Week 3, Spring Break

On our own
Now that Lynn has gone back to Atlanta, Catherine, Ella, and I have been left to our own devices. Our first week on our own was a little hard, though I'm sure it could've been much, much worse had Ella decided not to take a compassionate attitude toward her bewildered parents. She really has been about as easy as babies must get--she pretty much cries when she's hungry and when we are in the actual process of changing her diaper. And she's sleeping pretty well at night, generally in stretches of about 3 hours at a time and she goes back to sleep quickly after she's been fed.

Neither Catherine nor I have felt the kind of dead-tired, sleep-deprived, bleariness that we had been warned about before Ella was born. I haven't tried to brush my teeth with shaving cream or fallen asleep while waiting in the check-out line at the grocery store. On the other hand, that is not to say that we aren't exhausted. While that kind of over-the-top exhaustion isn't as bad as it could have been, I, at least, did underestimate how tiring it would be simply to keep up with diaper changes, feedings, and burping her (not to mention laundry, cooking, dishes, and feeding our poor cats). I had read that she would eat every two hours, but I didn't realize you time feedings like you do labor contractions--from the start of one feeding to the start of the next. So by the time she's fed and been burped and then fed on the other side and then burped and then soothed for a little while and then changed it's about time to start the whole cycle over again. I may not be bone-tired, and I feel pretty functional (perhaps in part because adrenaline's still pumping over the baby) but every time I sit down to read for class or for pleasure, I'm asleep in about 5 minutes.

First trip to library & public feeding
The Charlottesville Public Library has a really great book sale every March. So we decided when this year's sale got under way that it was time for Ella's first trip to the library. She was really great--she slept soundly in her Baby Bjorn carrier the whole time, letting out little squeaks, moans, and yawns periodically just so everyone around me knew that I was bearing a precious little bundle. We bought a big stack of kids' books, from Dr. Seuss to one about a dragon librarian, as well as a few books for ourselves, and a ton of people stopped us to comment on how beautiful Ella is. One very nice older woman pointed out to me what a good start Ella was getting, at the library before she was a month old. She even asked whether we'd gotten her her own card yet. She may not have a library card but she does have enough books to fill up a small bookshelf of her very own once we get home.

After we were finished at the book sale, we went to go buy her a few toys. Since the store hadn't opened yet, we poked into Barnes & Noble to browse around for fifteen minutes while we waited. Ella woke up and was really hungry, so Catherine found a quite little corner in the back of the store, in the childrens' books section actually, and started feeding her. Ella ate for a short time and then let out a very loud, wet, explosive poop which somehow zoomed right by her diaper, missed getting on her overalls almost completely, and shot down her leg and into Catherine's lap. I took Ella and headed for the bathroom to change her diaper, but didn't see a changing table in the men's room, so I came back to get Catherine to take her. While Catherine was changing her I realized there was a table in the men's room, but it was back in the handicapped stall & someone had been there. If I'd waited a minute I could have changed her.

Luckily, we had a change of clothes for Ella in the diaper bag, but Catherine hadn't brought a second outfit for herself. After Catherine changed her & spent some time trying to clean herself up, we sat in the hallway outside the bathroom and Catherine finished feeding Ella. Then we went and got a really cool peek-a-boo rattle and a toy set that attached to the carseat and headed home. We still have some logistics to figure out, but I'd say that all-in-all our first real outing was a success.