Well, it turns out that having a baby is fairly time-consuming, hence the blog posts are getting fewer and farther in between. So we’ll start with a little update.
All is well here; we left Pavia the 22nd and came to Treviso to stay with Paolo’s family until we leave for the US. It’s nice to be in a house, and have people to help (which they love to do!). Alessandro has had a few milestones in the past week: his first Christmas, his first trip to the beach, and his first bath in his little tub (cord finally fell off!). He is getting much better at holding his head up, and looks to be getting close to smiling for real. His schedule is still completely erratic, but on days where he doesn’t sleep too much during the day, he does decently at night (as in, wakes up every 2-3 hours, but goes back to sleep). The couple of days where he’s slept all day have resulted in miserable nights, but we’re working on it. He still loves to be awake, and is very alert and quite pleasant at times. He loves to be around people, and to be held; luckily, there’s no shortage of people who want to hold him and respond to his every grunt. He eats like a little pig, and is around 10 pounds now, still mostly in his cheeks! I’m also doing much better, almost completely recovered. I over-exerted myself a couple days ago, so now I’m having to take it easy; but other than that, I feel infinitely better than a couple weeks ago. I’ve lost all of my pregnancy weight except for about 3 pounds (I don’t really know my exact pre-pregnancy weight). It does however, seem like my body has re-situated itself.. some of it is fine with me (the girls look better than ever haha!), but things like my thighs have gotta go. Anyways, most days, I get either a nap, or Paolo takes Ale in the morning so I can sleep for a bit without worrying. I’ve started pumping a bit, and he takes a bottle perfectly, so that frees me up a bit (being an on-demand cow was taking its toll). Since we’re with Paolo’s family, I really can’t complain; my main job is taking care of Alessandro and healing, so that’s ideal.
So all is well, and it’s almost time to come home! I do have two confessions though, despite how well things are going:
1. I’m so tired. Sometimes it’s easier to pretend that everything is going perfectly, but in reality, no matter how much worse it could be, motherhood is exhausting. So far, it’s been both physically and mentally exhausting. My body is tired and still healing, and I basically never get the 8 hours of sleep my body requires to be content. Almost every time I start to take time for me to do something that I want to do (ex. writing this blog), Alessandro wakes up and requires my attention. I knew motherhood meant becoming more selfless, but really? I looked at my legs a couple days ago for the first time in forever and laughed thinking about how worried I was that my legs would be hairy when I gave birth. I had no idea. But despite my hairy legs and sleepless nights, I love that little guy more every day.
2. I’m really homesick. Don’t get me wrong, despite all my critiques of Italy, I’ve enjoyed my time here. I don’t regret coming, but I’m ready to come home. I miss my family, my friends, familiarity with places, and sweet tea. I’m ready for everyone to meet Alessandro. I also know that with returning home, I have to be separated from Paolo for a bit (6 months), but at least he’ll be in San Francisco and not Italy. It feels a lot closer. And after some time in the US, maybe he’ll understand me more. Anyways, I’ve missed home for a while, but after Alessandro’s arrival, I’m really, really ready. 16 more days!
Well, I’m going to wrap up this post, since I never really know how much time I have. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year’s, no matter where you are in this world!
Ciao for now,
Kathleen
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