i thought i'd try to squeeze some blogging in during the last few minutes of abbey's nap. we'll see how much i can get done before she's awake and ready for more food.

some things:

• i still have a really difficult time thinking of myself as a mom. today i had to reschedule abbey's doctor's appt and i told the receptionist "i have an appt for my daughter next week that i need to reschedule" those words felt so strange coming out my mouth.
• newborns eat constantly. abbey eats every 2-3 hrs (sometimes more frequently) and she eats for about 40 mins to a hour a each time. this means i have about 1.5 hrs between feedings to myself. she does occasionally take long naps-like the one she is on right now is going into the 3rd hour.
• breastfeeding is VERY demanding. fortunately, we haven't struggled with getting it to work-she came out ready to eat! it is just something i do so frequently now. i wasn't expecting it to feel so exhausting. my hope is that it will feel less exhausting as she gets older and doesn't eat as often and i get use to it all.
• baby's make the sweetest facial expressions. i could really just watch her little facial movements all day long. when she's awake she just looks around-staring at at everything so intensely. i just want to kiss her all the time
• while being a new mom is definitely challenging it isn't near as challenging as i was expecting. of course, we are only 1 week in so i'm sure i'll be typing up a different story in a few weeks. it also helps that i always expect the worse!
• while i haven't been completely overwhelmed by mommy-responsibilities, i am definitely feeling the effects of those postpartum hormones you hear so much about. nothing too extreme-it's just every evening around 7 or so i have a nice little emotional breakdown for about 30 mins and then i'm all better. the first few nights we were home i couldn't sleep at all-i was just too anxious and distracted but that's definitely not the case now.
• about 40 times a day i think about how thankful i am to not be pregnant anymore! seriously, i am so happy that phase is over. it will be a very long time (if ever) before i talk myself into doing that again.

today is gregg's first day back at work and my first day all alone with little abbey pants. i'm looking forward to it but i'm sure i'll be so happy to see gregg at 7:30pm. i also can't wait until i can drive again. i'm thinking of braving target alone with abbey on saturday but that depends on the weather. i'm making effort to not take her out unless necessary while it's so chilly and rainy.

so that's my life these days-feed baby, change diaper, feed baby, pray baby sleeps for at least an hour or 2, feed baby, etc. one more final on friday and i'm done until january 14th!