We are currently having all new windows installed in our house. This is totally awesome since our old windows were terrible and made our heating bills outrargugeous.
Figuring out how to feed a breastfed baby when you're alone in a house full of strange men: not so awesome.
Today was Ben's two-month check-up, which means, among other things, that my baby is TWO MONTHS OLD! Reaching this milestone is the first time within parenthood that I've felt like time is flying. For me, pregnancy seemed to breeze by, so I was sure I would experience what every other mother tells you to expect -- that you blink and suddenly your baby is all grown up.
However, that was really not my experience at first. I think it was because Ben was so tiny. I would see older babies -- big babies! with skills! -- and think, We'll never get there. Ben will never be big and old and skilled like that. And in my defense, he really was small and fragile for a long time (and as far as the skill thing goes, the pediatrician assures me that his month-early arrival will probably mean he hits developmental milestones a month late). When he was nine days old, we took him to be weighed, and he was at his smallest: 5 pounds, 6 ounces. That's apparently the 4th percentile for nine-day-old babies.
Today was a different story, though. Today, my little runt of a boy weighed TEN POUNDS! He has graduated to the 70th percentile! And he gained three whole pounds in one month, which wouldn't have meant anything to me until I acquired a newborn and learned that they're supposed to gain about one-half to one ounce per day. Three pounds in a month means little Ben made up for lost time by gaining one and a half ounces a day! Go, baby Ben!
Three pounds in a month also means that I now believe he won't be small forever. And while this knowledge makes me feel so very proud of my boy and so very grateful that God has given him a healthy, growing body, it also makes me understand how precious and fleeting my time with him is. A full night of sleep sounds so good, but there are only so many more times I will get to snuggle this sweet baby in the quiet middle of the night. Some day soon, he will be too big for me to fumble through housework one-handed while I hold him with the other arm. And he will be much too big for me to kiss the top of his fuzzy head while I blog with him asleep on my chest. Two months are gone now, and we only get to do this five more times before he is suddenly a full year old. And I can only imagine how quickly the time goes when his life is measured in years.
Being a new mom is a pretty overwhelming job. Some days I get frustrated with myself because lunchtime rolls around and I realize that not only have I not showered, but I haven't even remembered to brush my teeth. It's easy for me to get annoyed that I am tethered to a baby by every-three-hour feedings and that some article of my clothing is constantly wet from one disgusting body fluid or another. But today, I am more thankful than ever that I get to rearrange my existence for Benjamin Eager Wiginton.