Updates from the front

Caught her with her eyes open!

Greg and I are finding we're a little short on time (and sleep...) these days so aren't keeping up too well with our emails or returning phone calls. So we decided to post an update on how things are going in our world, now that our posse of little peeps has expanded to 2. I have heard it said that 2 kids are MORE than twice the work, and at the moment, I'd have to agree. It's hard to believe that Teia is already 11 days old. The days have been going by so fast in a blur of feed, top up, pump, change poopie diaper, put to sleep, spend time with Kai, go pee, start all over. Thankfully we've had the help of Gramma Barbie and now Granddad Dave to ease the pain a little bit. It is amazing what an extra set of hands can do! (I wonder if there is a way I can grow some in the next few days??? - or maybe clone myself???? Hmmmm....I imagine that I might figure out a way to do that, and by the time I do, Massachusetts may just have enough H1N1 vaccine for my clone as well as for me! HA!)

Teia had her 3rd weigh in today since we got home from the hospital. Last week her weight gain wasn't satisfactory so we've been anxiously feeding her every 3 hours at a minimum, round the clock and topping her up with pumped breast milk. Thankfully I seem to have plenty of milk this time around, likely do to my rigorous pumping/feeding schedule and maybe the fenugreek pills I've been popping. Today we got our get out of jail card that came in the form of a nice weight gain of 6 oz in 3 days. So, tonight for the first time since Teia was born, I don't have to wake her 3 hours after the start of her last feed. This hasn't left alot of time for sleeping if you consider that her feeds take 45 minutes to an hour and her diaper needs changing and she needs putting to sleep. That usually leaves me about 1.5 hrs to sleep before we start all over again. Each night we've been doing this about 3 times. So I am pretty excited for tonight and hope that Teia will continue to be the champion sleeper that she has been so far so I can get maybe a 3 or 4 hour stretch.

My first impressions of Teia were that she was going to be a fiesty little one. She fed lots in the hospital and complained a fair bit too. But since we've brought her home, she is proving to be perhaps even more mellow than her older brother. Now we are fully aware that we are still in the newborn "babymoon" phase and that she has plenty of time to get cranky on us. But for now, we are thoroughly enjoying her sweet disposition. She sleeps soundly (without a swaddle), wakes up without too much fuss and quietly looks around when she is awake. She smiles alot in her sleep too. They are gas smiles we know but they give us a sense of what she'll look like when she is smiling for real! She also has a very cute habit of holding up her pinky finger when she is nursing. I'm not sure if it is her British heritage shining through or if its a signal to me "its okay mom, I'm on and feeding, don't worry." We're not sure yet if she is going to inherit her dad and brother's legendary eyelashes but we're still hoping so!

Kai is on a bit of a roller coaster with getting to know his baby sister. I think he thought she was sort of neat at first, someone new to demonstrate his running, jumping and sideways walking for. But now I think it is sinking in that she is not going anywhere and he's not sure what he thinks about that. We've caught him sneaking peaks at her while she is napping but generally he is keeping his distance and gets a little bit upset if any of us spend too much time with her, or accidentally bring her into HIS bedroom. He hasn't been sleeping well but we're trying to spend as much extra time with him as we can so that he'll start to feel better about this huge change in his world. He is pretty excited for Hallowe'en. He knows that he'll say "trick or treat" and that he'll get candy and chocolate. But none of this will happen if we can't get him into his costume. Our latest attempt resulted in Kai flinging his cute fuzzy blue dolphin suit into his closet and slamming the door. So its not looking good. We may have to figure out some reverse psychology tricks to get him dressed up. Greg and I are looking forward to all those mini-chocolate bars he'll be bringing home!