Jane: 1 Month

We've survived the first month with a newborn! It's been a rough month (it always is) but not as bad as I've expected. I don't nearly feel as tired or busy as I thought I would. Now, I wouldn't exactly say it's been "easy", just not the blur of craziness I planned for. Which has been nice.

I think a lot of that has to do with the pre-planning I did. I had about 2-3 months worth of meals in the freezer, a fully-stocked pantry, and a lot of the projects were completed.  We've had lots of friends and neighbors drop by with meals and Grandma Garff has taken the bigger kids for a few outings to help out as well. I've also had low expectations for myself for the first 6 weeks in order to adjust and heal and sleep. I've had to force myself to sit down more regularly (since I'm running around so much with the other kids) so I can be sure to recover, but I'm not a big fan of that. I just want to be back to normal! I'm feeling great now, so hopefully almost there (except for wanting to lose another 25-30lbs, of course).

 When I came home from the hospital, I barely felt like I had given birth, my recovery has been EASY. In fact, I went to sacrament meeting the next day. It was Mother's Day, and I thought there'd be kids singing some cute musical number that I wouldn't want to miss, but no such luck. The hardest part has been my SI joint pain. With Jane being turned all funny, it separated my pelvis, which has STILL not gone back completely. Walking even a block that first week was difficult and painful. I've been going to PT, which has been super helpful, but still not back to normal, yet. I have started running a bit (2 miles, 3x a week), but don't want to increase mileage until I am pain-free. Which hopefully will be soon as I regain my muscle and strength.

Jane has been a mostly pleasant baby. She hardly ever cries when she is being held, doesn't take forever to eat, and is working on sleeping better. It has been a challenge getting her to learn to sleep in the pack'n'play all alone, but she is doing much better. She seems like she will be a very happy and easy baby once we get passed this sleep hurdle.

Jane, 1 Month:

-SMILING!!! Started at 3 weeks; crazy, I know, but it's been often enough we know it is a real smile. She even has a dimple!

-Sleeps for 3-5 hours at a time during the night, usually going right back to bed.

-Kind of a spitty baby, but not nearly as bad as projectile vomiting Caleb.

-Loves to stare with her deep blue eyes and make funny facial expressions.

-Loved by her siblings, who are adjusting as well as can be expected. William often is indifferent, but every so often, I can get him fascinated by her umbilical cord, or funny faces. He doesn't want to hold her, but did try to teach her to crawl. Yesterday, he said that Jane looked like a boy because she has short hair. :) 

The twins fight over holding her and can't get enough baby. Caleb picks most of her outfits and they already have a special bond. He talks to Jane in a high-pitched voice that is just darling. Lily adores having a little sister and always wants to hold her.

My favorite thing is when the kids ask if we are going to keep Baby Jane forever. 

I think we will.