Savoring the quiet moments...

As most can see, I haven't been able to blog much since Eva has been born. We spend most of our days singing and bouncing up and down the halls of our house, as she is going through a bit of an adjustment period during these last couple weeks. It has been truly frustrating and challenging for me, both as a mother and a person, to have such an upset baby on my hands for sometimes 8 or 9 hours at a time. We have discovered a few things that help her calm down -- singing (but only certain songs, a couple of the Jack Johnson variety and then the classic Too Ra Loo Ra Ral that my own mother spent countless hours singing to me), bouncing upright, and being in the car seat. So, I have tried to look at this optimistically, as her love for her car seat has forced me to take 2-4 walks with the stroller a day, averaging about 1.5-2 miles of walking each day. Today is the first day we can't take a walk all week, as the wind is blowing pretty ferociously. So, as the amount of sleep I get each night fluctuates, so does my confidence that things are going well. Being a mother is truly much harder (but more amazing) than I ever could imagine or prepare for.
It has been a challenge on a personal level because I have had to make a mental adjustment to what it means to have a "productive" day. For the first few days alone I was really frustrated by literally not having two minutes to get any of the basic things I did each day done (meals, phone calls, etc.) Now, if I can wash AND dry a load of laundry, get my contacts in and out, fit a shower in, and eat two meals and still have a happy baby at the end of the day, I'm content.
But each day is getting easier and I am doing my best to breath it all in and savor the quiet moments.
Here a few of those very same moments captured...