How Time Flies...

This past Saturday, my sweet baby girl turned one month old!!

I can hardly believe it's been a month...although sometimes it feels like she's been here with us forever. I'm glad it feels that way, because Joe and I felt the same way when we got married. It was just a natural change for us. Anyway.

It's been one heck of a month, that's for sure. My MIL arrived on the island the day after we came home from the hospital and stayed to help for 2 weeks {my FIL also came out to visit, during her 2nd week here}. And, omg, I didn't lift a finger while she was here. Well, other than to feed/take care of Charlotte. She even got up with me in the middle of the night to feed her! I didn't make dinner, do laundry or dishes...nothing. I slept a lot and feed Charlotte a lot. That was it. Oh, and I cried a lot too. Hello, postpartum hormones.

That's what I really wasn't prepared for. No one told me I'd feel like crying all the stinkin' time for no apparent reason. Or that I'd cry because I was overwhelmed and exhausted by this whole motherhood thing. I also wasn't told that breastfeeding is incredibly painful (at least for the first few weeks) and that I'd want to cry every time she latched on. Oh, and a word to you new moms-to-be: getting up to go to the bathroom a zillion times a night does NOT prepare you for the 2 and 4 am wake up calls. Do not be deceived.

So, what's happened during the last month?

Charlotte got her first sponge bath at home.

Daddy wanted to be the first to buy/bring her flowers.

{I cried at the sweetness.}

Her icky umbilical stump finally fell off and she got her first real bath!

We went to church and dedicated Charlotte to our Lord and Savior. =)

We took a much better family photo at church.

Charlotte spent lots of time getting loved on by Bossi and Pop. =)

And she finally started enjoying the swing!

I'm not sure how much she weighs now, but she's definitely grown!! However, my little bean is still very much wearing her newborn clothes and diapers. I have a feeling we'll be in those for a while. =) I suppose it can only be expected when you have a 5lb 5oz baby! She's a lot more awake these days, though she pretty much always falls asleep during her feedings. She's still kind of a sleepy baby... I have to wake her for some of her daytime feedings, mainly because I want her to be awake during the day and sleep better at night. She usually goes between 4 and 5 hours at night which is very nice. {It's sad the things I'm happy about these days...}

Last week was my first week alone with Charlotte - meaning Joe went back to work. =P The first day was a little rough, but we're getting the hang of being on our own will Daddy is at work. Sadly, they put Joe on a swing shift. What that means is he goes to PT at either 1400 or 1430 and doesn't get home until around 0200. =( I know I should be thankful that he doesn't have to go anywhere to do this training exercise thing, but nights with little miss priss are kinda hard. She's always a little bit fussier at night and my patience starts to wear thin. Plus, I really just don't like being alone at night. I'm hoping this schedule is only going to last one month instead of two, but with the Army I might as well prepare for it to last two. {Side note: who in their right mind schedules a brand new dad to work nights!? So considerate. Oh wait. I forgot I was talking about the Army. Sigh.}

We've certainly had our ups and downs the past month, but it's all worth it when I see this sweet, pretty little girl smiling at me! {So she's not smiling in the pic, deal with it. =}

I know I've been off the radar for the last month, but I'm hoping I'll get the hang of this mommy thing soon and find some time to get back to blogging regularly! Until then you can keep up with me on Twitter. I'm always on the Twitter. ;-)