poopy cloth diaper yesterday.  I've come to realize that when you get diapers as gifts, especially the newborn ones, there's really not a great need for a newborn stash of cloth diapers.  Especially when your baby's big to begin with.  We used the diapers that we brought from the hospital, and went through one decent size pack of diapers, and just now started using cloth diapers.  The Kissaluvs are already a wee bit small, it leaves marks on Alaise's legs.  The Prorap covers are way too small already.  The Thirsties seem to be holding better...  I tried my hands on the prefolds today for the first time.  Used Jelly Roll fold, seems to be working okay.  I'll have to practice a little more.  But the Snappi is great! :)

Today was my 2 week checkup with my OB.  As I've mentioned before, I LOVE our OB.  She's really great.  She said she thought I was doing pretty good considering what happened, which was good.  Anyway.  While we were there, she told Kris and me a story she heard at the hospital.  5 days after we had our baby and my surgery, a lady gave birth to her 5th child, and had the same post partum hemorrhaging as me.  She ended up going into get a hysterectomy, but she kept on losing tons of blood, and as if her body was giving up, nothing was clotting.  They ended up bringing in trauma surgeon and a vascular surgeon to patch her up, but after 4 hours of surgery, no luck.  So they couldn't even close her up - they packed her with stuff layer by layer, and ended up giving her 20 units of blood.  (Which we found out that average blood volume is about 11 units of blood.)