I have an easy baby!

I've had many people tell me that the first baby is always easy, that way you'll have more. It's the second one you have to worry about. I know a few moms who may disagree with that statement, but if it's true for me. . . Number two is going to be a little hellion.

B was pretty easy from day 1. Well. . . once I got her out, at least! First, I was so worried about breastfeeding. After hearing horror story after horror story, I was more than just intimidated. Coming from a family of breast-feeders, I thought, "But what if it doesn't work for me?! They'll think I'm a bad mother!" "What if my milk never comes in? What if she won't latch?" Obviously, it was a little irrational. . . but who said anything was rational about pregnancy? Much to my surprise (and joy), B latched on almost immediately, and breastfeeding seemed to come much more naturally than I anticipated. She was easy.

I also was horrified about how well she would sleep -- or NOT sleep, rather. I pictured myself pacing the floors at all hours of the night with a screaming, tired, restless infant. I never had that special "mommy jiggle", so I imagined that I would be unable to ever soothe my baby. Luckily, Nana was 7 min up the road. . . so I figured if worse came to worse, I could call her when I was in need to the magic baby cha-cha her and my sister seem to have perfected. B surprised me again. I can count all of our really bad nights on one hand. . . and really. . . they weren't even THAT bad. She was never crying inconsolably and was always able to soothe back to sleep rather easily. She was sleeping through the night by the time she was 6 weeks and 2 days old. Of course her sleep took a dramatic dip when she started teething around 5 1/2 months. . . but still. . . it was never nearly as bad as I'd imagined. Once again, she was easy.

She's the most care-free, relaxed, content baby I've ever seen. And did I mention how much this girl loves to smile? Or give kisses? Or laugh? Or share whatever it is she has at the moment? She's happy playing by herself, with other kids, or with any other adult. She warms up very easily to just about anyone. One day, I remember going over to my moms house when she was 8 weeks old. I was just sitting with her on the couch and she fell asleep on her own. No nursing, no rocking, no singing. Just happily sitting there and thought, "Hmmm. . . I'm tired. I think I'll close my eyes and go to sleep." How easy is that?! It was pretty easy to take her over to my sisters house and work on a project. She would play contently on the floor and watch us from afar. And she's still pretty much that way now. Today, we had a shower for my brother and sister-in-law. It was during her nap, so missed her nap and it was over 3 hours past nap time. A few grunts let us know she was tired, and she was perfectly fine letting her Great-Grandma take her and put her to sleep on her shoulder. Easy.

I'm sure that 95% of it is just nature. She's just naturally a really really really good baby. But of course, I'd like to think at least a small part of it is not nature, but NURTURE. Lee and I are blessed on both sides with very loving, nurturing, and caring families. And we feel very strongly that she is loved unconditionally , that all of her needs are met, and I'm being more and more of an attached parent than I ever thought I would be. What I used to view as a very rigid, selfless, exhausting parenting style is now what seems so instinctive and practical to me. So I'd like to think that she's just so happy, so content, so "easy" because she knows she has nothing to worry about. We are there when she needs us, we will give her whatever she needs, but she doesn't ALWAYS need it!

So yeah. . . I feel pretty blessed. I would feel immensely blessed no matter if she was a high needs baby, a baby with special needs, a baby that fussed at me every minute of the day. . . she absolutely the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me and my life will never be the same. Being a mother is amazing.