Arianna's Second Week
Today marks Ari's second week of life, and we're shocked at how quickly the time passes. It's been wonderful to have this time when we can all be together, but we can't figure out where two weeks went already! Ari still can't really see yet, but it does seem she's becoming a bit more aware of her surroundings. She often tends to look in the direction of bright light.
When I married Ania, I didn't have any guarantees about how the future would be. The only certainty I had was that holding her hand, I knew I could jump into anything and be ok — for all my typical over-thinking, it really came down to just that. The six years since we jumped into marriage have been incredible. Now, having taken this second leap into parenthood, I want to report back:
As much as I used to wonder and worry about how having a child would change our life, I'm happy to say that Ari has become part of us so naturally we almost don't notice! Obviously, things are different, but in delightful and positive ways; the biggest change is that she adds a lot of love! As Taylor said, it's like when you get married and don't miss being single anymore. Everyone knows how tentative I used to be about all this, and everyone who reassured me was right: The experience is sublime. When his son was born, Taylor told me, "This is a feeling you want to have!" I wholeheartedly agree.
I'm always excited when I wake up and remember that I have this beautiful daughter to hold and love. I've been especially enjoying "Daddy/Baby Time", when Ari and I give Ania a break and hang out just the two of us. Ania never gets tired of holding her, though, so it's even harder than usual to get her to take a break. A co-worker who recently had twins was telling me he loves it because he doesn't have to share; I totally understand that now!
We introduced Ari to more firsts this week, including an impromptu off-road trek at Hidden Lakes Park (ironically, because the asphalt trail around the field was too bumpy), her first trip to Target (today, after confirming with the doctor that it's ok), and her first rounds of "tummy time" — she's already able to lift her head and turn it from side to side! And I suspect she'd be moving if she could get a bit more traction with her feet.
She's generally been a very happy baby, eating well, sleeping a lot, and growing fast! As of today, she's 9lbs, 1oz (at birth: 8lbs, 5oz) and 22 inches (at birth: 20.87). Her cord stump fell off Monday, and the doctor says we're cleared to bathe her in water now.
Here's an example of her smile that I mentioned last week:
And here are a few pics from her second week; we've posted these and more in her album:
Tip for viewing new pictures: Picasa Web Albums, the service we use to share pics, automatically puts the newest ones at the end. This is great for people who haven't seen them yet, but not so great if you want to just see the newest ones. The best way to see new pics is to have them come to you automatically, by subscribing to the web feed (What's a web feed?, What are the benefits of using feeds?), but you can also see them by either: