And baby makes three...

After a significant hiatus from my attempts to blog, I'm back and hope to keep up more diligently to record Reagan's first months in Chicagoland.  

Reagan is officially two weeks old as of yesterday at 4:19 pm.  It's hard to believe how much she has changed in just two short weeks.  Steve and I can both agree, parenthood is the most difficult, but rewarding experience we have ever undertaken.  While I will be out on maternity leave through Memorial Day weekend, Steve had to return to work last week, teetering on the verge of exhaustion and euphoria.  Having a baby is the busiest down-time in the world, as we are working to get Reagan on a schedule and acclimated to the idea of day=wake and night=sleep.

There are have been lots of surprises along the way.  In order to not forgot the surprises from these early days, here's our biggest learnings/joys so far:

• I didn't think that we could get sick of pink, as it is one of my favorite colors, however after two weeks, we've taken to dressing Reagan in boy sleep and plays, just to escape the color.  She's currently wearing a little green one that says "Later Gator" and has tossed printed alligators all over it.
• We were skeptical that the 0-3 month clothing would fit her when she was born, fearing that she would be too big for those outfits.  When she arrived, we had to laugh as she was drowning in the her in the 0-3 month clothes.  Both Steve and I have made subsequent trips to Target to clean them out of all of the NB sized clothes that they stocked.
• Despite all of the literature that says babies don't smile at this age, we have been getting a kick out of her ability to roll through multiple facial expressions.  It is as if she is trying out all of her expressions, one after another.  Our favorite is her smile, followed by her surprised face.
• For being the product of two high strung parents, Steve and I are blessed with an incredibly laid back baby.  She eats, sleeps and messes diapers and spends a very small amount of time crying.  It could be that she's still getting used to this big outside world, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that she stays this sweet.
• The sheer amazement that she recognizes both Steve and my voices this early in her life.  She'll turn towards us when we speak or sing.  I just hope she doesn't recall all of my yelling during the crazy Chicago commutes home from Deerfield over the past few months.
• She can sleep through almost anything; she slept through the neighbors' wine and cheese kegger, she can sleep through the dishwasher, washing machine and microwave all at one time...she really is her mommy's daughter!  
• Babies make an incredible amount of laundry.  We do laundry every day!
• Steve passed on cutting the umbilical cord after watching the "miracle" of birth but did get to experience it falling off whilst changing her diaper.
• For a man who had never changed a diaper before, Steve is an expert diaper changer...he also does a fantastic job changing clothes and swaddles like a pro! 
• We've got a little water baby.  There's rarely a cry during the sponge baths (she gets her first water bath today!) and it is almost as if she is smiling when we spray off her head to rinse the shampoo.  
• Her hair is still thick and dark, though it appears that it may be getting lighter as she gets older.  
• She has inherited her mommy's dry skin so we spend a fair amount of time lubing her up with vaseline to counteract the flakiness.  She has already embraced her inner girliness, as she puckers up when I put the Aquaphor on her lips.

We are truly amazed by just how much and how quickly we fell in love with her.  We're hoping to make it back to Minnesota in April to have her baptized at the church that Steve and I got married at and to celebrate Steve's last year in his twenties.  Stayed tuned for more details but I anticipate that we'll be back mid-April.