Lesson #4: They do grow fast!

Ellie just hours after birth on May 29.

Ellie babbling away on Thursday, Oct. 23.

There's a pink box sitting in Ellie's closet that's quickly filling with baby clothes. The mix of pink and purple onesies and sleepers are much too small for my chunky girl now. Her newborn bathtub was packed away last weekend, and another pile of diapers has been outgrown.

I no longer have to nicely remind people "be sure to support her head" when they hold her, and she won't let me sit for hours rocking her in my arms (unless it's bedtime). My baby is growing.

I know she's only (almost) 5 months old, but it's amazing how much and how quickly she has already grown and changed. It was just yesterday that the slightest smile from her was cause for a Facebook post and a phone call to my mom, but now she smiles several times each day.

She's babbling and laughing and holding her head up now, and her size 3-month clothes that it seems she just grew into got packed away last week.

She doesn't have time to hang out in my arms all day, she wants to roll and stretch and try so hard to crawl (it looks more like "swimming" on the blanket right now).

While I know we're only 5 months in, and we've got a lot of growing and changing left, it's hard to believe that we're already here.

I might miss the newborn snuggles, but I also love her new abilities and the personality that appears to have come with them. It seems she learns something new and outgrows something new each day. And as she learns and grows, I am too. When I'm rocking her to sleep at midnight and I just want to go to bed, I try to remember that there will be a day when she won't need me to do this anymore, and I squeeze her a little tighter.

I'm learning to appreciate the moment. And I'm trying to remember that lesson every single day.

Lesson #3: People aren't so bad

Ellie passed out after a day of socializing at her first wedding. 

I’m not the most outgoing person you’ll ever meet. While working as a journalist, sure, I talked to a lot of strangers. But, when I’m not wearing my journalist hat, I’m not one to strike up a conversation with a stranger unless I have a pretty good reason. This is something Ellie is teaching me I’m going to have to change. Because, as anyone who has been around babies or small children in public has seen, they haven’t learned to keep to themselves yet.

Ellie will be five-months-old in about a week, and she seems to be learning new sounds and pitches every day. She likes to make her presence known, no matter where she is or who she’s around. She’s got smiling down and she has the sweetest giggle. She’s also pretty outgoing. She’ll give up a smile for anybody and it doesn’t matter if she’s never met you before, if you make the right goofy face, she’ll even give you a giggle.

She went to a wedding and a rehearsal dinner the last two weekends in a row, and at both she spread her wings and socialized as well as anyone could. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t met 99% of the people at both events, or that nearly every guest at wedding #1 had a turn in holding her, she was just fine. In fact, she was better than fine. She smiled, she laughed, she cooed, and she passed out hard at the end of the day. I, meanwhile, was a nervous wreck. How would she react to all of these new people? And what about at wedding #2, where I knew only a handful of people?

I was a shy kid and as an adult, I’ve continued my practice of keeping to myself in situations where I don’t know people. Ellie, meanwhile, will engage with strangers and has no problem smiling or cooing at a complete stranger. Sure, she’s only four-months-old, this could change. But, I hope it doesn’t. I hope she always has this outgoing personality and never loses the innocence that allows her to so easily interact with anyone. (Obviously she’ll be taught about strangers when she gets older, but I think you know what I mean here.)

Ellie is teaching me to be more outgoing, to give people a chance and that offering a smile to a stranger isn’t such a bad idea. And as far as making conversation with strangers in public, she’s really given me no choice, a sweet baby is a people magnet!

Lesson #2: It's the small things

Ellie smiles big for her four month picture. She gave us her first big laugh the next day. 

After weeks of sleeping through the night and following a pretty regular sleep schedule, Ellie has recently decided she doesn't need sleep. At least, not without hours of rocking, walking, bouncing, repeat several times before she gives in.

It was 12:30 a.m. on a Wednesday and our girl was still wide awake. Her Dad and I had both had long days and were ready to go to sleep, but she had other plans. After hours of trying to get her to sleep, she finally seemed to be getting close. Then, I tried to change her diaper. Her eyes shot open again and boom, away she went across the living room floor showing off her new rolling skills. It was play time.

She's four months old, she doesn't know better, but still we were frustrated. Really frustrated. The kind of frustrated that turns to bickering between tired parents about what to do next. Exhausted, I picked her up in my lap and sat down in the rocking chair.

I don't remember exactly what I said to her, but she must have thought it was hilarious. Because, right there, in the middle of an exhausting, sleepless night, she gave us the best, most melt-your-heart laugh we'd ever heard. She'd been doing this tiny little Sheldon Cooper-style giggle occasionally, but never real laughter. This was new.

She smiled huge, threw her little head back (sort of) and let out a loud, gaspy belly laugh. She kept it up until we had tears from our own laughter. And just like that, it was difficult to remember why we were so frustrated in the first place.

Ellie reminds us of this lesson often. That no matter how tired, stressed or frustrated we are, we have the best distraction and the biggest reason to smile.

Ellie fell asleep shortly after that, and she slept all night long.