another day in ... paradise?

Guess where I've been. Yep, mommyville. My paradise. It's tough and the best thing ever all rolled into one. She has been more of a challenge then I had anticipated, yet we say daily that she's the greatest. But really, who is fully prepared? It's one of those things that you just don't understand until you're in it. Tomorrow, I'll be taking her picture in her rocker again. For the third time. First as a newborn, then at one month, and tomorrow will mark the two month milestone. How did that happen? That's exactly why I'm trying to take this enormous challenge of caring for her in stride. Because time is going to fly. I'm already experiencing it.

Around 3 weeks of age, Berkeley started to become a very fussy baby. People started to label her as "colicky". So we just thought we had to ride out this phase and started to just keep her to ourselves. Social situations, church events and passing her around at family gatherings would have to be put on hold. We put her rest, comfort and happiness above all else. In the meantime, I was eating anything and everything, totally aware of the possibility that it could be affecting her. I was a little bit in denial and just kept telling myself that her behavior was colic. Unexplainable fussiness, right? As a few weeks went by, she started showing other symptoms and on Thanksgiving Day, we decided it was time for me to make drastic changes to my diet. Yep, you got it. I went through the festivities without consuming a single slice of pie. Or many other staples of the day. I ate turkey and sweet potatoes. And even worse, I will go through Christmas without an ounce of fudge or any other Christmas treat. Fast forward three weeks later and she has shown much improvement. But she still isn't the kind of baby that will just smile and sleep for everyone as we pass her around. She is comforted by the two of us. We are the only ones who know how to soothe her. It's something people don't understand and I wish they did. Above all of this though, I am so enjoying my one-on-one time with her. Fortunately and unfortunately, this will be short lived. And I hope I am creating an unbreakable bond with my girl. And same goes for John. She just adores her daddy already.