Two weeks as a mom

wow. parenthoood is a lot of work. Ella is just over two weeks old and she has really tested me. I went into this knowing nothing about infants and it sure has been a learning adventure for Carl and I.
I knew that babies just eat, sleep, and poop but i never thought about how involved i had to be in all of these activities. Ella feeds about 10 times in a 24 hour period and each feeding typically lasts 45 minutes. There goes about 8 hours of my day. Then the endless diaper changes that occur at least once during each feeding and a few times in between. Ella has been pretty good about sleeping at night. She doesn't sleep through the night but she sleeps until it is time for a feeding then falls asleep right after. Occasionally she will stay wide-awake after a feeding and i have to "hang out" with her until she falls asleep but this doesn't happen too often. When she does fall asleep she stays asleep in her crib so i can sleep in my bed without fear of smothering her.
the day is another story. Ella doesn't always sleep after a feeding in the day and sometimes demands feedings back to back to back. Right now she is sleeping and i hope she doesn't mind that i put her down to sleep without me. Up until this point i have been napping with her resting on my chest. This has worked for both of us but i also need this time to get other things done so i am testing her out to see if she can handle the early afternoon nap without me.
my mom has gone home as of last Saturday. This has been hard for me and Ella, and Carl. My mom was a big help in watching Ella, cooking for us, and cleaning. Now that she is gone we are working on watching Ella alone. Mary has been coming over in the morning to help too. That is when i need the most help and i appreciate that she is offering her time to help. Her coming over in the morning gives me a chance to sleep a couple of hours without worrying about every little sound i hear from Ella. This morning i even had a chance to take a shower and put on clean-smelling clothes!
Well, i best be off to make some quiche before Ella wakes up.