In the first week...

Oh, how my world has changed. 

This little girl has captured my heart and made me question what was important in life before her existence. She has consumed my thoughts and my Instagram feed. I live to see her smile while she sleeps peacefully on my chest and my heart melts each time I hear her tiny squeals and grunts as she prepares to nurse. 

At least once a day, I stare at her and weep. I can't get over how fortunate we are to have a healthy baby in our arms after all this time. She is so perfect and peaceful and most of the time, I feel like I'm going to explode from so much love.

Thankfully, nursing has come super easily for us. She latched on within an hour after birth and has been eating well ever since. I've taken a backseat to her in this department and let her lead the way. When she's awake I feed her. When she tries to nurse on Keane, I feed her. We don't have a schedule– I just trust she knows when she's hungry. Lately, she's gotten in the habit of falling asleep after only a few minutes of nursing. I've had to get creative in figuring out ways to wake her up and continue eating otherwise I'm up every hour during the night while she enjoys frequent little snacks. 

We weighed her today on her ninth day of life. 7lbs 2oz! The midwives were so pleased. They want to see babies back to their birth weight by two weeks old so the fact that she has surpassed that at just over a week is great news! It is very empowering to know my body is providing perfect nutrition for our sweet little one and that she is rapidly gaining weight.

Liv is very easily soothed. If she has had her basic needs met (clean diaper, full belly, warm swaddle), she is rarely fussy. We are counting our blessings for this! 

And then there are her faces. I mean, could you just die?

Keane is off work for another few days so we are eating up these special moments as a new family of three. I already feel like time is passing too quickly and I have to constantly remind myself to stay in the moment. 

Thanks to everyone who offered congratulations and well wishes on our new addition! We are loving our sweet, sleep deprived, new normal.