In 2008, I moved away from my family and friends, following the Lord’s leading to live in Kentucky and attend school there. In 2009, I married the most wonderful man in the world. In 2010, Kyle and I welcomed our precious little daughter into the world, Abigail Grace. As we begin 2011, I can’t help but wonder what the Lord has planned for this year.
Becoming a Mommy has been one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever experienced! There are so many highs and so many lows; so many opportunities to trust the Lord and call upon His grace; so many opportunities that I am confronted by my own sin and need of Christ. Parenting is truly sanctifying!
It has been so much fun to watch Kyle become a Daddy and enjoy talking to, holding, rocking, and playing with Abigail. He is a wonderful Daddy and has been an invaluable help to me with her and around our home! Our relationship has grown deeper and been stretched so much as we learn together how to parent. I am so grateful that God has given me such a godly husband!
Our first two weeks home with Abigail we worked through her having acid reflux and screaming/crying when she would spit up. It was so hard to watch our baby cry in pain. We finally discovered the problem: butter. I have been dairy-free for about a year and a half due to my own allergies but have always been able to continue eating butter. Well, Abigail’s little system does not handle it well at all. We are so grateful to have found the main culprit!
Then, when Abigail was about three weeks old she started screaming every night around dinnertime or a little later in the evening. It has continued basically every evening since then. She is now seven weeks old. So for the last month we have spent basically every evening trying to soothe her, calm her, and keep her from crying more. I was pretty sure she had colic, however about a week or two ago we began to realize just how clingy she was and how her personality really plays into her moods at night. We began to notice that she hated to be rocked when fussy, wanted to be held most of the time while awake, and liked to see what was going on around her while being held… which means that she doesn’t like to be cuddled all the time but would rather face out. However, when she is happy, she loves to snuggle, be rocked, coo at us, and smile! Upon realizing a lot of this, we were able to adjust how we handled her at night and her crying, for the most part, is much less. (Of course, this is all contingent on whether or not she naps well during the day too! Ha!)
There have been so many nights, almost every night it seems, that Kyle and I just sit quietly looking at each other, listening to her scream, helpless to help her until she calms down. All we can do is try our best to soothe her and make her happy (plus lots of mylicon and gripe water!). We are so very grateful for the Lord’s sustaining strength and grace during this season of life! We look forward to Abigail moving past this season and being a happy baby every evening.
In that regards, we are so excited at the progress Abigail has made and we really think now that her crying and screaming at night is mainly due to her fighting sleep and sometimes being overly tired. The last three nights we’ve worked to get her to bed about the same time each night and let her sleep in as long as she can in the morning to ensure as much sleep as possible. It’s worked great! I think we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. She is taking a nap in the early evenings now plus going to bed easier.
It is so much fun though to see her so happy and smiley in the mornings! She loves to stare at the fan in our room and smile because of it. She also loves to look at us and listen to us as we change her on her changing table (it seems to be her favorite place in the house!). She is beginning to coo in response to us now. So cute! As she grows more attentive, she is becoming more content to spend a few minutes in her swing, bouncy seat, or pack n play. Yay! This means I get a few minutes each day to get some things accomplished!
Well, here’s a brief update on our last seven weeks… more to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment