Don't Get Frustrated.

Oh, this child is a piece of work! A wonderful, cute piece of work I should say - but exhausting none the less. If only I could let her stay awake all day life would be easier. However, we've tried just letting her stay up and we've tried doing whatever it takes for however long to get her to close her eyes, and I must say - I would rather just put in the time and get her to sleep then let her stay up and deal with the consequences later.

Don't get frustrated. Easier said than done, my friends. And that phrase is now a running joke in the Proebsting household. I actually remember the first time it was said. Leah was frantically trying to eat, not understanding she just needed to calm.down. I was sweating and frustrated. Kyle, as well meaning as ever, looks at me and says, "try not to get frustrated." I glared at him. It's one thing to say it when you're looking from afar. I learned that as I watched him becoming increasingly frustrated as he was going on an hour of trying to get her to even relax her eyes. Out of my mouth rolled, "don't get frustrated." And I got glared at. I think it's safe to say we both get it now. It is frustrating, and we are entitled to get frustrated. Now we use it as a joke, and it does lighten the mood, so for that I'm thankful. What a little pill she is.

I think we've started to get a little bit of a handle on her. Maybe. Minus the evening hours, she's not all that hard. She just hates to fall asleep. We've figured out some things that work and some things that don't. Some things work for Kyle and don't work at all for me and vise versa. If it wasn't as exhausting as it is, it would be kinda fun to play this trial and error game. It is very rewarding when we find something that works. For instance, I have had great success with her falling asleep on my chest. Probably because I smell like food to her. Kyle, however, has tried it and all she wants to do is tummy time on his chest. He has great success putting her on her side; she screams when I do it. Rocking her works better for me, bouncing her works better for him. I don't know what it is, or why she does some things for one of us and not the other, but I'm sure glad there are two of us! There are some things that don't work for either of us, though. One being the swing. She hates it. Today she actually screamed when I put her in it, neat. Anyone want a brand new swing? She also can't just lay by herself to fall asleep. She just plays with her hands and looks around. With all the work it takes to get her to sleep, once she actually falls asleep she is a great sleeper! She is sleeping in five and sometimes six hour stretches at night! For that I will always be grateful.

Leah is going to be three weeks old in two days! I feel like all I do is count in weeks. 40 weeks of pregnancy, and now it starts all over again. When do the weeks stop? But, being the big girl that she is, she has experienced some firsts this week. The first and most exciting being a bath! Oh my goodness, she loved it. I was a little nervous. I still remember my nieces first bath... it did not go well. But Leah calmly took it in for a few minutes and then starting moving and kicking around. I wish she could have one everyday, we had as much fun as she did. And it calmed her down, something not easily done at night. She experienced her first drive to get her to fall asleep. She got way to tired and entered the frantic stage and we were obviously getting nowhere with her. So we loaded up the car and drove around. We came home with a sleeping Leah, mission accomplished. She now has a bedtime. Whether or not she actually falls asleep, (sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't), we are upstairs eating a bedtime snack at 7/730, getting PJs on, reading a story, and saying prayers. And if all goes smoothly, she is in bed by eight. This bedtime means all three Proebstings have to be home by 7, but what did we have to do anyways? We are determined to get it to work. Being three weeks old means she gets a little more time to be awake. I'm not in such a rush to get her back to sleep, although I know when she yawns I have limited time. We play for a few minutes before she eats, and she gets to practice some tummy time. And I've broken out her black and white books! She is also officially out of newborn clothes. She's growing like a weed, so we broke out the three month stuff. We try not to think of the fact that she wore her newborn stuff for a total of two weeks. Three weeks is exciting, but I really can't get over the fact that she will be a month old in a week!

Her mama also had some firsts this week. I drove myself to the grocery store (across the street). After not driving for three weeks, it was actually really weird. I also left her for the first time on that outing! Don't worry, she was asleep and with Kyle (I'm still nowhere near ready for a babysitter). All fifteen minutes I was at the store I felt like I left my arm at home. I kinda don't know what to do without her. Also on this trip I learned something sad. I can't park in the expectant mother parking spot anymore. Rats. I also gave up the snoogle for a real pillow. It was a little sad, but I really wanted to try sleeping on my stomach again! It was a little painful as much incision is still really tender, but it felt so.good. Even with the pain. I bought lunch meat for the first time in 42 weeks. And I didn't have to worry about heating it up. I'm so happy to have sandwiches back in my diet! Jimmy Johns, I'm coming for you.

We had a doctors appointment today. Yes, still. And it was weird for a number of reasons. 1) Leah was there in a car seat and not in my belly. 2) I didn't have to pee in a cup 3) They didn't check for her heartbeat. Which kind of made me sad. 4) I realized that it was three weeks ago today we were in that office and learned we would be going to have her. And this last thing wasn't weird, but wonderful: I had to get on the scale. Drumroll please... I only have three pounds to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight! I give all credit to Leah and her round the clock needs that leave me forgetting to eat. But all in all, the appointment was good. My incision was good. I learned I can drive, but I can still not lift her and her car seat, thus making driving almost irrelevant. At least during the day. I go back in another month, and then I think after that I'm actually done for a whole year! Given there are no more baby Proebstings in the mix...

So here we sit. She is work. She is exhausting. But she is still fun. And cute. And we have so many good moments and laughs throughout the day - they make it all worthwhile. She smiles as she's falling asleep and my heart melts. She wakes up bright eyed every morning, and it reminds me that life is so much better with her here. She turns her head to look when she hears us talking; I love watching her figure out her new world. She watches Kathy Lee and Hoda as well as Ellen with me everyday - and she makes those shows just that much better.Stay tuned for the next blog, she gives me a little more to write about everyday.

In the meantime, anyone want a swing?