Too Easy

I have been feeling a bit guilty this week because our experience with Isabella has been so easy.  Crazy talk, right? 

I mean, she did reject Jon for two whole days earlier this month  That was tough.

She did have a couple of rough nights at that same time, nights where she would wake up clutching us and sobbing, requiring lots of calming.  That was sad.

But that was just two days and two nights out of the past fifty-plus. 

Otherwise, it has been the normal adjustment to having a new baby in the house.  We never get enough sleep.  Although Isabella technically sleeps through the night, the binkie must be popped back in about every hour.  Sometimes she wakes up and pats us, whether to remind us that she loves us or just to make sure that we're still there, I'm not sure - it wakes me up every time either way, and every time it makes me happy when I look over at her and see that adoring "I-love-you-so-much-mommy" look. 

I can tell you the one time in 2011 that I have driven down the road without having kids with me.

We are still playing Christmas music in the car because that seems to be Isabella's favorite, when she isn't sobbing to be let out of her car seat.   I like Christmas music.

My body feels like it is permanently lop-sided from carrying her on my hip almost every waking moment.  I have convinced myself that it counts as a workout.

When she is not attached to me, she must be right next to me.  Isabella is sitting on the couch pressed up against me now.  She keeps me warm. 

This is one of the few times that I am able to type with both hands. If I am not holding her, naps last about 20 minutes.

Seriously though, if the hardest part of my day is rocking Isabella instead of doing housework, well... this whole baby thing is pretty darn easy.

We even managed to go outside and build a snowman today:

The evergreen branch was my sad attempt at artistic-ness.  I try...

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to hold Isabella while rolling snow, so she had to sit for five minutes without my arm around her.  She did not hold back in expressing her feelings about my failures:

Poor baby.  Seven weeks ago she was lounging outside in 80-degree Ethiopian sunshine... today, this is her view: