saturday morning

As I go through my days, I often think to myself "remember to blog about that"  And then, at the end of the day, I sit at my computer and (when I'm not falling asleep) think to myself "now what was I going to write about?"

So, I dunno, we'll go with this stream of consciousness thing for a little bit.

Babies sleep a lot, and for this I am thankful.  Elizabeth's sleep patterns (if you can call them that at this point) are starting to emerge.  Mostly I know she will be awake for an hour before nap time and for 1-2 hours before bedtime.  This works out well.  The past two or three nights, we've been able to put the girls to bed around the same time.  Elizabeth has slept from 8 or 9pm until 7 or 8am.  Well, it's 8:30 right now and she's still sleeping.  I feed her once or twice a night...but she doesn't really wake up and goes right back down.  It's great.

But, I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I feel like this is the honeymoon period still and pretty soon she's going to realize that she can wake up and cry whenever she wants.  So...we'll ride this sleep wave as long as we can, but I'm just waiting for my luck to run out.

Elizabeth rarely cries.  In fact, the only time I've heard her cry is when she's hungry or maybe cold.  When we're at home, this might last a minute or two.  The other day we were driving and she cried for 15 minutes or so until I could stop and tend to her.  That was the first time I'd heard her get really ticked off.  And she's still small enough that her cry isn't annoying yet...it sounds like a fake baby cry.

She looooves the swaddle.  Loves.  LOVES.  In fact, I've been double swaddling her.  We were gifted some really nice swaddle blankets that I'm crazy about now.  For bedtime, I wrap her up really tight in one of those, and then I wrap her in a bigger blanket as well.  And she wears a hat.  And then I strap her and all her swaddleness down with another blanket.  I KNOW I'm breaking all the safety rules about kids being around blankets.  But, I promise that I make sure she can breathe.  And, I check on her often just to make sure....not that I'm really that worried.  But, I tend not to worry enough sometimes, so I make sure I check on her.  Our house is cold too - so I think she really loves the warmth.  I mean, she's going on a 12 hour stretch as I type this (and yes, I just checked on her - she's fine).  Anyway, just wanted to document that she is a swaddle baby fo sho'

I guess, so far - she's been easy.  Minus the barracuda nursing of course.

Moving on.

Hormones are funny.  I wondered how I would be different this time since I kinda knew what to expect from with Abs.  Overall, things have been easier.  I know I'm more emotional than I normally would be (I cried at an iPad commercial last night), but I'm still able to differentiate  what feelings are legit and logical and which ones are crazy and hormonal.  Most of the time.  A few days ago I had a really really awful morning.  I hadn't slept enough, I hadn't eaten enough, Abby was being incredibly difficult and provoking and I lost my temper with her...which of course made me feel beyond awful.  Things just snowballed from there and while I knew, cognitively, that my hormones were what was really out of whack... I couldn't help it.  And I get really frustrated when my emotions override my logic.  I don't like that feeling, so it was a bad morning.

But.  Things got better - as things are wont to do.  And the second half of the day was fine...and the two days since have actually been great.  Still - I look forward to things evening out.

Other stuff.  I've lost 15 lbs in 10 days.  *cue Wicked Witch of the West melting scene*  Currently, I'm 15 lbs away from my pre-preg weight, which is pretty exciting for me.  I mean, I still have a month before I'm even cleared to exercise...so I'm optimistic.  Oh, and by cleared to exercise - I mean weights and running.  Because, you know what?  Carrying a 9lb baby in a sling outside for 2 hours, or cleaning house while chasing a 2 year old, or carrying all the groceries, a car seat, a diaper bag, and helping a toddler upstairs is definitely exercise.

This is getting long, huh?  You can tell that I'm writing this in the morning - after a full night's sleep and a cup of coffee.  :)

The other thing I want to mention (again?) is how well Abs is doing with Elizabeth.  Abby is definitely showing attention seeking behaviors and regression - she steals pacifiers, sits in the baby seat, and routinely says "look at me, I'm a baby!"  She also does things like tell me she's sad and will occasionally sulk for a while....I think that she knows she gets the most reaction from me when she's acting pathetic.  Yelling and throwing things I can generally ignore - when she's sitting in the corner with her head in her hands...I find it hard not to go comfort her.  She's got my number for sure.

BUT - despite the attention stuff - she loves baby Elizabeth.  She wants to help with everything.  She kisses her and giggles at her and it's fun to watch.  Abby says often "I'm a big sister, I can help!"

Just wanted to mention all that.

Kyle just came downstairs with little miss sleepyhead.  So, I'm gonna log off here and take my turn and holding the little bundle. :)