Phew! Parenting is not easy...well of course we didn't think it would be but no amount of studying and taking advice can truly prepare you for parenthood!
Ezra is growing like crazy of course. She's no longer the little 6 pounder we brought home. These last three months have flown by! She holds her head up high...in fact I don't remember a time when she didn't hold her head up. I don't think I was ever able to put her on her belly flat. She would automatically lift her head. She can roll from her belly to her back, though I don't think she does it on purpose as much as just flops over when she loses her balance. When on her belly she kicks her feet, ready to move! I think she will be one happy baby when she learns how to crawl.
One difficulty has been sleep. Not night sleeping, for Ezra is usually in bed by 7 or 7:30 and I don't see her again until 4am. Our problem is daytime sleeping. For some reason unknown to me for quite a while, Ezra would not sleep well during the day. She would only take 3 maybe 4 half hour naps a day. This wouldn't bother me if she were rested and happy but she wasn't. She would get crankier and crankier throughout the day until she was absolutely inconsolable. It wasn't until yesterday that I learned she's actually colicky. I have been using Dr. Marc Weissbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." I highly recommend this book. It was given to me by a couple down here who take in foster kids and say that this book has saved their lives with every kid who has been with them. I had been reading this book and using the advice from the main section about babies Ezra's age but she was not able to sleep well during the day (though she did get a little better with naps getting up to one hour). Finally yesterday I realized I had skipped over the section on colicky babies telling myself that Ezra wasn't colicky. But when I gave in and read that chapter in desperation to find some sort of solution, I found myself reading the signs of colic and saying "Yep, that's Ezra." over and over again.
This has been a huge relief to know that the problem is just colic and not me doing something wrong. It's great to know that this will probably wear off in another month or two. This is also the reason I have not been able to return to work until now. She was so sporadic with her sleeping, eating, and fussiness, that I didn't know when would be a good time of day to spend in the office. However, with Ezra's naps beginning to take an hour, though still sporadic on when they occurred; my upline and I decided that I would begin doing some of my work tasks again online from home. We have had one other person join our department so some of the tasks that were previously mine will now go to her and I will take on about half or so of what I was doing before, along with maybe a small project here and there.
I LOVE being a mother! And I love that I am still able to contribute to NMSI and the work they do around the world.
Exciting News!!! The three of us will be making our first trip north since Ezra was born at the end of next month! We will start our time in Michigan as Joe is to be a groomsman in a wedding in Kalamazoo. We will then make our way to my parents' place in Iowa and stay there for a week. Independence Day and the days surrounding it will be time for Joe's family to meet Ezra. We will then spend about a week in the Maryville/ St. Joe area until we leave sometime around July 11th.
Can't wait to see as many of you as we can!
PLEASE PRAY FOR US AS WE TRAVEL SEVERAL HOURS BY PLANE AND CAR WITH A 4 MONTH OLD! I'm rather nervous!
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