Weight-check #2

I brought Aubree in for another weight check this morning and she is exactly where Dr. Davey wanted her to be--7 lbs. 13 oz.  I am relieved that she is gaining more weight.  She doesn't eat much with each feeding but I guess it's enough!

Busy, Busy

Until I learn how to manage my time, I'm going to continue to post these entries that are just a mish-mash of a bunch of random pictures I've taken since the last post. Better than nothing, right? Ayla and Aubree's Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, and Great Aunt Sandy have been in town from Ohio for the past few days. It's always wonderful to see them. It was their first time meeting Aubree.

Reading with Great Grandpa

Ayla has figured out that if she squeezes a wipe, "soap" comes out. This is what she uses to bathe her babies in her kitchen sink.

Sleeeep...

She grabbed a bunch of things from her bed and made a little nest in her toy corner. She was pretending to take a nap...very rare, quiet moment. :) Everyone came over last night for a shrimp boil...sooo good.

Cool chick.

Staring out the front door...poor child has been stuck at home with me for too long.

Since Aubree was born, she's been very into her babies.

I forget how much they sleep in the beginning!

We're going on three weeks now and things are slowly becoming more normal. I will admit that I've cried more these past three weeks than I have in a long time. I'm not ashamed of it...I'm human. Aubree has been able to go just a bit longer in between feedings the past few days. Before, it was every hour and a half to two hours at most. Now it's two to three hours. She's also starting to eat a tiny bit more each time. Last night, she did really well. Ate at 10:40 and didn't wake to eat again until after 3:00 a.m. and then went until 7:15 this morning. Just like her sister, she's an extremely loud sleeper. All of her squeaks and squeals keep me up for what feels like most of the night. Once she's consistently just waking up once in the middle of the night to eat, we're going to move her to her room.

Ayla continues to test us. I wish I was handling it better than I am. She's never been a tantrum-thrower until now. I know it's part-toddler, part-adjusting-t0-Aubree. When she gets into one of her moods, EVERY. Single. Thing. is a battle. I absolutely refuse to give in to her tantrums and whining. It may make that moment really difficult, but I believe that in the long run, it'll make our lives easier. She needs to learn that it's not okay to behave like that. It makes me feel really mean a lot of the time...at the end of the night after she goes to bed, I'm just drained and feel so awful that we butted heads for a lot of the day. It makes me sad. It really does. I don't want her to not like me, but I know it's what I have to do. I have to set my foot down and I also have to continue to be patient and pick and choose my battles. When Aubree doesn't need anything, I try to give her that time so she knows that she's still important. Hopefully the tantrums will leave as quickly as they came...

Weight-check

I took Aubree to the doctor's office this morning for a weight-check.  Dr. Davey wanted her to be back up to her birthweight of 7lbs 7oz. by now, but she weighed in just an ounce shy of it at 7lbs 6oz.  Darn it.  We have to go in again next week...the goal weight is 7lbs 13oz.  I think she will make it because the past few days, I have been pumping and feeding her with bottles.  I had a feeling she wasn't getting enough to eat through just breastfeeding.  My feelings were confirmed when we went in for her first check-up and she had only gained a couple ounces in a week.  Now, I can see how much she's eating...makes me feel a whole lot better and her tummy is actually full after a feeding.

And sorry about the "Debbie Downer" post I put up yesterday.  That's what was on my mind and somehow, putting it out there made me feel better...as did the comments that were left for me.  The perfectionist in me took over but I've realized that I need to take a step back and RELAX and take things as they come.  So what if the laundry doesn't get done or I don't make the beds or empty the dishwasher, right? 

Sigh.

Two is hard. Kids, that is. It'll be two weeks tomorrow since Aubree was born and I'm desperately trying to figure out life with a sassy toddler and a newborn. I've had really good days and really really really bad days where I swear tears were coming out of my eyes all day. My mom has come over a few times and it helps tremendously. Today, she and my dad came to pick up Ayla. She has spent the whole day with them and is going to spend the night and will come home tomorrow before her nap. While I've enjoyed just having one to look after today, I have felt a lingering sense of guilt all day that Ayla is not here. While I know it's good for her to get out of the house and spend time with my parents and it's a break for me, I can't help but feel like I'm failing. I know, I know...it's only been a couple of weeks and I will figure this out with time and before I know it, I'll be completely comfortable with our new life. But in the meantime, I just feel a bit overwhelmed. I like to be in control of whatever situation I'm in and right now I feel like I have zero control. Sigh. I will be okay though...just had to get that out of my system. And on a more positive note--pictures! :) Aubree was awake earlier today for two and a half hours straight. It's a record!

More random pictures

My dad has made a rule for himself that he won't hold a baby until he/she is a month old...he's a lil apprehensive about holding such tiny babies. Well. Last week when he and my mom came over, I was tied up and Ayla needed help in the bathroom so he had no choice but to hold Miss Aubree. I don't think he has anything to worry about...he looks like a natural. :)

Silly girl

Sleep, sleep, sleep...

Things are going well...little Aubree still likes to eat and sleep, however, disregard my previous comment about how well she sleeps overnight. I knew I'd be eating my words. She has since turned into a normal newborn and wakes every couple of hours to eat. Darn it. :) She is a feisty one. When she's hungry, she cries loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood; same goes for anytime she is cold--diaper changes, bathtime, etc.

Ayla is continuing to adjust to having a new little sister. For the most part, she is being a very good little girl and even tries to help me here and there. Of course, she is still very much a toddler and has her moments. Some are enough to bring tears of frustration to my eyes especially when I'm home by myself with them. I have to remember to be patient and that it won't be like this forever. Pretty soon, we won't even remember what life was like before two kids...right?

Aubree's newborn photos: 4-days old

I took these photos of Aubree on March 26th...she was four days old. My first attempt didn't work out so well. She was awake and fussy so I tried again a couple of hours later when I knew for sure she would stay asleep. And don't worry, grandmas, she wasn't cold...I had a space heater cranked to a steamy 82 degrees. It was nice and toasty in there. :)

A little behind-the-scenes action. :)

Aubree's First Doctor's Visit

We took Aubree in for her first check-up today. Dr. Davey said she looks great--healthy in all aspects. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. (21st percentile), 20 inches (she shrunk...50th percentile), and her head is at the 37th percentile. I looked back through old blog posts to see how she compared to Ayla but realized that since we were in the hospital for so long that we didn't need to bring Ayla in for a 1-week check-up so we don't have those stats. Dr. Davey said in the perfect world, Aubree would have gained a few more ounces back. She was 7 lbs. 7 oz. when she was born and dropped down to 6 lbs. 14 oz. when we left the hospital. He wants us to go back next Wednesday for a weight check to make sure things are on track. He seems pretty positive that she'll get back to her birth weight by then. I had to ask Dr. Davey if we need to wake up Aubree overnight to nurse. She is a sleeper! She'll eat around 10:00 p.m., give or take a half an hour and SLEEP. I've had to wake her up after a few hours to eat because the paranoid mommy in me starts to worry. And once I feed her, she goes back to sleep til morning. We're getting over four hours of sleep at a time before and after I wake her and she's only a week old! Dr. Davey said once she's back to her birth weight, we don't have to keep waking her if she wants to sleep. He said we hit the baby lottery. :) Of course, things could change quickly, but right now I appreciate the fact that I'm not a total zombie because I'm so sleep deprived. Ayla was NOT a good sleeper. She was up pretty much every hour as a newborn and it took her six months to sleep through the night. This is a welcomed change IF it keeps up. I'll keep my fingers crossed.