Heléna: Six Weeks On

Well, here we are at one of the first milestones of newbornhood. Six weeks! Baby H, as she's sometimes known around here, is growing like a weed, smiling, and threatening to coo and giggle any day now.

She's working out her nighttime sleep (usually a solid five hours followed by a feed, and then from two to three hours until the fussing starts). Her mornings are generally rough, and we aren't sure why -- gas? reflux? just not a morning person? She tends to sleep well during the day if she's on the move -- in the sling, in her swing, or in the buggy. Yesterday she accompanied me to my six-week postnatal checkup in central London. I carried her in the Baby Bjorn and she slept almost the whole time (from 10:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., waking twice to eat). But when we're hanging around at home, it's hard to get more than a 30-minute nap.

As most people know, it's been five years since we've had a baby in our house. Things one forgets:

• How tiny they start out. Amazing that a fully gestated human being can weigh less than seven pounds.


• How quickly they grow. Our 6.5-pound baby has increased her weight by nearly 40%. She is now over 9 pounds and appears to be storing nuts in her cheeks for the winter.


• How lack of sleep can turn one's brain to mush. It seems I can't remember anything unless it's written down, and in conversation I'm constantly searching for names, details, or the next word that belongs in my sentence.


• How much laundry there is to do!!


• How physically demanding it is to take care of a tiny person, day and night.


• How important it is to have help with cleaning, cooking, and shopping during the early weeks. And I'm learning how valuable our local friends are, for helping me care for Natalia while Monte is out of town.


• How empowering it feels to take a shower, put on makeup, dry one's hair, and dress in something other than a nightgown or sweats. (Empowered feeling is more than quadrupled if one can do all this before the baby wakes up.)


• How it seems to take forever to do things that used to take no time at all. If only I had six hands ...


• How a lopsided toothless smile can absolutely make up for the last 30 minutes/hour/entire morning of fussing!

And how's our first baby doing? Big Sister Natalia is performing brilliantly in her new role. She helps with diaper changes, she runs and fetches things that I need, she entertains herself when necessary, and she is so loving and tender to Heléna. She pats her head, combs her hair, helps me wash her little feet, and talks to her and smiles at her when she's fussy.

Yesterday as we were walking to a friend's house, I mentioned that I'd forgotten something because I was still adjusting to having two children, and Natalia said, "You're doing a great job taking care of two kids, Mum." :-)

I'm working on posting recent photos to the April/May sets on Flickr. Keep checking the links above left. It might take me six more weeks ... !