still chuggin' along

I was reminded yesterday that I haven't blogged since my boast that, basically, it was 'so far, so good.' Yeah, well, things are still good, but that kid loves to snuggle on Mommy's chest! And all the 'guest chests' left town last weekend when my parents' weeklong visit came to an end. I am learning to put her down, but I don't entirely want to, either. We have a good time snuggling, my Maddie and me.

We had a great time while the grandparents were here. As usual, it was really hard for me to see them leave, after they've been such a help and support in that first new-baby week.
Grandpa Williams got us all hooked on the Tour de France, of all things -- we're all suckers for athletic competition on TV of all weird kinds (excluding golf and auto racing, that is, but almost everything else) -- and we went on a few outings. That Sunday -- Maddie was three days old, or four, if you count Thursday (since she was born at 3 a.m., after all), Matt and I took her to see The Dark Knight. I don't know if it was my 'mother of a newborn' mentality, or the fact that I had to leave at, oh, about the time any self-respecting movie would be over, anyway, to change a very poopy diaper, or what, but the movie seemed like one of the LOUDEST I'd ever seen. And, really, too dark. C'mon, now. It's a comic book character, for pete's sake. Must we overdo the psychotic element to quite that degree? But, again, in fairness, I was a bit distracted, and I did miss a few minutes in there somewhere. I've gotta give it a thumbs-down, though. Iron Man still rules this summer, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I'll give it another try when it comes out on DVD. Then again, maybe not.

Mom, Dad, Maddie and I went to Harper's Ferry on, uh, Wednesday, I think? So she was a week old. Dad's into the Civil War history stuff, so it was fairly enjoyable, though it's far more geared toward the cheesy tourist population than I recalled from my last visit there. Pretty place.

On Friday, we took Lizzy and Maddie to the local air and space museum -- the one at Dulles. Lizzy gave it a "I didn't like it; I LOVED it!" review. Not sure what she loved -- perhaps the ice cream she stole from me at the McDonald's eatery there? or the Astronaut Barbie? -- or maybe it was actually the planes. In any case, cool museum.

I was out and about in Alexandria and D.C. for the day with Maddie this past Tuesday. It feels a little like being a celebrity. Or perhaps accompanying one. This feels especially odd, coming as it does so soon after being heavily pregnant, when I felt like more of a freakish oddity than anything. Now, I've got people coming up to me with adoring looks for the baby, questions about her age or tales of their own offspring, and looks of shock when they hear how young she is. It would seem that some people don't believe in taking their babies out of the house until they're at least three months old. "And how are YOU doing?" they'll often ask. Uh, I'm fine. Except for this infernal D.C. heat. That sucks, but it would do so regardless of my physical condition otherwise. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate it here in the summertime? (I don't care for the winter here, either, but I digress.)

So, oh yeah, the baby. She's doing well. They're so 'not quite human' at this stage, it cracks me up. More like funny little pet mammals of some other species. She'll do this thing when she's trying to convey that she's hungry (besides crying, I mean) where she'll open her mouth really wide and shake her head back and forth really fast. Or, if someone's holding her, she'll head-butt them repeatedly in the chest. She likes her FOOD, darnit! Give it to her NOW!

She's still an 'eating and sleeping and peeing and pooping' champ, except, oddly, late at night. It seems to take her until close to midnight to settle down for another good sleep. She suddenly turns ravenous, and wants to feed repeatedly. I try explaining, with less and less patience, that the breasts will not suddenly swell with milk after having just been drained, no matter how much one attempts to drain them again. I'm about at the point, against the midwife's advice, where I'm considering having formula on hand (haven't given her any yet) so she can have a bottle on these particularly hungry-seeming nights. It just doesn't seem right to try to get her down with an (apparently) empty stomach. But I took her to the doc on Friday, and she's up to nine pounds, so she's gained back what she lost, and then some. Hooray! This breastfeeding thing is actually working this time around. My faith in the human design is (at least partially) restored.

I'm finding it hard to have patience with Lizzy these days -- now there's an unexpected shocker, eh! Yeah, I know. It's so (again, brace yourselves for a revelation) different, having more than one. I just feel like telling Lizzy to go away and leave me in peace a lot of the time, but how fair is that? She deserves some attention, too. Matt decided to stay home from work on Thursday, and I was filled with a wee sense of despair at the idea of my solitude being thus intruded upon. Clearly, I haven't been at this maternity leave thing very long. Shouldn't I love the idea of the rest of my family being around? It's great some days, but on other days, I have to admit, I'm really enjoying the quiet time with my newest daughter.
All in all, she's a pretty cool little mammal.