Luciya is 40 days old today!
Luciya's Aunty T and Uncle Colby had their baby boy this afternoon!
Baby Jenner was born in Portland at 5:04 pm weighing 5 pounds 13 ounces! (Luciya was almost 3 pounds more than him at birth!)
Congratulations, guys! We are so happy for your family.
Jenner DouglasTime to slow things down.
We are realizing that most five-week-olds haven't gone on trans-Pacific flights, not to mention numerous barbecues, baby showers, and the beach.
Needless to say, Luciya has been a little out of sorts (read: Fussy McFussfuss), so yesterday she and I took advantage of the beautiful summery spring morning and had ourselves a little canopy time in the backyard.
It was really wonderful, for about 2 hours. Then she woke up. And she didn't go back to sleep. For the rest of the day. Poor thing only got a total of about 3 hours of sleep yesterday and it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps the large mug of "naturally caffeinated," "healthy energy" that is yerba mate may not have been a very good breakfast choice for mommy. I think I caffeinated my child.
Why do you do this to me, mom?
Luciya's hair is falling out at a rapid clip. It coats the insides of her little caps and is layered on her swaddling blankets.
And she had a rash of acne so bad I couldn't resist calling her "pizza face."
She is still the most dazzling thing I have ever seen.
You know how they say
that baby's first movements
might feel like a bubble of gas
floating down
well last night before sleeping
i felt a gas bubble
and my sleepy-mind told me
"the baby is kicking."
It was really funny.
He was holding her little naked body before bathtime "just a little bit longer" because it felt like "heaven."
And then she pooped on him.
Emily at one month oldDear Luciya,
You are four weeks old today! I continue to be amazed by you every day.
You have changed so much already in the last four weeks. Your flakiness is almost all gone, but you still have hairy monkey shoulders. You are developing "baby acne."
You are more alert and your eyes are wide open more often during the day. You have periods of quiet attentiveness and will often stare at a point just beyond my shoulder or accross the room. You are still very much in the heavens.
You coo and ah in your sleep. When you wake up in the morning or the middle of the night it is not with cries but sweet little grunts.
Yes, you are taking a pacifier. Not all the time, but enough to keep your little sucking mouth soothed. I have been wrangling this dilemma in my head, as the book What to Expect the First Year basically says parents who use pacifiers are putting a plug in their babies, ignoring what baby really wants, and making them addicted to sucking on latex for the rest of their lives. Agh! That is the last thing I want to feel. But girl, you are a sucker. And you need to suck. And I only started resorting to the binky after my milk ran dry two nights in a row because I let you suck. On me. (I would love any comments/input on the general pacifier attitude out there!)
This morning was the first time you met and held my gaze as you were nursing. It just about melted my heart.
We are going on a trip, today, Luciya! You and I are going all by ourselves on an airplane to Portland to see Aunty T and Uncle Colby and meet your future husband! I know you will be a champ on the plane and a darling on the mainland. I'm really excited. [Thanks, everyone, for keeping your thoughts with us!]
I love you Luciya!
Mama
We celebrated my first Mother's Day yesterday by going to brunch in Kaanapali. This family thing is so fun!
Ton Ton and Luciya, thank you for blessing my life!!
A glimpse inside the mind of little Luciya:
Luciya has been smiling.
This morning she must have smiled at me at least 5 times.
Another fun development is the Nuzzle. When we hold her up onto our shoulders, she nuzzles her little head under our chins. Stop it, it is almost too much to adorable cuteness to handle. Almost.
The smile evolution:
Dear Luciya,
Throughout my pregnancy you and I went to a special spot in the "Fairy Woods" in Olinda. There, I would write to you in a journal and we would share quiet times together.
The last time we went there was the day before your "due date," on April 7th.
Yesterday, almost exactly one month later, we went back to our spot again.
I love you, Luciya!
Love,
Mama
Multiple choice.
I am holding:
a) A stale raisin
b) A shrunken head
c) The stump of my daughter's umbilical cord
Answer: c. Her umbilical stump fell off on Cinco de Mayo. John was changing her and found it in her diaper. He excitedly called me in from the living room.
Now, this may not seem like a very big deal, but to me it is. It's the end of some kind of era, the beginning of Luciya's life as a real person. For more than nine months, her life came to her - from me - through this cord. Her blood, her oxygen, that garlicky dinner I ate. She was attached to my insides, she lived through me, and when she came out of me and sampled the oxygen of us Earthlings her daddy snipped it clean. And since then she's had this wrinkly little brown stump right there in the center of her little round belly.
And now, who has the cutest belly button ever?
a) Luciya
b) Our 2 1/2 week old daughter
c) Is that spit-up all over the bed?
d) All of the above
Answer: d. Just when you think she couldn't get any more adorable.
Even though she spits up all over the bed.
I know that's why y'all come here, anyway.
She's got her daddy's hands. No question.
