Zoe’s hair and eyelashes are coming in. Her hair, a lovely auburn red, stands on end after a bath, and there are five or six long strands (each about an inch and half long) sprouting from the crown of her head. I admire their tenacity, hanging on they way do. It’s odd to think back…
Read MoreIt’s hard to believe that Zoe is already 8 weeks old. I’m not sure exactly how big she is, but it’s somewhere around 11 pounds. She seems huge, wearing clothes that Stella wore when she was five months old! As hard as these infants months are for me, I feel myself grasping, trying to hold…
Read MoreI’ve been thinking a lot about narrative urgency the last couple of weeks because I recently went to see Charles Baxter talk about and read from his new novel, The Soul Thief. (I dragged both Stella and Zoe out in the cold so I could get my literary fix.) He used the term narrative urgency,…
Read MoreMy darling Zoe is getting progressively fussier. It’s the must-be-bounced-and-carried-or-nursed-to-fall-and-stay-asleep kind of fussy. Yesterday I desperately needed a nap, but she wouldn’t stay asleep, so finally I gave up and strapped her in the bouncy chair so at least I could shower. Then, I wanted so badly to check e-mail and maybe even write a…
Read MoreI’m up north with my mom and the girls, and the change of scene helps, though getting ready to leave the house yesterday felt like flying to hell in a very tiny hand basket. I cursed up a storm as I struggled–for forty five minutes–to fold Zoe’s co-sleeper into its carrier bag. Meanwhile, Zoe, who…
Read MoreZoe is 4 weeks old today, which seems impossible. How have four weeks already passed? How have four weeks of me doing nothing but nursing and bouncing a baby just disappeared? These are hard times for me. I started to feel more like myself at the end of last week—the scary hormone visions (more on…
Read MoreI’m feeling much better today, and you are all right—I need to take it slow and be patient and remind myself to breathe when the drama queen (Stella, not me) begins slamming doors and hitting herself on the head as she wails about not being loved anymore. Dear child. The sunshine helps and so do…
Read MoreThis morning I woke to falling snow, and I almost started to weep. I don’t know what I had been thinking, but it went something like this: I will have a baby, and we will be in the hospital for a few days, and when we are discharged, it will suddenly be spring. I was…
Read MoreThank you all so much for your good wishes. I’ve been meaning to post for the last few days, but it’s amazing how the day just seems to disappear between nursing a newborn, trying to pay attention to Stella, popping motrin, and trying to nap. I am so glad that we postponed the C-section and…
Read MoreGreetings! This is D and I am posting at Kate’s request. Zoe Frances (6 lbs. and 19 3/4 in.) joined our family on Wednesday, February 5, 2008. Kate is convalescing and doing very well. This birthing experience is amazingly different and much more enjoyable than our first, thus far. I cannot believe Kate gave me…
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