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2 weeks old and thriving

2 weeks old and thriving

I'm surfacing for air!

Well, I'm getting a blog post done, which is a huge feat as far as I'm concerned. The husband and I are still in survival mode. I'm sure most of you with kids can relate. We get a kick out of people who tell us how much they love newborns. They want more newborns. If only their kids could stay newborn forever. Newborns! And we chuckle to ourselves, Are we doing something wrong? Because she is a whole lot of work.

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Of course, we're not doing anything wrong. Things are going really well, in fact.

Baby Elle is just over 2 weeks old and is thriving. At her two week checkup the doctor informed us she put on a bunch of weight (born at 6 lbs 3 oz and is now 6 lbs 14 oz). Normally, they just want to see that your baby still weighs the same by 2 weeks, and hasn't lost weight. So getting only an hour of sleep here and there in between those 2 hour feedings is paying off. And I'm now able to stretch it to 3 hours at night. It's nice to get the validation of Baby Elle's weight gain since Baby Elle can't really tell us herself how she's doing.

She is a joy when she's not fussy, and she is heart-breakingly cute even when she is.

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The husband and I marvel at her little features, her chubby cheeks, those long fingers, her little baby bum. She likes it when I sing, even though I'm tone deaf. I sing to the Geico commercials, I sing Christmas carols, I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star about 30 times a day, and recently I've just started singing complete nonsense. Baby Elle doesn't care. And she likes daddy to hold her over his shoulder. She could probably stay there all day. She looks to his voice and even holds her head up when she's laying on him.

And we're learning about her, too. We're getting to know what she likes, and more importantly, what she dislikes, and I've quickly become unapologetically fearless about putting fences around well-intentioned folks who will push things too fast for this tiny human who is basically a paycheck old. The husband and I are the parents. The decisions we make together are what counts.

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We've also learned how to ignore navigate people telling us we're doing it wrong, that's not how they did it with their kids, why aren't we doing it this way... that sort of thing. Not the nice sharing of opinions, mind you.. which I enjoy, but the other kind-- where people feel a compelling need to save you from your own bad parenting that will clearly lead to teen delinquency and a poorly-adjusted adult. Note to self: NEVER do that to my friends when they have their kids. Offer advice when asked. Butt out otherwise. So simple.

Let me leave you with this: the best bit of advice I've gotten from so many of you either on this blog, or via email, or on twitter (http://twitter.com/StephStricklen); something that the husband and I have made a conscious effort to do:

Take every day for what it is.

Enjoy her when she's this small no matter how tired we are because she will grow so fast if we blink we'll miss it.

Slow down.

Be a family.

Thank you for that advice. This little family is doing really well.

Big hugs to you all, Steph

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