Clara: 7 weeks

Well, I am doing all the things I swore wouldn't happen with a second child. I've taken fewer pictures, neglected blogging about milestones and feelings etc, and haven't even purchased a baby book. If you saw my house or witnessed just how long it still takes me to leave our house with both girls in tow (or witness how late I am arriving at our destinations), the blog is pretty low on my priority list. Hopefully that won't translate into Clara being less documented later on: I have lots to catching up to do!

I've not kept it a secret that I worried about how I would love a second child as much as our first, especially since Clara is another daughter. The knock-you-down love didn't happen overnight for either of my children, but I've been proven wrong by moms of two who have gone before me. That love DID happen for Clara, just as it did for Adelaide... I'm not sure when it hit me, but boy did it hit hard. She has my entire heart just as Adelaide has my entire heart. This defies laws of mathematics and logic and I'm not sure about physics since I never took it, but it is if there are two pies in one pie chart. My heart is full of pie!

Clara is now 7 weeks but on every outing, someone comments about how she looks like a 4-6 month old. She is over 12 lbs and in the 95% for head, height, and weight. She eats like a champ; unlike her older sister, breastfeeding has been a breeze. Her hair continues to grow - to the point we may need to consider a trim around her ears. I'm afraid she inherited my unmanageable, crazy, frizzy mess of a head genetic make-up, and so far, she hasn't lost any of it.

She sleeps really well too. She takes about 3 naps lasting around 2 hours each and goes on a 6 hour stretch at night. Hallelujah! From about 6-9:30, she struggles, but thankfully isn't fussy, but just a little wired and wants to be held or in the Ergo. Easy-peasy compared the first half year of Adelaide's life. Despite the fact she isn't fussy, she's shown a lot of signs of dairy intolerance, but has thankfully responded to me omitting any milk products from my diet. Her eczema and cradle cap cleared up almost instantly and has better poop, if one can include a superlative beside the word poop (only a mom can have such pride, huh?)...

She has become really consistent with her smiling and cooing and already seems really social. Last night, Ben was holding her while checking his Blackberry and she started fussing. His instinct was to start bouncing to calm her down and I noticed her looking at him straight in the face. I told him that so he looked at her and she immediately started beaming and cooing. She has recently really started paying attention to Adelaide and seems so in awe of her big sister. My heart is happy (and also nervous!) thinking of what these two will get into together.

She's taken on the names Eskimo Cream Pie, Pudgy Bunny, and Clara Petunia Oink Oink (if you went to Blowing Rock Elementary with me, this might be familiar). Ben calls her Turkey and on some occasions, Turkey Bacon (?). With the body image issues Adelaide has already developed (thanks Disney), I realize these names can't stick, but she is simply a heavy, squishy delicious lump of love that I could eat with a spoon.

I love Clara as an individual. But I also love second-time motherhood. I love knowing how to time feedings and naps. The 5 S's didn't require a refresher course. I remembered how to time driving up to a traffic light, and depending on the color, know to proceed in case of an almost-sleeping baby in the backseat. I know that I don't need a pediatrician's blessing or answer for every issue. I'm not worried that I'm a bad mom if to be doing something against a given expert's theory or recommendation. I appreciate that everything we're supposed to be doing as moms was once discouraged, and that the tides will likely someday turn again, so if we can't or don't follow "the rules" to a T, it isn't the end of the world. I love that second-time mommyhood means I get to witness a sisterhood hopefully turn into a friendship. And that I get to do all the phases that I DID enjoy with Adelaide again. I love not hurrying this time away, because I know the difficult times will pass, but also looking forward to the fun times ahead.