Our amazing bodies

 By "our" I mean all women everywhere.  Being pregnant, and then recovering from giving birth, has given me a whole new appreciation for God's design of our bodies.  First of all, I grew a human inside of me.  A whole new person.  Who would have guessed that this:

could come out of this:

Whoa.

Second, after that seemingly impossible feat occurred, I never could have imagined how quickly my body would start to feel like my body again.  Mostly because I gained a lot of weight while I was pregnant.  A lot.  Like 45 pounds, which is exactly 10 lbs more than is "recommended" for women of average BMI before pregnancy.  I was a whale.

The amazing thing is that within two weeks, 25 of those pounds went away (well, 9 lbs came out as a baby, but you get my point), and a little more goes away every day.

Thirdly, my beautiful (big) girl is getting bigger every day eating only the food my body produces.  What an amazing system!

God really knew what he was doing when he designed women's bodies, and I have never appreciated that more than I do now!

Don't cry over spilled milk

I was prepared for certain things required when caring for a newborn.  I knew how to change her diaper (although I'll admit there are waaaay more diapers than I ever imagined, and sometimes they come in faster succession than I thought possible), I knew how to carry her while supporting her head, and I knew sometimes she would cry and we'd have to figure out how to soothe her.

Breastfeeding was a total mystery.  Honestly, Hannah is the expert and I just provide the equipment.  I prepared as best I could - took the class, did the reading, bought the supplies - but there is one thing I didn't prepare for.

I am constantly covered in milk.

Maybe my girl is a messy eater, but between her dripping, me leaking, and her spitting up, I am finding milk to be a new part of my wardrobe 24/7.  Some times are worse than others - once she spat milk in my face, and then I repaid the favor by spraying her before she could get her mouth open (not on purpose of course...at least not consciously).

I have started using multiple burp cloths more like drop cloths covering me and her and whatever piece of furniture we are sitting on, because if I don't, there will be milk.  If anyone has a better way, please, tell me.  My washing machine will thank you.

So we had a baby...

Sometimes I still can't believe it.  Sometimes I still look at her and think, where did you come from little one?  Sometimes it feels so overwhelming - this tiny person completely relying on us for her most basic needs and knowing that our lives have changed so dramatically.  It's a lot to process, and all on less sleep and more hormones than ever.

I look at her and I can't even imagine her getting bigger.  I know she will - she's already outgrown her newborn PJs - but I can't picture it.  Her life is a blank canvas of sorts, and anything could happen.  She could be a dancer or a book worm or a pianist or a world traveler or (gulp) a thrower.  She could look like me, or like Alex, or (I hope) some beautiful combination unique to her.  What kind of music will she like?  What football team will she cheer for, or will she even care about football at all?  What will her laugh sound like?

All of this amazes me, that God would use us to bring a whole new life into the world - a new soul with new dreams and new talents and God already knows.  He knows everything about her, because he made her and he already loves her so much.  And he's given us the task of teaching her about the world, about God and love and how to be a good friend...it's a big job.

There are so many moments to treasure, like this morning, snuggling together, listening to the silly noises she makes when she sleeps, watching her learn to smile and getting glimpses of her personality to come (I know they're not real smiles yet...but they will be soon!).  And she's only 2 weeks old.

My mom said that when I was born, and they first put me on her chest, she looked at me and saw this tiny person she felt like she already knew.  I didn't really feel that way - this little girl and I are still getting to know each other, and every day we learn something new.  What an incredible gift.

P.S. I am going to keep posting to both blogs - this one will be more like a journal and the other will be more like a virtual baby book for everyone to enjoy :)