Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 1

I can hardly believe it’s been one month already! Time has flown by! It is truly a delight to be this little girl’s mother, not that she does much more than sleep, eat and poop at the moment, but still. I love this tiny person so much! It’s amazing how your heart and your capacity to love just expand when you have another child.

Asher loves his little sister. His voice takes on a tender, sweet tone whenever he speaks about her and he showers her in hugs and kisses, which considering that everyone and anyone else has to beg for his affection, is pretty amazing. Seeing him interact with her makes my heart want to explode. I’m still not sure how I’m going to navigate being a mother of two once the last of the grandparents leave next week, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.This past month, we’ve had first my parents and then Raf’s parents here the whole time and I’m so thankful to them for all the help, because it’s allowed me to be on a Babymoon with my daughter. We’ve had the time to snuggle and nurse and sleep and bond uninterrupted and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to do so.

This girl is SO cuddly! I hoped I would get a cuddly child and that is exactly what I’ve gotten. It is nearly impossible to get her to sleep anywhere other than on me or right next to me and touching me in some way, which means that we have been bed sharing fairly often. I have been loving all the snuggles that this allows but I’m also terrified that she’ll be smothered or that Asher will come bounding into our bed and crush her. I’ve been working on getting to to sleep in her bassinet, but as often as it works, it also fails and she wakes up shortly after being separated from me. I’ve found that putting a rolled blanket next to her, swaddling, and having a space heater near by helps trick her into thinking she’s still next to me. Baby wearing works for when I need to get stuff done, but after nearly 10 months of being practically sedentary (I know, I know) I’m so weak that I find it kills my back after a while, but then again, even just standing up feels like a chore…I really need to get back to being active again. I’m hoping that she gets a bit better at sleeping apart from me before Raf’s mom leaves next week, because I certainly won’t be able to sit on the couch all day and hold her while she sleeps once I’m Asher’s sole source of entertainment again.

I’m just so excited to get to know her and to watch her personality unfold, but I’m also acutely aware that these sweet moments are fleeting so I’m cherishing and reviling in every second of it. With Asher I kept looking forward to when he’d do the next thing or reach the next milestone, but this time I know how quickly each stage passes and that some things may not last. I’m relishing every cuddle and snuggle.