My time with Harper is coming to an end.  This is my last week at home with her.  I’m sad about it but I know that we have had a good 11 weeks together.  She has been such a good baby since her arrival in EVERY aspect.  She has been efficient at nursing since the first moment she latched on at the hospital and her sleeping patterns have been excellent since the first night in the hospital as well.  She rarely cries…only if she gets VERY hungry (which doesn’t happen often) or if she gets very constipated (which also does not happen very often).  She is just a happy little baby who loves being spoken to and smiled at.  So while I am not looking forward to going back to work (primarily because of the administrative BS that occurred as a result of being on disability at the time of the split), I can say that I feel like Harper and I had a lot of quality time together during our 11 weeks together.  Ana still worked her regular 3 ½ day week schedule while I was on maternity leave, so for much of the week Avery and Emerson had their special time bonding with Ana, while I truly did get to focus on Harper.  Harper and I went for a lot of walks mostly in the stroller, a few with her in the Baby Bjorn, and a few with her watching me on the treadmill.  We ran errands to the grocery store, to the drug store, to buy clothes, and many other odds and ends.  We spent a lot of time nursing and cuddling and even took a few awesome naps together.  And of course we did spend some time with Avery, Emerson, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and friends which was pretty awesome too. 

My time with Harper was much different than with the girls.  With the girls, I think it was more about survival.  Don’t get me wrong, I certainly enjoyed them but there wasn’t a lot of time those first few months for me to really just sit, relax, and enjoy them all at the same time.  With Harper, not only was the difference that she was 1 baby verses 2 babies, but also she was so easy to care for.  A feeding took no more than 20 minutes maximum with the average feeding being 10 minutes.  She goes to sleep unassisted and only one night to date have I had to get out of bed multiple time in response to her weak little cry.  At night when she wakes she is slow to come out of her full sleep so she is quiet and wakes no one in the house.  After she nurses for 10 minutes she falls back asleep right away.  There is even no middle of the night diaper changing making the night time routine that much easier.  When her sisters are throwing tantrums, wanting attention or just requiring basic parental duties, Harper patiently waits for her sisters to have their turn until Mommy or Daddy have a free hand.

And here we are at 11 weeks and two days old to be exact, one week until I go back to work.  In preparation for my return to work and coming up with a schedule, the day she turned 11 weeks we put her in her own crib in her own room. (Until then she had been sleeping in a pack n play in our room). It was much later than when we put the girls in their crib but Harper was so good and only waking up once a night (and not waking Justin when she woke) that it wasn’t a big deal to keep her in our room that long. Even as I sit here in bed after putting the girls to sleep, Harper lay on her boppy pillow cooing and smiling as her daddy and I both work separately on our laptops.  And as her content little body starts dozing, I start to tear up thinking about how great our time was together.  I have no regrets about how any of our days were spent and I wouldn’t change a thing these past 2 ½ months.  Baby Harper, Mommy loves you so much.  You are the perfect addition to our family!