katie, ben, lucy and cora

Cora is now 6 days old (Ben would announce this to you if you were standing near him as his watch beeps at exactly 2:32 pm).  So far…it has been a night and day difference between her and Lucy as infants.  I love Lucy to death, and would not change a bit of history with her.  However….she was not an “easy” baby.  She was a challenging baby – with GERD, colic, and the fact that she NEVER slept.  Ben and I remember very clearly how we had to take turns on bouncing her on the exercise ball to give her comfort.  Rarely did we have those moments of staring into the bassinet and admiring our “content, sleeping baby.”  Don’t get me wrong.  We admired our new bundle of joy.  She’s a rockin’ kid…not that we’re biased.  But we had our many hardships when she was itty-bitty.  But I think we’re better, more patient, stronger parents because of it.  She taught us well!

Cora, on the other hand, is very different.  She does not seem to have colic moods.  She keeps almost all of her food down – minus the milk she sneezes through her little nose on occasion (now that’s cute!).  And she actually sleeps!  In fact, last night was the best night yet.  I have my tricks that I learned with Lucy that are starting to come back to me – we co-slept a lot for that first month or two.  Hey…a parent does what they need to in order to survive.  Don’t judge.  But, Cora actually slept for 6 hours last night, only waking once to feed.  It’s a miracle!

So, all in all, Ben and I are thrilled that Cora has been so easy going.  We know that at any point, this could change.  But we are going to enjoy it while we can, day by day.  We are starting to get into a bit of a routine around here.  Both grandmothers have been a huge help – making dinners for us that we can keep in the the fridge and heat when the time is right, and helping to take Lucy to and from school.  Ben, Cora and I have small, slow, daily walks with the dogs, weather permitting.  Hopefully in another week or so, my body will be getting back to normal and I’ll be able to keep up better with daily life around here.

Ben has also been fantastic as a husband and father.  So, I have to gush about him for a moment.  First of all, he has been amazing since we got home.  He’s wonderful with Cora, gives extra attention to Lucy, helps with morning and nighttime routines, and forces me to take it easy (which is a difficult task – I’m a smidge stubborn in that area).  He was awesome in the hospital too – best coach I could have had.  He said all the right, encouraging things, reminded me of my breathing when I needed it most, and let me practically rip his jacket into peices when the contractions were at their worst.  Even sweeter….the next day, after Cora had arrived, he gave me this cute pair of earrings – amethysts – the birth stone for February.  Some people might say, “Oh, he gave you a ‘Push Gift’.”  Honestly, until about a year ago, we had no idea what a “Push Gift” was.  And quite frankly, I know for a fact that Ben was not thinking about a “Push Gift” when he bought these earrings.  He’s simple – he was just thinking, “Gee, I’d like to do something nice for Kate after having a baby…my baby…ripped from her loins.”  That’s Ben for ya….which makes the sentiment that much sweeter to me  ;^)