First fever

My poor girl has her first fever. She is congested and has a nasty cough. She's also not eating much (2 oz instead of 4). She will go to the doctor in the morning. I can tell it's going to be a long night - poor girl keeps waking up plus I'm just so worried about her.

7 weeks

I distinctly remember when Grant was 7 weeks, he slept through the night for the first time and kept it up with very few hiccups.

Abby slept 7.5 hours last night (8:15-3:45). Not quite all the way through the night but I can't complain. Just like with Grant, I still wake up to pump. I could level this off but I know from last time that this is a great time to stock the freezer (which now has 180 oz! - a 5 day supply!!!).

Little girl is really filling out. She tips the scales at 12 pounds (according to the Wii). I also have to wrap her around me when I nurse.

She needs some Baby Rogaine. She has a terrible receding hairline. She hardly has any hair in front of her 3 cowlicks. Yeah - 3. That should be fun a year from now!

Now I'm going back to bed!

2 kiddos

I've had 2 kids under 2 at home the past 3 days. Grant had a little fever Sunday night, so he stayed home on Monday. All meals went well and we even got out and about twice - Babies R Us in the morning and to the mall in the afternoon (a successful double stroller outing). While Abby slept, Grant and I played outside with bubbles and chalk. It was a great day!

On Tuesday morning, Grant's fever spiked to 101. The weather was much cooler, which always makes things more difficult. We all went to the doctor at 9 am (diagnosis - bronchioitis and double ear infection). But that was also the same time Abby needed to eat. I took a bottle, but she wasn't eating well. We packed up, drove through the pharmacy and then headed home. Grant fell asleep on the way home (which is unusual given the short distance) and Abby did too. So I just drove around a bit.

Once we got home, it was nothing but a juggling act. I didn't eat lunch until 2:30 and didn't get a bath until after Grant was in bed. Grant turned into a pumpkin at 5 pm - the kind of pumpkin that wants to sit on his mama's hip or lap (Dada just wouldn't do). To top it off, Abby was up a lot during the night.

So I guess there are good days, then there are Tuesdays.

Grant-isms

Grant is talking up a storm. He often says "Dada" or (less often) "Mama" in such a way that you are certain a full sentence will follow. Instead he repeats that about 2 minutes later.

He's found the pictures on his wall. The only people up there are Grant, Lola and Dada. He starts every day saying and pointing to Dada. Last night I put new photos up there, so we'll start quizzing him. He knew Gaga, Rose, Papa and said "Baby" for Clara last night without any problems.

After his diaper is changed in the morning, he starts asking "Where's baby?" This is new - he used to ask "Where's Lola?" instead.

He loves medicine. He points to the place we keep it and says "Mimi" (trying to say medicine). He does this even when he feels fine and sometimes gets upset when we say "No." He's been sick lately, so it's nice to have a child that LIKES to take medicine. After his antibiotic and Triaminic, he always says "Mmmmm."

He refers to his sister as "Baby" most of the time and is starting to say "Baby Abby."

Grant can follow directions pretty well. He will gladly throw things in the trash for you. He still doesn't seem to understand order of events though. As in - throw that away first, then we'll eat some lunch. He's very impatient STILL when it comes to meals.

Grant is also chasing Lola more often. It's actually nice because they both get a lot of exercise this way. Sometimes Lola puts her front paws down and playfully growls (she does this with Derek and me too - just started to do it with Grant). Usually Grant just keeps playing with her but sometimes this move scares him and he cries.

He's still saying "No" when he means "Yes", but Derek and I can tell the difference. He also says "all done" and then continues to eat.

When you give him a choice, Grant will let you know if he wants water, juice or milk. He will also let us know what he wants more of to eat, but he will only do so by pointing to the spot on his plate where it was. As much as the child loves bananas, he still won't say it!

If sister is sleeping, sometimes Grant will say "Shhh - baby night night." He really likes to say "Shhh" and put his finger over his mouth - but he clearly has no concept of quiet because he almost always follows that by yelling.

Who am I kidding? The child yells all the time - he has 2 volumes - loud and louder.

After dinner, Grant tells us that it's time for a bath. After bath, we finish our bedtime routine with a story and prayers, then tell Grant it's time to go "night night." Grant will give kisses and then head to his room. It's very easy and painless. Sometimes once in his room, he wants to show us the circles on his wall.

2 moms & 4 kids

Today 2 moms and 4 kids walked to the park. It was my first time using our (craigslist find) double stroller. Abby was pretty fussy but the trip was still a success.

Abby hung out in her car seat and had some tummy time.

Grant played hard.

Julie's kiddos were well behaved. In the first shot, they are listening to Julie - probably telling Clara not to eat the chalk. I am loving the second shot of Nathaniel.

Family shot!! I love Clara in the background. Again - she's probably looking at Julie while Julie tells her fearless child to not climb the ladder.

The 4 of us also walked into pre-school together earlier this week to drop off the boys. Grant walks REALLY slow and that infant carrier weighs at least 50 pounds by the time we got to the rooms (10 minutes easily - not kidding). Oh yeah - Grant and Nathaniel are now going to pre-school at a local Catholic church 2 days per week. Derek has seen more of the school than I have and he was really impressed with what the kids knew.

Grant was home for 10 days solid over the holidays. That's the longest he's been home with us since I was on maternity leave. He behaved MUCH better (by the end of that time anyway) - probably because he got lots of attention (rather than just dinner, play, bath, teeth, bed time routine, etc.). This extra time made drop offs this week a little more difficult - he's not throwing himself down on the ground or anything. Just really clingy.

Getting out the door with a toddler and infant every morning is not easy either. It. Takes. For. Ever!!! Hopefully it will be easier once Abby has a real routine. Right now there is no telling if she'll be awake, asleep or (the ultimate challenge) nursing when I need to get Grant ready.

I'll be updating (back-dated) Christmas posts soon, so stay tuned...

Did that just happen?!

My girl just went 6 hours between feedings. She had a hard time going to sleep (even after I thought she was out and went to bed, I heard her daddy shushing her amidst the gunfire of his video games), but thankfully she slept great once she did fall asleep. I think. Turns out the baby monitor was off part of the night. Whoopsie!! She barely ate and quickly went back to sleep, which is her usual routine, so I'm pretty sure it was her first time to wake up.

These longer stretches at night are the light at the end of the tunnel. It is soo nice - I think to myself "I've got one good hour to nap before she's up again," then I actually get 4 hours.

This week we've had 2 play dates with 10 & 11 week olds that are great sleepers. I know a 5 week old usually does not STTN (sleep through the night) but these older babies make me ready for the days ahead when she does. So why have I been holding her for the past 30 minutes when it's 3am and she's been sleeping peacefully instead of putting us both to bed?! Mamas are crazy that way I guess.

Video purge

We can ask Grant to "play Snoopy" and he will press play. He stops and starts it until it's on his favorite song. Sometimes he bounces and sometimes he spins. One night he spun way too much!

Here's a quick video of Abby's first bath at home, which was actually December 7.

A video of Grant and Lola playing - this laugh never gets old.

Abby rolling over on Christmas Eve:

Grant dancing at Christmas:

Abby's first bath in the hospital:

Abby is One Month

Abby is one month today. According to the Wii she is 10 lbs. She just moved into Size 1 diapers (mostly because I refused to waste any of the Newborn size we had - she really should have moved out of them earlier). She has out grown a few newborn outfits but not many. She has out grown the newborn cap from the hospital. When Grant was 4 weeks old, he was 9.7 pounds so they are pretty much the same size.

Nights are still hit and miss. We TRY to keep her up in the evening so that she sleeps better but ultimately she's the boss. Sometimes she just can't stay awake! Most nights she will go one long stretch (5 hours between feeding/4 hours of sleep), then go right back to sleep for 3 hours.

Last week she was so congested that she slept in her car seat but she's in her crib most of the time now at night. Sometimes she (ok - I) needs to sleep on mama's chest though. It's pure bliss. And naps have been anywhere - car seat, vibrating chair, bassinet, crib, or on me/in my arms.

She's eating about 3.5 ounces at a time. Feeding is also hit and miss - anywhere between 2 and 3 hours. Just when you think "Ok - I guess today she wants to eat every 2 hours," she'll then go 3 hours. And sometimes she doesn't finish her bottle - you'd think that means she'd eat sooner but that's not the case!

Abby has been out and about quite a bit. She took her first ballet class at 15 days old. With Grant, I would leave class if he was fussy, but I managed to stay for the entire class with Abby - even if it meant doing adagio with her in my arms! She has been to my parents', Big Gaga's, Jill's, Erin's and Cat's houses. She had her photo with Santa. She's been to Angelos and Hard 8 Barbeque.

I have 73 ounces of milk in the fridge/freezer now. Getting ahead is sort of an addiction. With Grant I had 82 ounces by now and I have a bizarre need to compete with myself.

Grant has done GREAT with his sister. He gently touches her forehead and says "AWWW", then kisses her on the back of the head. It melts your heart!

He was trying to do this even when she was in the vibrating chair, which ended up with him practically on top of her, but we've gotten him to give her kisses from the back of the chair now. In the past few days, he's been so kind as to give her a pacifier... but it's never the right end and it's always when she's quiet. We've been telling him "Baby only needs that when she's crying" so we'll see if/when he understands that one!

How did he hear me?

We hung out with some friends last night whose boy is 6 months younger than Grant. Well after the boys were in bed, they told us lately their boy cries in the night and they bring him into bed with them. Derek and I (being pros) told them to turn off the monitor and let him cry.

So when Grant started crying that uncontrollable type - where it takes his breath away - at midnight (just 30 seconds after Abby went into a deep sleep), I most definitely did NOT go into his room to console him. And of course I did NOT rock him. And he is NOT sleeping on my side of the bed right now with Derek, leaving me to the guest room.

Such a pro. ;)

Abby's newborn photos

Abby's newborn shoot was on December 18th. Once again, Jesse Leos did an amazing job! Abby was so cooperative and slept most of the time. Some of my favorites:



YEP - all of the above were "Christmas card worthy", so you may have seen them before!

The above was Derek's favorite.