Chloe is One Month Old!

It looks like I'm back in business with Blogger, so I will try and post more pictures every chance that I get. I know that I am being smarter this time around because I am choosing sleep over other things. It isn't like when Sawyer was little and I could sleep when he slept. My only opportunities now are during his naptime and once Sawyer goes to bed. The only problem with this new philosophy is that my blog (and the housework) suffers, but I hope that everyone can understand and be patient with me! :) I promise that we have been taking pictures. I will post them in order by date, so just check back from time to time if you desire and I will try and get everyone caught up on the last month.

It's hard to believe that our little girl is already one month old! We moved her to her crib last night so that was a big deal. She had been in a bassinet in our room up to this point. The other major things from this week were that we started giving her a pacifier and letting her sleep at night without waking her for feedings. I was really excited about giving her the pacifier because it is helping us calm and console her. It seems that she is more difficult to console than Sawyer ever was. I also started pumping again and Lorne gave her an ounce of breast milk in a bottle for the first time on Saturday. I want her to have at least one bottle per day because we stopped giving Sawyer a bottle after a while and when I got ready to wean him to formula he didn't want any part of it. I felt like that made the transition more difficult than it needed to be.

We went for a weight check on Thursday of last week and Chloe was up to nine pounds! She gained fifteen ounces in fourteen days so I was extremely happy! She is sleeping for five hour stretches at night which is awesome! I feel like I've been sleeping for days when I am able to sleep for that long! I'm used to sleeping five hours TOTAL. I'm trying to nurse her at least nine times during the day so I think that is why she is sleeping so well on her own at night. She doesn't seem to sleep much during the day either, so that is probably attributing to her sleeping longer at night.

Lorne returned to work Monday after three weeks off so that was a huge change for me to say the least. I have spent the week trying to plan ahead and be sure to keep both kids happy which is easier said than done. I'm just trying to make it so that only one child is crying at a time. I find that both of my children are pretty rotten so that makes my job that much more challenging! I knew that Lorne helped out while he was here, but I didn't realize quite how much until he was back at work. I have various stations set up downstairs and that is helping. I have a Baby Bjorn carrier, a swing, a bouncer, a Gymini Playmat, and we bought another activity gym at Toys 'R Us this weekend.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. Saturday we went to Toys 'R Us to do some shopping for Sawyer's birthday. Lorne's Uncle Les, Aunt Mary, cousin Ashely, her husband Erik, and their daughter Lexi were in town to visit Cristie so we met them for lunch. It was a nice time but we had to get home so that I could feed Chloe. I'm still trying to nurse her every two to three hours so that puts me on a pretty short leash. Laura and her son Christopher came by for a short visit on Sunday afternoon. It was really nice to see them. Laura is back at Weight Watchers so I'm looking forward to my six week appointment so that I can be cleared to start WW again.

Lorne took the pictures this week and got pretty creative!

Chloe's baby acne really started flaring up this week.

We had to get a picture with our lifesaver the pacifier.

Chloe is Three Weeks Old!

It feels like time is flying by. Lorne will be going back to work before I know it. I keep wondering what it is going to by like with just the three of us. Part of me never wants Lorne to go back and another part of me is ready to get it over with so that I will know what to expect.

We returned to Presby Plano for her second newborn screen on Tuesday. That was the poor baby girl's fifth heel prick during her short life. She didn't seem to cry as much this time as she did during the previous times so that's good. This was my first outing with both kids by myself so it was a big deal. I loaded up the double stroller and away we went. It seemed to take me ten minutes to unload the stroller and the kids, but we made it. Of course Chloe got a wet diaper as soon as we get into the hospital so she's screaming bloody murder. I felt like everyone was watching me and wondering why I couldn't calm my child.

I stopped at A Mother's Gift which is a gift shop/outpatient lactation center to have Chloe weighed. Those who have followed my blog for a while may recall that this place was my second home when Sawyer was first born. I was having him weighed every couple of days. I was sad to learn while I was in the hospital that Candy had retired. She was the lactation consultant who helped me so much my first time around. I felt like the woman who was there today was only concerned with going to lunch and chomping on her gum. She came across as very unprofessional but that may have just been my take on her. Chloe weighed eight pounds, six ounces on their scale which means that she gained five ounces since the previous Thursday. I can't depend entirely on that, though, since it was a different scale. I just thought that I would check while we were right there. I don't know that I will return. I will probably just return to Pediatric Place in a few weeks like Dr. Darrow suggested.

She had her eyes open more and more this week.

Sawyer is Twenty-two Months Old!

Sawyer's world has changed in major ways. He is having to share his parents' attention and I don't think that he's very happy about it. He really doesn't like it when I'm nursing his sister. It breaks my heart because I want to be on the floor playing with him, but I know that I have to take care of Chloe now too. I think that we are going one step forward, two steps back too. I have been nursing Chloe in our room while we have company so Sawyer isn't able to see my nursing her. Once our company leaves and I come back to the living room he starts to get upset again when I feed her. I do think that it gets better each time so I'm hoping that he will be pretty used to it once Lorne gets back to work.

I have lost track of all of the words he is saying these days. He can definitely go into parrot mode and repeat everything that he hears. I have to be especially careful since I'm the curser of the family. The last thing that I need right now is a cursing toddler!

Lorne has been bathing him for me while I recuperate which is fine with Sawyer, but he only wants his Mama to put him to bed. That makes me feel so special. I never realized that he cared one way or the other although I should have known. I really cherish that time that the two of us can have together. It reminds me of old times and it just fills my heart.

Technical Difficulties

I'm sorry everyone, but Blogger is acting up again and isn't allowing me to post pictures. I will have to try later in the day. We're doing well around here. We're trying to sleep when we can and give Sawyer lots and lots of hugs and attention.

More later,
Kelly