Settling In

I'm no parenting expert, but I've figured out that as soon as you start to understand your child in any particular phase of life, and develop a strategy for dealing with it, they pull a switcheroo on you and throw a new curveball your way. Keeping that in mind, I'm sure with two kids we'll be reevaluating our status-quo almost daily. BUT, for the time being, we're settling in pretty nicely. Dash has been home 1 week and 1 day, and while I don't remember being this exhausted, well... ever, the family unit is running pretty smoothly.

morning snuggles with two babies

why yes, her finger is up her nose!

we like to challenge gender stereotypes in clothing. also: Dash's habit of peeing on his clothing means he frequently wear's Ellies' old clothes...

I will admit though - I may just be saying this because it was an unheard of 70 degrees and sunny today, and we had a super fun afternoon complete with mini-pony rides and toy train rides for Eleanor. All four of us were happy today, so the world felt like all was right. Even though when we came home from the park, and changed four dirty diapers in 30 minutes, gave an impromptu sink bath to Dash, and took a full hour to cook pasta (I think I boiled and turned off the water a total of four times thanks to the aforementioned diaper changes and whatnot), we are so happy tonight.

But, back to my point - things are going pretty smoothly. Most importantly, and most relieving to see, is that Ellie seems quite taken with her little brother. She rushes to "hug" and "kiss" him when he fusses (and by this, I mean putting her whole head on top of his and leaning in saying, "ooohhh...." in a rather crushing kind of way), always wants to see him, watch us change his diapers, etc. She hates when he pees on things (and apparently, being a boy, he pees on everything ALL THE TIME! He'll go through four changes of clothes by noon, and yes, we are "tucking it down") and hates having to share her old baby gear with him. Seeing him in the stroller or baby swing sets her off, but otherwise, she seems to really like the little guy. We haven't seen any big behavioral disruption from her (although we did see her climb out of her crib. three times in one day. looks like it's big girl bed transition time...) but are wary that they could come.

Dash is doing great. He's a great little eater and is pretty much on a 2 1/2 to 3 hour schedule. That means sleep is pretty interrupted, but he's still pre-term (38 weeks tomorrow) so I'm going to feed him as often as he appears interested. He had his first pediatrician appointment this week and we found out he'd gained 7 ounces in the 5 days since he'd been discharged, so our pediatrician assured us that we had nothing to worry about in that sense. He does seem to have some fussy/uncomfortable period in the evening before bed (gas maybe? reflux?) which results in him taking forever to settle down. Of course, this coincides with exactly when I start to find it impossible to keep my eyes open, so that's a nice challenge. He'll sleep fine in his bassinet throughout the day, but won't want to at all in the night, so the last couple nights he's ended up in bed with me while Peter moves to the couch. I miss my husband, but need the sleep, and the attachment time with my baby certainly is useful.

First Pediatrician checkup! Results: "a star"

As far as attachment goes, I think we're all progressing. He felt pretty foreign to me at first (certainly he did while he was in the hospital), but we're getting there. He is definitely the sweetest little boy I've ever laid my eyes on, and complete perfection in every way.