Catching up on baby

Oct 1, 2014 by Jessica

I’m very sure that I don’t have to start explaining on how having a baby affects your life. Just by looking at the hiatus on this site you know how my life has changed. Or maybe I was just too lazy to start writing again. Maybe…

To be honest, I haven’t been that occupied during the day. For the first 6 weeks of my baby’s life, my mom (and my aunt & uncle for 4 weeks) was staying with us and she provided us with the greatest help possible. She took care of Nathan during the day so I could nap and thanks to those naps, my panda eyes weren’t that severe. Haha. With my mom’s presence, Phodi and I even had a chance to have a short date. We went to have sashimi (been craving for them!!) and that was probably the first time I felt “normal”, by wearing a dress that was not breastfeeding friendly. So truly thankful for my mom, my aunt & uncle and also my maid who were there with us.

Oma day care

Our baby Nathanael has turned 2 months old last Saturday and these are the things that I’ve learned, felt and experienced in the past 9 weeks:

1. Someone is truly, really depending on me and that feeling is indescribable.
2. Patience is the main key to success.
3. 3 main things why babies cry: sleepy, hungry, dirty diaper. Repeat this cycle continuously in a day, add 1,5 hours play time between cycles.
4. Some days are easy, some days are pure hard and evil. As I have no nanny, there’s no other way but to rejoice and be thankful.
5. Separation with my baby (when he had jaundice and had to be hospitalized for 2 days) was so hard and sad. Probably the same feeling will come when he leaves home one day.
6. Co-sleeping works really well on us. I can breastfeed without getting up and nappy changes can be done quickly. The downside? Our bed looks is full with tissues, cotton balls and spare nappies & clothes.
   

   and I get to wake up with this view!

7. Time is precious. I plan ahead of the things I’ll do once the baby is asleep; and shower time is precious.
8. On breastfeeding: Those pictures of a mother breastfeeding calmly are deceiving… at least for the first couple of weeks. Breastfeeding needs practice, practice and patience.
   

   First 2 weeks? No where near this!

9. On breastfeeding: Direct breastfeeding is the best. No fuzz with washing & sterilizing bottles and no need to worry that your bottle milk is spoiled.
10. Good bye small handbags, hello big diaper bag!
11. I need almost twice the time to get ready before leaving home and three quarter of it goes to the baby.
    

    Lucky = no vomit before leaving the house

12. My baby loves being in the car and going out, and we love taking him out. He sleeps through noises and so far haven’t cried when we took him to public places.
13. As much as I love playing with my baby, I love him slightly more when he’s sleeping well because that means he’ll be happy when he’s awake and mummy gets some me time.
    

    when he sleeps well, he’ll wake up happy

14. My baby loves bath time.
15. Once my baby is old enough to respond to our smiles (around 6 weeks old), everything I’ve done is paid off. Those overnight nappy changes suddenly becoming much easier because he smiles happily when we change him.
    

    how to resist this smile?

16. No one warned me that a baby can (and will) vomit that much in a day. Hello extra laundry!! (Thank God for my maid)
17. Once the baby started blabbering and responding to us (around 7 weeks old), getting him to sleep was harder because he wants to play all the time.
    

    wefie during playtime

18. Phodi and I agreed that what some people told us (including my MIL) about the horror of waking up at night for feeding and nappy changes were hyperbolic. Or maybe we’re blessed with a baby who behaves well at night. Although he used to wake up every 2 hours for milk, but he always went back to sleep straight away. These days he’ll wake up every 3-4 hours and that’s good enough for me.
19. People (usually of older generation) will make comments on how you take care of your baby. While some were helpful, some just left me speechless. The most ridiculous comment I received? “Your baby wears disposable diaper? Poor him, he should have worn (traditional) cloth diaper instead.”
20. Celebrate each milestone because each one is precious and because only then I know that I’ve done the right things.
    

    showing off in front of the doctor. 4 days before turning 2.

For moms out there, do we anything in common?

Related Posts

• 5 months old

  Posted on Jan 8, 2015

• 4.1: Galau

  Posted on Nov 27, 2014

• The first 3 months

  Posted on Oct 27, 2014

• Focusing on God

  Posted on Oct 22, 2014

Tags

• Motherhood

Share This