One month

Pip is four weeks old today. That's a whole month. That's insane!

Four weeks and she's already started to out grow her newborn clothes. Her wrinkled, smooshy face is fast disappearing and she's already got herself into something of a routine. Unfortunately this routine involves daily bouts of colic and nothing breaks my heart more than seeing Pip crying and not being able to comfort her.

To be fair though things are, *touch wood* starting to get a bit easier. We have a fair idea of what to expect and even when to expect it and are more confident in our capabilities as parents now.

Those first two weeks though, when we didn't know what the hell we were doing? Wow. Things couldn't have been more different.

On our worst night, Pip was screaming for six hours. Six horrible hours. Nothing we did helped and we tried everything we could think of.

Looking back I'm pretty sure we just made things worse. She was fed, changed, cuddled, swaddled, put down, picked up,walked about, driven about, sung to, danced with and cried over. And then it was over. She just settled down after a feed and that was that. It was if the past six hours hadn't happened.
Nothing had prepared us for a baby with colic. And for her to have been happy and calm all day, just to suddenly melt down in the evening for no apparent reason scared us to death.

But as I say, we're getting there. In fact it's actually amazed me just how quickly we've adapted to this new little person who now shares this house with us. These are a few things I've learnt these past four weeks.

• It is actually true what people say, you can spend hours staring at your child's face. It's ridiculous.
• Sleeping when the baby sleeps is not as easy as it sounds.
• Having a baby that goes crossed eyed is funny as hell, even if it shouldn't be.

• You can go an entire day without getting dressed/cleaning your teeth/brushing your hair and yet when you look back on it, you won't have a clue where the day went and why you couldn't find the time to do any of the above.
• Breakfast will be eaten at lunch time, lunch at dinner time and dinner will cease to exist.
• Teas and coffees will almost always go cold.
• Twitter is a life saver. Reading tweets during night feeds and getting support from fellow mamas have helped so much. 
• Pip should not be left unattended with Daddy at bath time.

• The amount of advise offered by family, friends, strangers, midwives and health visitors will be overwhelming. Almost all of it will be different and it will take you a while to realise that the best thing to do is throw the rule book out the window and do it your own way. Even if it's the 'wrong' way.
• You will get a ridiculous amount of leaflets and miscellaneous pieces of paper from the midwives and health visitors. Seriously. I think a whole forest was felled just to tell me the best way to hold a baby.
• You will look and feel like knackered old boot, but  happy at the same time. Want to know what that looks like? Something like this..

Pretty aint it? Those black circles really accentuate my blood shot eyes. Seriously though, I took this picture because I remember feeling so tired, but really happy at the same time and I wanted to remember what that looked like. I know. Dumb, but whatevs.

It really is true what they say, enjoy every minute because it goes so quick. She's literally growing in front of my eyes and that both excites and scares me at the same time. I'm trying to absorb it all and not waste a second, but it's hard. I wasn't prepared for the speed at which she'd grow and change. Hopefully posts like these however, will help me remember in years to come. 

For those who find them tiresome, I do apologise, but you'll have to get used to it I'm afraid. 

I'm a little bit in love with this smoodge face.