Easter!

We have a lot to celebrate this Easter! Just shy of two weeks old, Amelia decided this was a good day to sleep all night. She slept from about 11pm until 7:30am! I wouldn't expect this to continue, but I will tell you it felt GREAT!

Pumped up with sleep, we got up and hustled around to make it to our church's pancake breakfast to support our youth group. We didn't take any pictures because this was one of our first trips out with all of us and really....we ate pancakes and people ooohhhed over Amelia.

Before we left for church, I wanted a picture of the kids together in their Easter outfits. Unfortunately, William "doesn't like pictures" and this is the best we could do.
Luckily Ms Amelia didn't mind sitting for her picture!

Amelia all dressed up in her Easter Dress! AKA going home from the hospital dress!

When we got home, we found out the Easter Bunny had paid a visit to our house!

All the Easter Bunny treats were in our new basement (to help us get out the door on time the Bunny left the treats downstairs so we wouldn't get distracted).
The baskets!
William inspecting his trucks/diggers Easter basket.
William helping Amelia look at her Easter Basket

Mama and her kiddos...we weren't patient enough to attempt the whole family shot with the tripod/timer, etc.
Another picture of the three of us
William inspecting his Easter treats
Trying out some of his Easter candy...
Which one should I eat next? Or: Do I really have to unwrap these?
What?
Amelia's first Easter (with her first Easter Bunny)
William also had his picture taken with this bunny

Because I am evil, I also like to take pictures with the bunny ears...

Amelia also took a turn

Still worked up

William eating some "cannies"

After naptime, Amelia was having some tummy time. William decided he needed some tummy time also and got down on the blanket with her. He is very disturbed she can't roll over by herself and keeps trying to "help" her along. Like she isn't trying hard enough.

She also cannot pick up her head like this....
Copying her exactly. He is a very funny boy!

Stubborn? Big Boy?

William is probably an average 2 year old boy. He is forever exploring physically and verbally with a tireless energy that wears us out. He is also testing his boundaries constantly. I'm not sure if it the heavy load of developmental psychology that I took or my regular does of "Patience Potion", but the majority of the time I find his antics hilarious.

On Saturday (4/11), he was crabbing about something I was asking him to do. Like sit down so we could read the book he had picked out or lay down so I could change his poopy diaper. Something terribly difficult along those lines. When the crabbing started turning into all out tantrum, I told William to come and give me a hug. My thinking was maybe he hasn't been getting enough attention around here lately and maybe he needed a little love.

With a very serious face, William replied "I don't like hugs."

I almost laughed out loud! It was too funny! Because I know that he does like hugs and he loves me...and it is a very two year old thing to say. Since then, we've heard the "I don't like...." about 219382673687369284298 times a day about everything under the sun. He doesn't like eating or riding in his car seat. He doesn't like wearing shoes or not wearing shoes. He doesn't like baths or bedtime or waking up time. There really isn't much he likes - really, everyone should feel pretty sorry for him. It is a rough life being 2.


Anyway. On Saturday, April 11th (or so my photo files tell me), William decided It Was Time. Nevermind we had other plans or other Things to Do. It Was Time for him to learn to put on his shoes by himself. And it wasn't pretty. This boy is stubborn (gee...where do you think he got that?).

These are the only shoes he can actually get on by himself becasue the foot hole is huge and there is only 1 velcro strap for him to unfasten (and keep track of). Note: wrong feet, proud face.

Very determinded little boy. Lots of tears were shed and several tantrums over this issue. It just isn't fair that he couldn't do it himself! For the record, I have nothing against him putting on his own shoes. In fact, HURRAY! Put on you own shoes so I don't have to bend over and do it. But, the fact is, he just CANNOT quite do it himself and is VERY unhappy about this. He would keep trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and was just so very frustrated with himself and us.

At the end of the day, I confess I put his shoes out of reach/sight for awhile. Although I find his behavior enertaining as well as endearing, there isn't any reason why we need to live through that again on so few hours of sleep. We'll save that one for another day when the sleep is more and therefore patience is more plentiful!

Kids Playing Together

Hopefully this is what our future holds a lot of:

Our two kids playing together. Nicely, of course!

We've been pulling out our stash of baby toys and it appears that William does not remember any of the in the least. All of them are fresh and brand new to him...which means he isn't anxious to share them with his little baby sister.

Luckily, she doesn't care very much right now, so we have some time to work on that. As you can see here, he is trying to show her the ropes and she isn't even looking the right direction.

Daddy's Helper!

Last week, a package was delivered. After the driver rang the doorbell, we kept hearing this odd buzzing noise. It took us awhile to figure out that the doorbell was still ringing...or rather making a low buzzing noise. John got a chair to take a better look at the problem when everyone's favorite helper wanted in on the action...


It is great to have such a willing helper around our house!

Quick Weight Update

Current weight today: 9lbs 2.97 oz ! Hurray!

*This would equal a gain of almost 5 ounces in 4 days. So we are on the right track and we'll be back to the dr in another week for our one month visit at which time we'll be able to scale back on some of our feeding worries!

Fun to Have some PINK!

It is so much fun to have a little pink around here!

One of Amelia's many faces

Sleeping Beauty

Still sleeping...

All curled up...I love this newborn curled upness!
This blanket is special for a few reasons:

1) It is one of 2 blankets we have that is pink. I like to throw a blanket over the carseat to prevent people from touching the baby when we are out. I like this blanket because it lets people (observant people, anyway) know there is a baby girl inside.
2) I bought this fabric and sewed this blanket for one of 4 people I know having a baby girl. However, as I got ready to package up the gifts I was sending out, I was really having a hard time parting with it. It is just so girly without being in-your-face GIRLY. I told John how sad I was about parting with this particular blanket and he told me it was okay to keep it until after the baby was born and then give it away to someone else. He said it was okay because...you know...there was a chance we were having a baby girl and everything. One of the first things I did when we got home from the hospital was run down to the crafting area and dig out this blanket to be washed up for OUR BABY GIRL!

We now interrupt this program to bring you an important update

****Make sure to go down to read four other posts I've made today as well****


I'm behind. I've been posting something every day and I'm still over 2 weeks behind. I really wanted to come and quickly update what is happening right now.

Amelia is proving to be a pretty laid back baby. She is easy going about most things with the exception of right now. Right now she is demanding that I hold her and admire her pretty eyelashes and adorable little nose.....

Okay, I think she is going to tolerate hanging out on my lap while I get the rest of this posted.

The day before she was 2 weeks old, Amelia started sleeping through the night.

The first night I was grateful. The second night was absolutely delicious.

However during the afternoon of that second day, I realized Amelia had slept most of the morning and hadn't woken up to eat as many times as I would have expected. We've had to work harder at nursing with Amelia than we did with William (more on this in a later post). So, when she wasn't waking to eat on top of not eating well, I started to get concerned.

I stepped up my efforts to get food in her by setting alarms and really devoting my full attention to the time she was feeding (note: extremely difficult with a 2 year old in the house). After a few days of this, my worries were intensified. So, I talked it over with John, my mom and basically anyone else who would listen. In the end, I called our pediatrician office and brought Amelia in last week on Thursday (4/16) for a weight check. If you'll recall, Amelia was 8lbs 8 oz at birth. At 2.5 weeks, she was 8lbs 9.25 oz. In two and a half weeks, she had gained only 1.25 oz. Clearly, this was not good news (and confirms that trusting the Mama instinct is critical).

The doctor came in to examine Amelia out and told me she was beautiful. There wasn't anything physically wrong with her (as she was full on bellowing/crying) and she was maybe just a slow starter. I got instructions to feed her as often as possible and wake her up during the night (maximum daytime=3 hours, maximum night time=4-5 hours depending on daytime feeds). I needed to follow up with a weight check on Monday (4/20). Babies in general are expected to gain roughly an ounce everyday. The doctor wanted to see Amelia gain a minimum of 4 ounces over the weekend*.

So, we stepped it up. I fed Amelia at every opportunity and pumped after every single feeding. I set alarms at night and drank gallons of water. I talked with a lactation consultant and supplemented Amelia using pumped milk. By the end of the weekend I was dreading our appointment at the doctor office.

Yet, her weight on Monday was just acceptable. 8lbs 14.25 oz. Exactly a 4 ounce gain. We saw the doctor again and discussed our plans. Again, there doesn't appear to be any physical reason that Amelia isn't gaining weight like we would expect (based on our experience with William she is positively starving...but different kids, different personalities, etc. etc)

So, we go back on Friday to check her weight again and we will followup at her one month visit the Friday following. Of course, I am doing what I can by eating everything in sight and consuming thousands of extra calories per day. Like they might decide to weigh me instead and be impressed by my own weight gain. In four days? You gained eight pounds? That is amazing! Of course your daughter will be okay!

In the whole scope of things I DO know that Amelia will be okay. At some point, she'll realize that she needs to eat in order to have a full belly and having a full belly is fun. However, in the meantime, I am consumed by my job of feeding her little belly and trying to make it grow. I do know that it will eventually all be okay...it is just right now this very minute? It isn't okay and I'm pretty stressed out about that.

I apologize if you call and want to talk about something other than Amelia and her lack of eating.





* I very much love our dr for not pushing us to supplement with formula and supporting me to continue trying to nurse Amelia. I know she would support our decision to use formula if we wanted to go that route to without any problem as well.