seven weeks

Evalana is now seven weeks old. Thursday I went in for my postpartum appointment with my doctor. It amazes me that I can carry around a baby inside of me, and then everything just goes right back to its normal size—well, at least most things do. I’ve realized that my pre-pregnancy clothes will never fit again. I’ve mostly been wearing Joshua’s large t-shirts and workout pants, but I think I’ll need to find some decent clothes that fit before I start working back in the office in another week. After my appointment I had to take Evalana to get poked for her newborn screening test again. The first time Joshua was with her in the hospital, and they had to stick her twice to get enough blood, and they didn’t put the date on the form, so the state of Missouri wouldn’t accept it. The second time I had to take her, and I felt really bad for her, but I understood that sometimes people make mistakes. But that time they put the wrong date and no time on the form. So I took her again. This time I cried when she cried, and I looked over the form when they finished it. I really really hope that it works this time.
I thought that something I’m eating was bothering Evalana, so for the past week I’ve been on an elimination diet (mostly eating rice, chicken, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pears). Then I started eating more fruits and vegetables because I was worried about getting enough nutrition for her. But I’m avoiding anything that contains milk, soy, peanuts, wheat, corn, or eggs. Once you start reading labels carefully, you realize how much those are in everything. So I have no quick grab and eat meals. It’s probably good to eat less processed foods, but it’s hard with a new baby. Evalana has been happier and much less fussy since I started this diet, so I’m thankful for that! Thursday I tried eating peanuts, but she cried a lot for the next couple of days, so no more peanuts for now. We’ll try them again later. By the way, if you want to see something scary about our food in the US, I recently watched a Netfliks movie called The Future of Food, which talked about genetically modified foods. If you're interested, you can find more information at http://www.organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm. (And there are also some cool alternatives at http://www.kcfoodcircle.org/).
Every day Evalana seems to discover new things about this world she lives in. here’s a video of her making music with her rattle; she just needed a little help getting her thumb into the right position.