The First Four Weeks

It's been almost four weeks since a special little girl entered our lives and changed us forever. Our daughter, Ariana, fills us with so much love and contentment. Since she was born, she's shown herself to be a little trooper, and she is so extremely sweet and cuddly.

So far, motherhood and newbornhood have been exactly like in the articles I read so fervently over the past nine months, and also nothing like I expected it to be. It's a huge adjustment to wake up every few hours every night. and sometimes it feels easier than I thought it'd be (especially while my husband was home with us), although those fussy nights are as rough as they warn you. Knock on wood, so far we've only had a few nights where she and I didn't get to sleep until 3am.

One of the best pieces of advice I've received from other moms, and something I've told myself since my pregnancy, is to just take it one day at a time. Some days are going to be rough, but you make it through.

It's an odd feeling to be away from my job for this amount of time, and it's hard to let go of the routine I'm so used to in favor of one where I never know what day it is or rarely leave the house. But spending this time getting to know her is invaluable.

One thing I learned about each day during these early weeks is to get dressed no matter if you're leaving the house or not. That simple thing goes a long way toward feeling more human and put-together.

Have we been particularly eco-friendly? Nope, but I tell myself not to stress over it too much. Sometimes you can't avoid the necessity of single-use items, especially in the realm of postpartum recovery. Of course I would love to be exclusively cloth diapering, but I haven't gotten there yet. (I think she is just now getting to the size of fitting into the smallest cloth diapers I have.) I've been trying use more chemical-free disposable diapers, although she's not exclusive on those either.

We have mastered her secondhand wardrobe though, and she has plenty of outfits for each age range ready to go. Her Halloween costume is also secondhand!

It's still surreal to know that I succeeded at growing and delivering this baby, and it's still surreal to look at her and know she's ours. In the years ahead, these four weeks will feel like it was just a minute, but we're doing our best to soak up these moments as we live them. After all, Ariana will never be as small as she is now.