Tala is two months old!

Well, yesterday really. But what the hey.

So many changes in the past month. Physically, she’s begun to feel grow heavy and solid in my arms, less a soft floppy newborn and more a robust mini-Marlon.  Her hair has grown, covering her ears and giving her kind of a miniature mullet. It’s also starting to lie flat the longer it grows, which makes me suspect she won’t be rocking the spiky baby punk ‘do for much longer. Her skin is starting to look more like mine (fair) than Marlon’s (brown).

Her habits are changing, too. From two to three hours between boobs feeds, Tala can now go for four to five hours at a stretch. Theoretically that would give me a nice chunk of time to myself, but she’s awake longer too. No longer the newborn put to immediate sleep by milk, she stays up for about an hour after she feeds. She’ll scratch her ears or rub her eyes on my chest if I’m carrying her, then I’ll know she’s tired and needs to nap.

I feel like I know her now, and it makes my job easier in that I expend less time and effort struggling to figure things out. Most of the time I can tell if she can be soothed by a pacifier or needs cuddling; I know if she’s head-butting me or rubbing her forehead on my chest, I should put her down for a nap; I can differentiate between the cries that say tummy trouble and the ones that say hunger.

The most gratifying development I’ve seen this month is that she’s begun to respond to her environment. After mostly just crying or sleeping, to behold the beginnings of happiness, excitement and curiosity on her face is a thrill, and a deeply satisfying pleasure.

Best of all, my daughter now smiles when she sees me. Sometimes (not often, but it happens), she will stop fussing once she sees my face.

“Does it make you happy to see me, Tala?” I’ve asked her, in that high-pitched sing-song all parents develop. “It makes me happy to see you too.” It makes me happy in a quiet, deep-in-my-chest kind of way, and hugs, kisses and smiles can’t express it enough.

I find that as a mother, I’m growing right along with my baby. People have told me, “Don’t worry, it gets easier.” After two months, I’d say “You get used to it” would be more accurate. I knew I was starting to get the hang of things when, sometime between weeks 6 and 7, I started to crave travel again and could easily see myself traveling with Tala. (Now if only we had her passport!)

Some things do get easier, but new challenges also arise. I enjoy Tala way more now compared to a month ago; I’d even go as far as to say I’m having fun! But I’m also starting to struggle with the repetitiveness of certain tasks, like washing my pump and her bottle…. gaaaah. To think I only bottle-feed her once a day!

I suppose like anything else, you have to put in some grunt work to be able to enjoy the best bits. And this month, I think the best bits—her smile, her alert eyes, her growing body—have multiplied and become even better.