Postpartum belly: 6 days after

I stopped taking belly pictures after day 6, since Eric is out of town. He ended up going on the last half of his immersion trip to the US Virgin Islands. It felt like a good compromise; we've settled into a routine and Eric's mom has figured out how to get the kids to bed, where everything is in town, etc. He phoned me this evening to say the weather is lovely and the snorkeling fantastic. Lucky him!

6 days after giving birth

I've gone through an obscenely large pile of books over the past few weeks. Basically all I do during the day is take pictures, blog, eat dark chocolate, nurse, and read with Inga lying on my chest. And sometimes take long baths in the evenings. I wish there were a way to slow time down. I know from having had two other children that this newborn stage passes so quickly. As much as you try to capture these moments in your memory, you forget so much.

Inga is a calm, snuggly, content baby. As long as she is on my chest or in the sling, she is the happiest thing ever. It's made nights a bit tricky because she does not like lying on her back or being swaddled. She's been sleeping on my chest or in the crook of my arm most of the time. She's so strong that she wiggled herself out of her swaddling blankets when she was just a day old! But being strong and coordinated also has its advantages. She can latch herself on in the dark with pretty much no help from me--something my other kids couldn't do until they were at least a month or two old.

I switched over to cloth diapers yesterday, but it's been so overcast and gloomy outside that I haven't taken the obligatory picture with her Canadian diapers. Maybe tomorrow. I feel like I'm coming down with something, so it's off to bed for me.