Couch Potato Mom

How do I pass the time when I'm feeding Penelope for sometimes eight hours a day - at all hours of the day and night?

I have been listening to every current episode of Pod Save America, in addition to the Ted Talks podcast, and a few others. I've started watching Atlanta, and I still get my The Walking Dead zombie fix each week. I've re-watched a lot of old favorite movies on Netflix, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Wet Hot American Summer, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Now that it's the end of the month, I'm counting down until they rotate and add some new stuff. I've also been re-reading 1984, which I am most of the way through. Sometimes I pick a musical theme and just play a bunch of songs within the theme. And then I play some words - I'm one of the few people still playing Words with Friends after all these years. I also enjoy gazing at Penelope in all her cuteness, and talking to her, but my neck gets pretty sore if I do that too much.

This week we have been a little more social again. We were mildly social in the last few weeks, but it was mainly with some friends who would stop by for a short visit to see Penelope for the first time and hold her, and/or bring us food or small gifts. That was nice, but now things are past that initial new baby haze and kind of getting back to normal - our new normal. Last night we had a game night with two of our friends, and we just had to juggle Penelope and I had to take two breaks to feed her and eventually put her down to sleep. Today was really nice because I got to go out to brunch in the neighborhood with a friend - we both had our little ones strapped to us and ate delicious pancakes with strawberries and mascarpone. It's nice to start making social plans again after a hiatus. It's kind of a testing phase to see what we can do with Penny and how long we are able to have people over or go out, but it's good what we can do stuff even if it is only for a few hours here or there. We are looking forward to her becoming more aware of her surroundings, she can start enjoying things we do too.

Maybe She's Dreaming of Roller Coasters

Our little Houdini loves to get her hands up whenever she can, despite being swaddled. I took the above photo in the middle of the night when I unswaddled her - this is always the first thing she does, with a dramatic stretch and an exaggerated "MMMNNnnggg!!!". 

3.2kg

Penelope was weighed today and she's actually about 3.2kg now. That means she now weighs about half a kilo more than she did at birth (after going down about 6% of her birth weight, which is within the normal range of what happens in the first few days). They also checked her length and she has grown 4cm since being born less than three weeks ago. When you think about that amount of growth, and the percentage of what that is to what she was, that's kind of crazy. 

Some days are relatively easy and some days are tough, depending on how needy Penelope's acting - how often she's feeding and how long for, how fussy she's feeling if she hasn't slept in several hours or sleeping really well, how much help I have from Michael or friends, etc. It's a crap shoot. For about the first two months, I'm told, she won't really follow a consistent schedule. 

Today was a good day, after yesterday being more challenging. Michael worked from home, so even though he was preoccupied doing work for most of the day, he could take care of her for a few minutes here or there if I needed to do something. I was also able to cook two tortilla Espanolas while Penelope was sleeping, and while Michael was on a work call. Then we were able to eat at the same time too, which was kind of a small miracle. Often, PJ is awake around dinner and we have to tag team cooking and eating.

I'm okay with all of it being a crap shoot for now (it's easy to say after one of the good days). This face is worth it.

Back to Work for Michael

Michael went back to work today. He's enjoyed being home, but I think he's also relatively content to go back. He should be able to work from home some days, so it will be nice to still have him around whenever I can get the extra pair of hands, which I will never pass up.

Penelope was a little fussy yesterday and part of last night, which actually made her sleep extra during the day. So, I have been lucky enough to be able to get a nap and do some cleaning around the apartment. Sometimes, it's the little accomplishments. 

Pen is also getting noticeably heavier and a tiny bit bigger, slowly but surely. It's a good thing because she needed a little more meat on her bones, but It's kind of bittersweet since she will never be this small again. 

RIP Stephen Hawking

Week 2

Yesterday was the day Penelope was actually due to be born. Michael's paternity leave is coming to an end at the end of this week. At least two weeks is something, but it's not a very long time. Michael will still have some flexible days where he can take off or work from home.

Penelope grows a tiny bit bigger every day, and is slowly able to go longer between feeds. She continues to get more used to night and day, and is starting to wake up less at night. It's sometimes tiring for me, having a strange sleeping schedule - a few hours here and a few hours there - but it's actually better than I was sleeping at the end of my pregnancy. At this point, I've seen most of the Netflix movies that are worth seeing, I've been catching up on lots of podcasts, and still slowly rereading 1984 when I'm glued to the couch. Michael is sleeping almost normally through the night - I only rarely need to wake him up for help, since he can't give Penny a bottle yet. In the morning, he takes over when she is more awake and I get a few more hours. 

We have had quite a few visitors, but I think things are going to calm down by the end of the week until a month from now, when my parents will be visiting. Mike's parents will be here shortly after that. 

We are used to having more going on on a daily and weekly basis, and more upcoming plans on weekends. Now, we pretty much have one "big" thing for the day, whether it's a visitor or an errand or whatever. Once I'm more healed and Penelope has had her six week doctor appointment (when she gets the rest of the vaccines she needs for now), we will be able to venture out with her more and more. 

Week 1

I have officially registered Penelope with NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, so she officially is a real person.

Michael and I have survived our first week as parents to an infant. We continue to find Penelope super cute bundle of joy. Michael has downloaded the BabySparks app, so he has fun doing little "exercises" with Penelope everyday. 

The cats have adjusted to her very nicely and haven't had any issues. If anything, Eve seems to like her, since when I'm feeding Penelope, Eve is guaranteed some petting if she comes and sits nearby. We don't always get as much uninterrupted sleep as we'd like, but that's okay. We seem to get enough most days so far, even if it's in the form of a lot of naps. The apartment hasn't descended into total chaos and clutter yet. We've had a handful of visitors and friends who've helped out, which has been nice. We facetime family a little more than usual, and it's been nice having Michael have time off work. 

The hardest part of the whole thing so far has been just physically healing from having her, and that is slowly getting better. If you have your baby at a New South Wales public hospital and leave within 72 hours without any major complications for bub or mum, you get three home visits from a midwife from the hospital in the following days. I'm very grateful I could go home after 48 hours, and the midwife visits were tremendously helpful. 

And so begins week two of us getting to know this tiny human. We are looking forward to her getting a little more used to night and day as time goes on, rather than just feeding and sleeping whenever.

Welcoming Penelope Jean Chirlin!

Penelope Jean Chirlin was born on March 1, 2018 at a length of 47 centimeters (18.5 inches) and 2.77 kg (6 lbs. 1 oz.). So far, she seems to have a content temperament, and the cats have adjusted well to her presence. We are obviously incredibly biased, but we think she's super cute. More info about her and pics to come!