Life's a Beach: Phases

What am I doing wrong?!? A question every parent asks themselves. Whether or not it is said out loud, it is said, thought, or expressed in one way or another. The answer is, in most cases: Nothing. But the baby is crying non stop, won't sleep, fussy, etc etc etc. Yep. The baby is... a baby.

It's funny how quickly I forgot what the newborn period is like. Once again I thought we had the easiest baby in the world, one who slept all the time and was so calm... ooooh, and then she turned 3 weeks old. And I quickly remembered as reality struck -- the screaming, the fussy periods in the early evening at the ever-so-convenient time when you are trying to feed the older sibling and maybe shove some food inside your own body ("what am I doing wrong?!?") Is she intolerant to dairy/tomatoes/caffeine? Does she have reflux, is she constipated? Nope, she's a baby. Just a baby going through the motions and phases of being a newborn.

I get asked the question, "Is she a good baby?" all the time. By complete strangers at the grocery store, family members, and friends. Honestly, I hate that question, and my reply has always been the same. "Is there such a thing as a "bad" baby?" Most people look taken aback by my reply. She's a baby people, how can she be "bad"?! She cries, she sleeps, she poops quite a bit, and she does it all quite often. But it's great. It's all great. She's not a good, baby, she's a wonderful baby in the newborn stage who is going with the flow and letting herself be heard when she needs something!

Two kids. Wow. Yep, no one was kidding when they said it was going to be 100 million times harder and more work. Just when you think you have this game figured out (and are getting more sleep!), it gets taken to the next level, and oh lord do you need your big boy pants for it! Some days are easier/harder than others. Some days you get a shower, others no one gets out of their pjs. But it's fun and different and you just know that these two are going to be the best of friends, because you have moments like this:

or this:

and this:

And in that moment when you think you aren't going to make it to the finish line of the day/week/phase, the littlest of the clan starts to smile and coo and gives you moments like this:

and this:

And then they start to sleep a little longer, and you start to remember that everything is a phase and right around 6/7/8 weeks they become more and more predictable with sleep and awake periods and longer stretches at night. And then you remember that magical time of 12 weeks when things get even "easier."

So, this time around, instead of frantically clicking away on amazon trying to read every sleep and parenting book available, I am enjoying the moments, the phases, the 40 minute naps when she just can't get into that next sleep cycle yet, like this one: