Q1 review?

It's one thing to read about stuff in books or hear about other mothers' experiences, and another to experience them for myself. So here are my Top 10 things I learned this past quarter. No apologies for sounding plagiaristic either as I'm sure millions of mommies out there would be familiar with these:

1. Babies are multitaskers
Leah has a never-fail-to-amaze-me ability to wee, poo and eat all at once...even in the same breath sometimes. There's an amusing take on an all too familiar sitch on the email circuit called Splish Splash but I can't upload the powerpoint presentation onto this blog.

2. I can survive on 2-3 hour blocks of sleep per day for months at a time!
There is no need for uppers or amphetamines when the reason for getting out of bed is wailing her head off in Defcon 3, and I'm worrying that she's not getting enough nutrition or that my breastmilk supply will taper off if I don't feed her regularly.

3. I can experience joy, fear, frustration and tiredness all at the same time too.
(See #2 as example situation)

4. Cloth diapers contain runny poo better than disposables
I think it is because most disposable diapers don't have enough gathers at the back which allows breastfed poo to trickle or ooze out. I have now learned not to put Leah in a horizontal position when she's wearing disposables and nursing (see #1 above): it's not pleasant to feel warm stickiness ooze onto my hands.

5. Baby girls can wee just like baby boys
Leah can pee with the best of the boys as we found out to the detriment of our parquet flooring and bookshelves. Maybe it is the pressure and angle, but she has described perfect parabolic arcs a few times. Once even hitting her mark: her daddy's right eye. This fountain of wee then usually splashes on the floor, the bed, and if a bookshelf is nearby, then sometimes our books.

6. To treasure every minute, every day
Leah is growing so fast that I sometimes catch myself wondering what's happened to the little premmie with the Elvis backcomb. Her face is changing, her vocal range expanding (now I know babies really do go "ga" and "goo") and her appetite is bigger too!
What is scary though is that I have no clear memories of nursing Leah in the first 2 months: none at all of what she looked like in my arms as I nursed her. Perhaps all the sleep deprivation has made huge gaps in my memory. Perhaps the business of coping day to day with regular feeds, nappy changing, laundry, my own mood swings et al, has left little room in the brain for storing those precious moments. But I feel so bereft!
Now I consciously try to remember her looks, her feel, her sounds when I nurse her...in order that I may remember what she was like in future. Plus I'm now taking pictures of her every week as a reference.

7. Breastfed poo smells
I have been misled by all the books and parenting websites! Contrary to what they say (that bf poo is not smelly; some even allege that it's sweet smelling!), Leah's poo smells. Okay, so it isn't as maladorous as adult poo but still, it ain't eau de Chanel.
And she farts: from silent lethal ones to loud poppers. Not very ladylike (takes after her mommy -- haha!).

8. Every child is different
It is often inescapable to start comparing babies, but I have tried to stay calm and not worry about whether Leah has begun grasping things or turned over etc yet. She seems to want to sleep more than some other babies and it can be a bit embarrassing and disheartening to have her fall asleep (and snore) during mommy & baby yoga classes (while the other bubs are happily cooing and responding to their mommies), but hey, I just have to accept it and maybe appreciate this now when she's placid as later it may be pretty hard trying to catch up with her while she toddles.

9. Leah sets her own routine
I don't know if she truly has reflux, but her 'colic' period has been extraordinarily long: from week 3 to now at 3.5 months! She's a perfect little angel during the day (although there are occasions when she does cry when I try to nurse her, but I think it is due to my fast milk let-down) but she turns into Ms Hyde in the evenings.
Thus, it has been near impossible implementing whatever Gina Ford or Baby Whisperer type routine for the evenings when she just won't nurse, arching her back to wail and wail. I don't nurse her by 'demand' but try to keep to regular intervals of 2.5-3 hours between feeds so that she has time to digest the milk, which I hoped would help with reflux: she seems to exhibit reflux signs such as excessive spit ups and drool and crying when nursing at night.
The trouble is convincing her doctor to do something about it!

10. Patience!
Alright, so I'm still not the most patient person in the world (by a looooong shot as my husband will testify) but when it comes to Leah, I think I have mellowed (if I say so myself!). There are the couple of occasions when I have screamed into pillows pleading with her to shut up (during particularly bad 'colicky' spells when I was dead tired in the late evenings) but generally, Leah has taught me to slow down and to go at her pace. And when she finally rewards me with a genuine gummy smile, it makes the weeks of grinning like a mad hyena to her all worth while.

It is actually difficult trying to think up 10 specific 'lessons' from these past months: I do suffer from brain damage and can't seem to think coherently these days. But the above list is not the end of it. Leah is still teaching hubby and me a lot of things. (We just can't articulate them?) But I guess the most important of all: it is possible to love somebody without expecting anything back.