Changing Things Up

Eleven weeks ago today, right about this time (11pm-ish), we arrived home with a sweet baby girl in our arms. I've spent the last 11 weeks getting to know her, loving on her and soaking up all the cuddles I could...and today I enjoyed the last of those days. Sophia and I slept in until 8:30 (probably the last time I'll do that for umm....years), and then spent the day playing and snuggling. I am going to miss her face come Monday morning. Here's her sweet self all those weeks ago and today:

 

I've determined that maternity leave is the perfect amount of time to get adjusted to life with a new little person....only for it to come to an end and have to change it up and readjust everything. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to settle into our new normal. We will be in transition phase for a bit though, with the holidays (good timing with going back, since it means I won't be working a full week for a few weeks). We are also blessed that our families are coming in town to love on the little lady  and postpone her daycare start for a few weeks. That will give this momma a little extra peace of mind for a few weeks. I love our daycare...it's the best we could ask for...but I don't know if it ever gets easier to drop off your babe for the first time. (Fortunately, I won't be doing the drop off this time, when it rolls around. I've elected Ryan to be the point person on that, since I only have sad memories of dropping off Aiden for the first time.)

Here's to figuring out how to control the chaos ahead....the never-a-dull-moment-and-totally-worth-it chaos of life with two sweet, fun-loving kiddos.

A little catching up

I have so many smiles stored in my pictures over these last few months so I'm going to try to get a few of them on here so you can share in my smiles.....and so that when I need a little pick-me-up during a long work day, I can steal a peak at these.

Let's start with little Soph and how she's growing like a weed (stop it little girl!). Like her brother, she had a little jaundice after she arrived so we went to the doc for a check up the Monday after she was born, when she was five days old. She was already over her birth weight, and the doctor said that less than 10% of babies gain back their weight so quickly! (Side note: Little miss ended up having breast milk jaundice, which really just meant that it took her liver awhile to be fully functioning. There was nothing we could do but wait it out, which took about 7 weeks.)

By month one she tipped the scales at 8lbs 3oz and was 20 1/8 inches, and when we went for her two month visit (and all those terrible shots) she was at 9lbs 6oz and 22 inches. The doctor's theory is that babes can sleep through the night once they reach 10lbs. Sophia has been sleeping 6 hours stretches for awhile, but she must be pushing that 10lb mark because last night she slept for 8.5 hours! (All you tired mommas, don't turn on me for admitting this....) We went through some sleep regression with Aiden when I started back to work so we will see if Sophia has the same thing in store (especially since her anti-bottle campaign has me thinking she's going to be super hungry and wanting to refuel at night).

I forgot how often babies eyes are crossed in the beginning!

Still struggling with that sitting up thing....

Don't go around thinking I've got things together since I have a sleeping-during-the-night bebe (if it makes you feel any better, she doesn't snooze super well during the day). Just the other day I went to put the toaster away to find this in the toaster's spot.....(pretty sure I remember lots of little incidences like this when Aiden was a wee man).

Bread, toaster...I was just trying to play a little matchmaker.

And what's Aiden been doing during all of this? Oh, just learning to spell his name, trying out Sophia's stuff (like her car seat, headbands and pacifiers) and aspiring to become an astronaut. See why I have so many smiles?

10 WHAT?!?

10 weeks. Ten. TEN. That's how long my little girl has been out and about in this world. (and almost as long as it's been since I had a post...oops!) We've had lots of visitors and took a nice little jaunt of our own to NY for Thanksgiving. Between visitors here and there, almost half of Sophia's life has been spent surrounded with friends and family. With all that, maybe she'll be a social butterfly, like her brother (have I mentioned that at Halloween he walked into the first house we went trick-or-treating at? Yeah....gotta work on that stranger danger thing.). But Sophia shows some signs of being a bit more introverted. You know how most babies will wrap their fingers around yours if you put your finger in the palm of their hand? (ah, one of those sweet little baby things....) Well, Sophia usually opens her palm wide and pushes away. That little girl knows what she wants and having her space invaded is not one of those things.

A rare, sweet, finger-holding moment. Seriously...I took
this picture because this happens so infrequently.

Where do I begin with my brain dump of all the things I've tried to savor over these last ten weeks. There's the fact that I'm pretty sure she laid on her right side in my belly with her left arm and hand moving freely, a lot like this:

 

I make the left hand comment because she does not let us swaddle that arm at all. I've had friends whose babies didn't like their arms to be swaddled and I always wondered how they knew that. (Aiden loved to be burritoed for the first 4 months of his little life.) Well, now I know. We best not tie down that left arm or there will be fussing until it's free! I think with this baby God decided to answer many of the questions I still had about babies since Aiden wasn't like that. Pacifier? No way. Drinking from a bottle? Hahah, funny joke mom. (Except not that funny since she'll be spending her days with the bottle in less than two weeks...we are working on this like crazy!) Looks like she may be the opposite of her 2 1/2 year old brother who still over uses his sense of taste....

Before I wondered if babies actually knew they were dirty and cried, since a dirty bum never bothered Aiden. Now I know...there are babies who really dislike a dirty bum. Why would you let a baby nap on their belly, when everyone says "back is best"? Because you want them to sleep, that's why! (and baby wants sleep to...just has a hard time staying asleep on her back)

Remember how I said I was nervous that these kids were going to be completely different, and Aiden had been such a good baby that I couldn't imagine what trouble this kid had in store? Well, their baby days are pretty different but it's really not bad just......different. Little miss has basically taught herself to sleep through the night. She's more emotional than her brother, which means fusses over more little things, like being held the "wrong" way or experiencing an unexpected brush against her (Ryan and I have different opinions on which baby fussed more...), but it also means more sweet smiles and coos....that I am really going to miss in a few weeks. I'll try to flood the blog with posts before that going back to work thing happens...