Our Sweet Abigail

Abigail Christine Hall came to the world on September 26, 2007. She came a week early, but was a healthy 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. Since her arrival 4 weeks ago, Mike and I have been trying to adjust to being parents. No words can explain the many changes and sacrifices you make as a parent. People try to tell you it's hard at first, you don't get sleep, and your body is on auto-pilot, but you really don't get it or understand until you experience it for yourself. Now that we are experiencing it firsthand, here are my insights to the first 4 weeks of parenthood.

• Each day I wake-up excited to see Abigail, but each night I wish she would sleep longer than 4 hours at a time.
  
• I used to think 3 hours was a long time--especially growing up, I thought church was forever long, but now that I nurse every 3 hours, time FLIES by. I finish nursing and by the time I put her down for a nap, it's time to nurse again.


• We put Abby in our room the first few nights, but after she developed a "grunting goat" noise, I said, NO MORE! She is now in her own room and we can only faintly hear her grunting. Thank goodness!


• People always told me that Mike would become an extreme deep sleeper after Abby was born, but I never really thought he would. I now can say that not only is he a deep sleeper, he's a bed hogger! After 9 months of sleeping with a body pillow, Mike is taking full advantage of the middle of the bed!


• Watching Mike change one of his first dirty diapers was a hoot! I think we went through one whole package of wipes before he was finished. He didn't want to get his hands dirty!! Now he's a professional, making sure she doesn't sneek a pee in while he's putting a new diaper on. One day, he changed her diaper three times in a row and each time she peed before he got the new diaper on!


• You really can't spoil a baby by holding them too much. OR can you? I used to think I would put my babies down as much as possible, but it is soooo hard to put sweet Abigail down. I just want to hold her all day. Of course, I have other things I want to do, too, so I eventually do put her down, but sometimes I put off everything (making dinner, taking a shower) so I can just hold her and cuddle her. No harm done, right?

We are so excited to have sweet Abigail in our home. She is such a blessing to have! Every day I look at her and think, Wow! She is our baby and a part of our little family! We sure do love having her around.