Forever Changed

Elodie Shannon arrived at 7:31 a.m. on January 16th, the morning following my last post.  She was 7 lbs, 1 oz and 20.5 inches long.  Thank goodness I listened to my gut and did not let JG stay in Ishpeming.  She arrived quickly and is more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. 

The last few days have been pretty crazy, adjusting to life with a newborn and all.  Elodie seems to have her days and nights mixed up.  O.K., that was being modest, she ABSOLUTELY has her days and nights mixed up.  She sleeps most of the afternoon and early evening but is awake ALL NIGHT.  Her total sleep time at  night can max out at 15 minutes.  Her record breaker thus far was 2 hours.  If she was even asleep at that point in time (not sure because I was), considering I woke up to her hitting me in the face with her little hands. Solid, I know. I love her to the end of the earth and back but am feeling pretty delirious.  While we were at the hospital I picked her up from the nursery one morning and thought to myself, "hmmm, I wonder why they gave her a pacifier after I said not to and why she is the only baby with one in?" NOW I KNOW WHY:)  I actually wrote "Toilet Petroleum" on JG's shopping list the other night.  Then when he and his friend questioned me about it, I supposedly became upset and defended it.  I have zero recollection of writing that (it was supposed to be petroleum cream and toilet paper) or insisting it was an actual item to purchase. 

So I pretty much stare at Elodie ALL DAY because it melts my heart to do so and spend all night pacing the house (my feet are throbbing) trying to get her to sleep and stop fussing.  Oh, and she never.ever.ever. lets us put her down. Not in a seat, rocker, bassinet, crib, on a couch, vibrating chair, nothing.  If we try, she screams bloody murder and then takes forever to calm down.  I have been letting JG sleep all night given that it was clear to me after the hospital ordeal that two of us being sleep deprived was much worse than one of us.  So I typically sleep for a few hours around 8:00 a.m. and a few hours around 9:00 p.m., but that was not happening tonight since we had company over.  I did have to wake JG up for 15 minutes in the middle of the  night once when she had been screaming for hours and I needed a tiny break so I didn't push my head through a wall intentionally.  

But we are so blessed and lucky to have her as our daughter.  We have never been happier and I never knew I could love this way.  It truly is an amazing feeling. I can't stop kissing her little face and cuddling her.  P.S. pretty sure that I had no idea what motherhood was like when I wrote my list of new years resolution.  It should have had one goal on it: brush my teeth and put on deoderant by 5 p.m.  Period.