What I learned this week

Its been an exciting week. We went to a La Leche League meeting to talk to some ladies about breastfeeding. (Which is all that LLL ladies talk about. Its a good time.) It occurred to me that we keep talking about Bronwyn's age of 5 weeks as if that' a super long time. She's "already" five weeks old. She's a "whopping" 5 weeks old. In our minds, she's ancient. We can't believe we've had her for like, forever! But at this LLL meeting, the ladies kept saying the word "only." She's only 5 weeks old. She's only a newborn. They made her seem so little. And I guess she is. It was good to put things in perspective and not get ahead of ourselves. They encouraged us to not treat her like a one year old now, because she's not. Its ok for her to be needy, and clingy and want to do nothing but nurse. Because she's ONLY 5 weeks old. Not 5 months. Not 5 years. Weeks. We are parents to a weakling - or maybe I can say, weekling. And she is perfect just the way she is.

A few other things I've learned, I'll share:

* Did you know that breast feeding women keep fat pads on the sides of their hips as a store for their body to draw from to make breast milk? Hello size 10 pants. Its nice to see you again.

Our friend faith and her 7 month old baby Hope came for a visit

* Not all women feel gushy feelings about their babies all the time. I was discussing this with my friend Faith this week and sharing with her how most moms writing mommy blogs talk about how they are constantly swooning over their child. I love my child. I think she is precious, but I don't think I'm walking around in some sort of explosive lovey dovey state. Faith's advice: read different blogs. She talked about how the adults in her life were always talking to her about hanging in there, and surviving those early months because they are hard and looking forward to when the babies are old enough to be a little less demanding. So when she felt like things were hard and her baby was demanding, she never felt guilty for feeling that way because she assumed that that was as it should be. It was good for me to realize that lovey dovey feelings are a part of the package of emotions, but its ok to have all the others too. GUILT FREE. It doesn't mean I love my baby any less. As I talked with Jeremy about this, he encouraged me to keep typing the truth, even if its not glamorous, just so that everyone who reads this blog knows that I'm keeping it real.

* And one final lesson learned this week: Babies in grocery stores are irresistibly cute. Our favorite thing to do is walk through wegmans with Bronwyn and flaunt her cuteness until people ooh and ahh and tell us how precious she is. We're happy to share her with her adoring public. You're welcome world.

I'll leave you with a self-photo montage. Something about their goofy and off center nature seems so appropriately precious for describing our loveably unique life. Smile!