Week 1 Review

So it has now been a week since Button joined our ranks, and it's been a busy week, filled with long hours, little sleep, and poop. Oh the poop. But it's been a quite eventful week in terms of development! Since we got Gabe at three months, we missed out on several of those first key milestones with him. This time, though, we're getting to see them all.

First, I don't mean to brag on our baby, but I'm pretty sure she can kick everyone else's babies asses. She's an overachieving badass. In just one week, her muscles have developed tremendously. Her neck went from rag-doll limp (go back and see pictures of The Faceless Stalker for an approximation) to merely "flopsy" in just these past few days. When we hold her up to our shoulders to burp, she is starting to hold her head up and away from our shoulders like a champ. If we put her on her stomach for a bit, she can already lift her head (though she tends to put it back on the ground rather gracelessly, which can't feel good on her nose, so we tend to not give her much tummy time just yet).

Apparently, newborns' stomachs can only hold about a half an ounce, but within the first two weeks, the stomach expands in size to hold about two ounces--which is why they need pretty much constant feedings at first. Button, however, can drink about three ounces now without trouble--and she almost never spits up. This seemingly tiny infant achievement might not portend to overachieving greatness in her relatively distant future of the becoming-president or saving-the-world variety, but it MIGHT suggest that she has a possibly successful future in the competitive eating world. Someday, she might even be the first woman to hold the world hot dog eating competition championship. A dad can dream.

The best news about this expanding stomach thing, though, is that she is starting to sleep in slightly longer intervals. Being old, as we feel, the sleepless nights, even divided between Libby and I, were quickly wearing us out. Now she'll sleep in good two hour intervals, and, somehow, her schedule has adjusted slightly so that she's sleeping more during the night and less during the day (it had been just the opposite until two days ago--then, miraculously, it flipped). All of this means Yippee!

Notice the outfit she's wearing. Our friend Megahn gave it to us. It has tiny little dancing slippers on the feet and it says Twinkle Toes on the chest. It SHOULD have said Tiny Dancer to be the awesomest, but it's still pretty adorable. I swore early on that we'd try to steer as clear of pink as possible with any girl we raised, because I think the color pink is insulting in many ways--to me and to society in general. But I'm finding that avoiding pink entirely is very nearly impossible. Stupid sweatshops and their insistence that little girls be covered in frills and abominable color schemes. Still, on this outfit, I think it works.

Yeah, I know, more pink. And here she is sleeping again. I'm afraid that's about as interesting as it gets right now. Adorable, yes, but totally lacking in zazz.

And, you know what, I'm going to take a moment to say something nice about someone who isn't me or mine. Single mothers. I just can't even fathom how they manage--especially the ones who have more than one kid. Gabe is a great kid, but he's a handful to keep up with alone--and he's even more of a handful whenever the baby is awake, it seems, as he's vying for our undivided attention. To be honest, if we're both not here--one to watch the baby and the other to entertain Gabe--it's a bit of a nightmare. How the hell do people without any support network manage? All I can say is, the single moms out there who DO manage it, have my utmost respect. I am now 100% certain that I could never handle it. But I also think they should take every opportunity to share their experiences with all those high school girls out there who think having a baby isn't such a bad idea. Those kids need a serious wakeup call. Perhaps we, as a society, should start a volunteer network. All of those eager girls out there could spend, let's say, a week caring for the children of some fraught single mother. Dollars to donuts, that experience changes a lot of minds. Get on that, society!

Anyway, that's pretty much where we are right now. Baby is well, Gabe is well, Libby and I are tired but well.

And here is a video Libby took last night at Finn's place. The boys are playing in the collapsible house.