Photography: Luna Marlena's First Month

  

 

 

The full set of all the photos can be found on my Flickr page HERE. I obviously couldn't post all 300+ of them here! 

I can't believe that it's been five and a half weeks already! On one hand it really feels like yesterday, on the other I feel like it was so long ago and I have always held my daughter in my arms... She's growing so fast! I am trying to take every day as it comes, as I know that with every day come changes and new things that she will do to make us smile and laugh (and sometimes cry), and with that I constantly have my camera and phone on hand to take photos and document everything. She's getting all little baby chubby and it's so adorable!

We are finally coming to a point where she is sleeping better at night (better being the defining word - she now wakes up to be fed and will go back to sleep again, once, if we are lucky, but usually twice a night). This means that I am getting about 5 to 6 hours altogether now as opposed to 1 to 2. I have to make decisions on what to do when she is sleeping during the day: shower, do the dishes, eat, update my blog, clean the apartment, read a book, sleep... And it usually ends up with me doing something for myself. I have to keep apologising to my apartment for not taking care of it as well as I should. Everything in it's own time, we will get to a point of ultimate efficiency (or not, as long as we are all happy - a little dust on the bookshelves never hurt anyone!).

I still spend time just staring at her gorgeous little face and kissing her forehead and thinking about how lucky I am - and I doubt that this will ever change! She has already blessed me with her first smile (and yes I did cry), and now actually talks to me in coos and grunts and little squeals. And she still screams when she's not happy, most of the time because I am not holding her. We already have a Snugli carrier, but she gets a little hot in it so I got a Mei Tai carrier so that I can just carry her while keeping my hands free when she is being fussy. I'm planning on making my first real trip with her by myself into the city tomorrow, and there is just no way I can lug the stroller up and down all those stairs in the subway for now (that will be easier later once she has head control and I don't need to use the infant seat). So in the carrier it shall be. It's a pretty long trip from Flushing so I hope that she doesn't hate me too much...

I actually left her for the first time yesterday - she stayed with C. while I went to the doctor's in Fort Greene. I was gone about 5 hours altogether, and they did great, Luna only started crying at the very end because apparently I hadn't pumped enough milk and she was getting hungry. I think I was more worse off than she was - I felt like I had lost a limb! I don't know what I am going to do when I have to go back to work, I am seriously wondering if I am going to be able to, and, in the end of it's going to be worth it. We can't afford childcare, and if I go back to work whatever I make is going to cover that anyway, and I don't want to leave her with anyone else for now. But at the same time it's a struggle with me not working. I guess this is the price you pay for living in NYC, and something that we have to start thinking seriously about very soon as we are coming up to the two month mark. Working from home would be the best option, only leaving when I know that C. can look after her...


In any case, I am planning on documenting every month with photos and videos until she's one year old - there may not be 400 photos in each month... But I can't promise that there won't be! I've never been so happy in my life and I just want to share this happiness <3 p="">

Photography: 41 weeks

The entire photo set can be found on Flickr HERE. I still can't figure out how to put a slideshow on Blogger.

I have so many stories to write and so many blog posts to catch up on, and, at some point over the next few weeks, I will get to them all, but in the meantime I am spending my time staring at my daughter in awe, taking photos of her, breastfeeding, trying to entertain her and then trying to get a few hours of sleep whenever I can. It's amazing, all of it, motherhood, being part of creating this wonderfully perfect little being, and still feels pretty surreal in all the reality of it.

From week 11 of my pregnancy, right through to just before I hit week 41 (and the reason there is no photo for that week will be explained when I write Luna's birth story) I took a photo of my growing baby bump. It makes me laugh now to think that back in the weeks 13 and 15 and 16 I really thought that I was HUGE and that everyone could tell I was pregnant. Looking back at the photos, it wasn't until I was in the 20th week that you could really start telling if you didn't know me.

Once I hit the third trimester I knew I was going to get big, but it wasn't until I got to week 38 that I actually started feeling uncomfortable... I still roll out of bed like I had to in those weeks, forgetting that I don't need to do that anymore! It's kind of crazy to think that my daughter actually fit inside my belly only 3 weeks ago, and was comfortable there... I can't imagine being curled up like that and not being able to stretch out!