So life with two little ones is just as crazy as I was afraid it would be. Life with a newborn, period, is exhausting, but combined with a two-year old, it's enough to make me pull my hair out. Luckily, I've watched many before me go down this road, and they've managed to keep everyone alive and relatively happy, so I know I can do it too.
Kate is an angel. She sleeps A LOT - which is good, except for the fact that waking her up to nurse has become a major challenge. In fact, she falls asleep so much during feedings that she has not yet reached her birth weight - which the pediatrician was expecting by her two-week checkup. So, we are supplementing nursing with bottle feedings...which means I am doing some form of feeding her every hour and a half. But it seems to be working because in the last six days she's gained 7 ounces (yay!). Just 5 more ounces until she reaches her birth weight, and 9 more ounces until we can stop waking her up at night to feed (double-yay!).
Apart from the lack of sleep and sheer exhaustion, I'm feeling great! I'm anxious to get back into some form of workout routine (doctor says I can resume full activities after 6 weeks) and back into pre-pregnancy clothes (although I sure have come to love the elastic wastebands).
Avery has been a great big sister. She has been giving Kate all of her toys and books and always wants to know where Kate is and what she's doing. She only gets a little jealous when Lee holds Kate. Lee and Avery have gotten to be especially close since Lee has been helping out so much with her (bathtime, bedtime, taking her to school in the morning, etc.). So far, Avery has been really good about having a baby in the house, she's just been more challenging about everything else ("I don't want chicken for dinner"..."I don't want to take a bath!"..."I don't want to sit on the potty!"...you get the idea). Very much standard two-year-old stuff, but it certainly makes life much more difficult for the sleep-deprived padres.
All of that being said, we have been so blessed to have family and friends around us during this special time. Thank you to everyone who has brought meals for us...it has been such an incredible help not having to worry about cooking dinner every night. And everything has been so delicious...although it's probably not helping me get back into my old jeans :-)
I haven't been nearly as good about taking pictures of Kate like I was of Avery. I already forgot to take one of her first bath, and there are only so many I can take of her curled up and sleeping in her swing. But we did get some amazing photos of her at her newborn photo session (Misty Green was the photographer, http://www.photographybymg.com/). They are pictures I will treasure forever. So I will try to take more pictures and post them here when I can.
Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers...they mean the world to us!
