Adjusting to Life With Two!!!!

Well, it only took me 5 weeks, but I'm going to very much SUM UP the birth of our sweet precious daughter Gretta Mary. I, as I knew I would be, have been extremely busy with adjusting to two kiddos. Hence, I don't have time to be as thorough as I would prefer to be! So I'm going to try to touch on important things, as I know this blog will be SO fun to read and reminisce when the kids (and we all!) get older! We're finally getting into a routine now, and I'm figuring out how to load two kids into the car, her feeding/sleeping needs/patterns (still pretty inconsistent), how much time it takes to get out the door, what I have to just 'let go' of etc. etc. etc.! I've found that taking it one day at a time is a good mindset. Some days are great and I feel like supermom - other days I feel completely overwhelmed and somewhat helpless. But I know how fast this time will go, so I'm just taking it one day at a time. Gretta is already starting to 'wake up' a little more, and become a little more fun with slightly more personality. I'm enjoying this newborn stage more because I know more what to expect, know what to not freak out about, and she's an easier baby (thank you God!!!). She sleeps quite a bit. She's only ever done two night feedings, and lately the second one has been at 6am, so basically only ONE night feeding! This has been wonderful in itself, but especially bc of my insomnia issues. And God has blessed me abundantly (lots of prayer!), by helping me to usually be able to fall back asleep after feedings. It's been awesome. I can honestly say that I don't even mind them so much, bc of this. Gretta looks SO much like Georgie as a baby - it's crazy! Her cheeks are a little chubbier, and she has more and darker hair, but that's about it! She so cute! She has some fairly bad milia, but partly bc we only bathe her once a week, and also bc I hold her face when I burp her, and so she's broken out there a little bit. Her hair is crazy! Every which way - so cute! She doesn't fuss that much, but when she does it's almost always either bc she's hungry, or a few minutes after her feedings (consistently) bc of gas (we think). So we have a routine of rubbing her belly, burping her good, raising her legs ,and doing 'bicycles' and giving her gas medicine, to alleviate it. After about maybe 30 minutes-ish, she usually calms dow and falls asleep. She alternates a couple days where she'll eat almost every 2-2.5 hours, and not have super long or great naps (but it helps my milk), and days where she does great 'eat-wake-sleep' patterns with at least two solid, probably 2-hour-ish naps. I've been pretty successful with trying to 'mix up' where and how she sleeps (couch, rock n play, bassinet, bed, will start crib soon, car seat, swing and with lots of noise or with silence), just so she's flexible. She definitely has to be more flexible than Georgie had to be, bc of noise and bc sometimes I have to just let her cry for a minute while I attend to Georgie. I feel really guilty about that sometimes, but I know it's important to tend to G, who notices and remembers a lot more. Anyway, she eats pretty good, though gets full really fast so I've had a hard time getting her to eat for longer than like 7-9 minutes lately (on one side, then I have to wait a few minutes for her to take the second side, and it's usually only for like 5 minutes). A lot of times I feel like I have to 'force feed' her, and sometimes I'll finally get he to open her mouth and take the nipple, but then she just sits there and WON'T suck! So I finally just give up and assume she's JUST not hungry. It's a little frustrating, and scary for my milk supply, bc all the books say they need to nurse for AT LEAST 10-15 min on the first side, and should nurse for a few more minutes on the second side too. But she's gaining good weight, so I'm trying to ignore what the 'books' say, and just trust she's fine. She's a happy baby. I wanted to get her weighed bc I was freaking out about her habits, but didn't want to take her to the dr. to weigh her bc I didn't want them to freak out (or freak me out), if she wasn't gaining like they'd like, so I called my nurse family practitioner (and friend) Stephanie Mothersell, and she brought her scale over and weighed her for me. She had gained almost 8 oz/week in 3 1/2 weeks, which is great (they're supposed to gain between 4 and 7 oz/week)! I was SOOOO happy. I think she just eats pretty efficiently, and when my milk lets down it comes down pretty strong (a lot of times she chokes a little bit - so sad!). Anyway, to help my milk supply, I try to pump after every feeding. I miss some here and there if I'm out and about (and really try not to freak out about it), but generally I try to pump if I'm home. I ALWAYS pump after night feedings too, bc my milk is abundant and she can never come close to emptying me. I'm stockpiling QUITE the supply of milk in the freezer! It's great! I've had to, and will have to, take some to store in Janae's garage freezer. It makes me so happy! I REALLY hope my milk keeps up like it has been, because it was pretty strong with Georgie too, but dropped off fairly quickly. She sort of seems to me like she's heading down the same path as Georgie (just doesn't seems to love nursing), so it scares me a little. But I do feel like I 'force' her a little more than I did with Georgie (which is a good thing - newborns sometimes just don't eat as much as they need to), and I'm going to try to remain diligent with this. Another thing is that I'm pumping after night feedings, which I don't think I did with Georgie. Also, I've been giving her one bottle per week, just so she'll TAKE a bottle, but no more (so she doesn't PREFER it). I am SO hoping to make it longer than the 5 months I did with G. I'm really hoping for a year! Janae gives me hope and encourages me, bc she was so diligent with Leonie, and it paid off. She's been a good help for me, reminding me of things that I so quickly forgot! She helped me when I first nursed her, right after birth, bc I couldn't remember how to do it! The nurses assume you remember everything when you already have one, but YOU DON'T! There was so much I forgot (plus I was SO sleep-deprived with Georgie, that it's hard to remember that first 9 months very well!). So that's nursing and sleeping. She likes the car seat and usually falls asleep in it, so that's great! She doesn't seem to have any reflux, and hardly EVER spits ANYTHING up, so that's a blessing! She's not always great about burping, which can be a little stressful, but overall I think we've been blessed with a very good baby! Georgie's been doing good overall, though it's definitely affected him. In the beginning there were so many people around a lot (mainly Janae, mom, and Janet) that were disciplining him a little more than they usually have to, just bc George and I would be pre-occupied or busy, and I think THAT affected him more than anything. I am really conscious of labeling him as a 'good boy', a 'good helper', 'so loving' etc., and when he's receiving discipline from every direction that's maybe not quite as conscious as constantly labeling him positively, it just was (and still is a little) wearing on him. It seems to be better now that it's often just the three of us (him, me, and Gret). G and I SO try to emphasize the 'good' behavior and labels, and try to downplay and quickly forgive the bad behavior. He has yet to say 'all done Gretta' or 'no Gretta', or really anything negative about her, so that's GREAT. I really think he's doing good compared to how a lot of kids would respond, in his shoes. I try to give him EVERY opportunity to help out - little things like turning on the breast pump (sooo cute that he likes to do this! He's so familiar with pumping now that he'll say things like 'all done pumping?' 'mama need to pump'!!! So adorable). He will bring me her dee (binky), cover her with a blanket, give her kisses and love pats, bring me her blanket etc. All that, but he DOES still have quite a few moments daily where he'll 'head butt' her or squeeze or pull on her, and it makes me so frustrated. I get downright angry, and we really discipline him when he does this. He knows better, but sometimes I really think that it is the terrible twos, not just her. He does the same things to Leonie (gets in trouble OFTEN for doing this). And some of it too is that he's a boy, and plays rough. It's just the boy in him, and he doesn't know he's being that forceful. Anyway, he's SO cute with that absolutely adorable face, and so sometimes I find it so difficult to stay angry with him. He's just SO cute. And says the absolutely most adorable things. Sooooo smart, he is!!! He's my little man, and I am just so incredibly in love with him! I do think he loves Gretta a lot - he'll look at her and say 'little hands, little feet, little nose etc' - so cute! And he will say 'love you Gretta'! And I've been calling her Gret for short, and one day he started calling her Gret and I almost died. So cute! 'Gret hungry?' 'Where baby Gret?' Soooo sweet. I have absolutely NO DOUBTin my mind that he will be the BEST BEST big brother ever, and very soon. Gret is a very lucky girl!! I am so in love with my perfect (for me!) little boy and little girl. I feel more blessed than ever in my life. I have a beautiful family! They both fill different voids, and George is such a great dad. I need to go soon, but let me just say that George has been SO helpful - making breakfast every morning, cleaning the house on his days off, just doing so many household chores for me. FILLS my love tank so much! That's not to say that tensions haven't been high, but we're both tired and overwhelmed at times, and so this was to be expected. It is better than it was with Georgie though, so I'm grateful! It's nice that wasn't crazy busy at work when she was born. It's starting to get a little busier now, but I feel in more of a place to do it 'on my own' now. It's nice that I'm not working AT ALL - sooo wonderful, and I don't see how I COULD'VE worked at all with having two - one being a newborn. Anyway, there's more I wish I had time to write about, like our nighttime routine, her birth story, and other things I can't think of right now! I will REALLY try not to let too much time pass before another update. I don't want Gretta to feel neglected when she's older!!! ;) Well, must leave my much adored Starbucks time now, to get home and nurse. Baby girl is hungry! Later... :)