Sleep

It's definitely something I've been craving lately! It's amazing how you go from sleeping 12 hours before the baby to maybe 7 afterwards and manage to cope. Every couple days or so I take a nap and sometimes when Aidan needs one too I let him sleep in my bed which he thinks is a big treat. It also softens the blow of having to have a nap.

This morning Michael came back from work and walked in the bedroom and Aidan was sleeping on his side and I was cuddling Keira on my side. 6:30am is just too early to get up!

Yesterday Keira had 2 naps in her swing - the rocking definitely helped her calm down and sleep for which I was thankful. She's not too bad - she could have colic and that would be waaay worse, but I can't handle the yelling for very long.

This is Keira in her crib, sleeping on her Boppy. I put her down on it the first night we were home from the hospital and I've just kind of kept using it ever since without really thinking about it. She seems to like being a little propped up rather than flat on her back, and anything that encourages sleep is fine by me!

I took Keira out for a walk on the trails today in her Snugli. It went pretty good, but we walked longer and were gone longer than I had anticipated. I thought I'd go out for maybe 20 minutes or so but took a different turn thinking it would lead somewhere it didn't. We finally made it back after 40 minutes and I collapsed on the couch with some water and sugar free freezies to cool off. Hopefully that stroller shows up soon! The snugli works well but is kind of bouncy for her when I try to walk fast and I really don't want her to wake up and demand to be fed out in the middle of wherever.

3 Weeks

Today Keira is 3 weeks old - it seems like such a long long time ago that I was pregnant - much longer than just 3 weeks! Things are going pretty well, but Keira has been very fussy. The first week she was very happy, but the past 2 weeks we've noticed she has become quite a bit more unhappy - with what, we're not sure. The only good thing about lots of crying is that she tires herself out and goes back to sleep :)

Thanks to Rachel for getting this cute little outfit - I love it! I didn't think it would fit so soon, but we do have a monster child! I wish it was a little warmer out so that she could wear it more often.

I had just finished changing her diaper after feeding her and then I changed her into this and by the time I had propped her up and gotten the camera she had fallen asleep! She was awake 2 minutes before...silly baby.

Michael took these pictures yesterday while she was awake and not crying last night. Here she looks like she's gesturing to get her point across.

Look at that huge belly!

She's really alert here - got those eyes open as far as they'll go!

Me and Keira

It's so funny how intently she looks at me sometimes. She's starting to smile more, and smile at me sometimes when I talk to her or look at her or tickle her cheek. She hasn't started to talk at all (other than crying or yelling). One day when I was sitting on the bed trying to burp her I was patting her back hard because she just wasn't burping and she turned her head up to look at me, stuck her bottom lip out and went 'Maaah!' and then turned around again. She probably didn't know what she was doing, but it was pretty funny.

Aidan's got daycamp this week again and then he has no more scheduled activities. I'm going to have to get on the phone and arrange some playdates for him. Last night was Brooklynn's birthday party and he had a blast. It was pretty late, went from 7-9:30 pm which meant we got him home and in bed a little after 10. They met at Muskoseepi park and went mini-golfing and Aidan even got a hole in one! Brooklynn was so excited to see him (and Aidan to see her) they gave each other hugs and held hands. Of course I forgot the camera, but it was pretty cute. I'm having a little bit of a hard time balancing both kids because so much of my time is taken up with Keira, after I'm done with her I just want to sit down and relax or sleep! It looks like this babysitting thing is going to work out with that lady, so then he'll have a little buddy over for a couple hours 4 days a week and I'm sure that will help both of us. We still have to meet her and her kids, but it sounds like everything else will work out. It's kind of cool actually, she scaled back her hours, but the rate she's willing to pay will work out to a little bit more than I was willing to go for per month so I'm really happy! Hopefully her children aren't wild and crazy!

Finally!

I'm not sure what's up with uploading pictures because I had to upload these one at a time. Maybe something's wrong with our computer. Anyways, here they are:

I got Aidan these rollerblades a few months ago and we just never got around to actually using them. While my mom was here I roped her into taking Aidan rollerblading - which he loved

This is Aidan's friend Shaun's sister Ashley. She came to Keira's baby shower and held Keira as much as she could.

Me and Keira. When I bought the little top she's wearing I couldn't figure out why the tag said 12 months when it was about the same size as another dress I had that said newborn. Then someone pointed out to me that it's probably a 12 month shirt and I felt kind of silly. But I still think it makes a pretty cute dress for her now.

While my mom was here Aidan was registered for daycamp and she very kindly ferried him back and forth every day in the bike trailer. He loved riding in it - except when a fly got in and then he had a major fit!

The very first day of daycamp I drove him so that my mom could see where it was. He sure looks grown up with his little backpack on!

Keira hanging out in her lounger

My mom and Keira. Keira really looks like Michael here

Sacked out in her cradle. I was really excited to get it, but I hardly use it - okay, I've used it maybe twice which I feel bad about.

Given Keira's reaction to her first bath in the hospital, I was all geared up for a fight to get her clean along with lots of yelling, but she seemed to really enjoy her bath at home. I got this baby bath tub from a friend and it's just perfect. I don't think I had one with Aidan. The water doesn't come up very far so she might have been just a little cold but other than that she had a great time which I was very happy about.

Keira was so fussy today, it was very frustrating. When she got up around 5 to eat I had a really bad headache that was still there when I got up in the morning. Sometimes it feels like she times her crying attacks for when I'm trying to get dinner, or lunch or breakfast or just sit down and relax. I was so exhausted I promised Aidan an ice cream when we went out later if he would stay in his room and play nicely while I had a sleep. He thought that was a good deal and it worked out well, I felt a lot better after getting a bit more sleep. Hopefully Keira can sleep a little longer between feedings at night soon because I don't think I'll be able to do that every day.

I had to go out to 2 or 3 places today but again, it ended up taking 3 hours! Every time I go out with both kids it seems like it's a marathon shopping adventure. Poor Aidan is exhausted at the end from walking around and I'm not that far behind him. We're getting this great stroller - I ordered it today from Walmart and it will take 7-10 business days to come in - and it has a place for Aidan to stand or sit at the back behind the seat.

It's called the Fisher Price Stand n' Ride Duo Stroller and both Aidan and I are very very excited for it to arrive! Hopefully I'll be able to actually get a bit of a workout when I take the kids out for a walk and then we can go a little further which will be great. I'm sure Keira would be excited too, if she knew what was going on :)

Two Week Checkup

Keira had her 2 week checkup at the doctor's office today. After asking me some questions about how things were going, I put Keira down on the examining table so she could be measured. She has sure grown! At birth she weighed 9lb 10 oz, now she's 10lb 8oz; at birth her head measured 34cm, now it measures 38.5cm; at birth she was 51cm long and now she's 58cm! Dr. Kali was going to show me on her little chart where Keira was at birth and where she was now, but she couldn't because where Keira is measuring now was literally off her chart! She said it wasn't very usual for a strictly breastfed baby to grow so much and asked me if Michael was tall. There was 1 thing I was a little concerned about - after Keira was born I noticed a tiny white thing in the middle of her bottom gum. It felt hard and I wondered if it was a tooth, but turns out it's just a clogged duct which I suppose will go away. The only other thing is that she has a herniated belly button. Dr. Kali says it's no big deal and that I don't need to do anything about it - I guess it's one of those things that sounds a lot worse than it is.

I stopped in at my work this morning to show Keira off. It was kind of weird being back there - it seems like much longer than just a month ago that I was still working full time! I fed Keira last night around 11:30 and then thought she was down for the night but she kept waking up every 10 minutes driving me crazy until about 12 so I was a little irritated when I finally went back to sleep. I got up around 7:15 and Aidan and I had breakfast and then I woke her up at 7:45 to eat. I figured since she had been sleeping for sooo long she'd be awake for awhile. We left about 8:45 and that little turkey fell asleep in the car and slept the whole time I was at work!

Uploading pictures is still not working which is frustrating me. We haven't been able to capture it in a picture yet, but Keira has 2 dimples - a big one and a small one. The big one is in the middle of her right cheek and the small one is on the top right of her lip, right above her mouth. You can really see them when she smiles, which she does a lot, but I'm looking forward to being able to make her smile.

Since we bought this house right before I went on maternity leave we decided that I'm going to have to do something to bring in a little extra money and supplement my maternity pay. The easiest thing to do - well, maybe not easiest...anyways, I thought I would take some before and afterschool kids since we live about 3 blocks from a school. I've been keeping an eye on the childcare wanted ads on a local website and I'm hoping that I've found something that's going to work out. It's for 2 kids ages 4 and 13 months and they need care Monday thru Thursday, from 3-8pm. The more I think about it the more I really hope it works out and that the kids are well behaved so I can handle them. I don't want to be stressed out by having to babysit because this is supposed to be my year off and I want to be able to do special stuff with Aidan and Keira but if I have to babysit, this seems like a really great opportunity. The lady has emailed me back asking about rates and I've replied with what I'd like, so hopefully we can agree on an amount and then set up an interview and everything will proceed smoothly. I think it would also be great for Aidan to have a little buddy who would come over and play. He's really sweet to Keira, but I think he's missing his friends at Darlene's house.

I'm going to restart the computer and then maybe tomorrow uploading pictures will work!

Do you see any similarities?

Here's a hint - look at the feet!

Proud Big Brother

Here are some pictures of Aidan and Keira - she's about 8 or 9 days old. He looks so proud :)

This is one of the cutest little dresses ever! It's fuzzy pink on this side and bright orange on the other side and comes with 2 little diaper covers in pink and orange. I'll have to put it on her more because it's Newborn size and just fits her.

I tried like 10 times to upload more pictures but it's just not working and I'm tired of trying.

Things are going pretty well here. My mom left on Monday morning bright and early and it's been a little rough since she left but we've been managing. She was here since I got out of the hospital and it sure was nice to have her here! She really made things easier by playing with Aidan or looking after Keira or doing the dishes or whatever. Aidan was pretty upset about her leaving and misses her a lot. He had a great time with her.

Michael's been out working as well. This past week was his last week of holidays and this coming week he's off, but a couple good jobs came up and he decided to make some extra money and work. I'm not sure whether he's going to work this coming week as well - it's good money to work your days off, but then he would be on shift for 4 weeks straight which would be rough. He got called out Sunday evening and has been doing back to back jobs since. I drove out to meet him at the Husky here in town today to drop off some snacks and more water bottles and then they were headed right out again.

Keira's a pretty happy baby - these past couple days have been harder but that's maybe because I've been here by myself with both kids. She's not a fan of going right back to sleep at night and will usually keep me up at least for an hour when she wakes up. Feeding and changing her diaper takes about 20 minutes and then I have to convince her it really is a good idea to fall asleep and stay asleep. In the middle of the night I don't really have a lot of patience, but I'm working on it. She sleeps about 3 hours at a time and seems to usually eat at 11ish, 2ish and 5ish so if we can develop a routine that will help a lot! When I was pregnant I noticed that she got the hiccups sometimes and that has continued. She probably gets the hiccups at least once a day, it's pretty funny. She also has the cutest way of crossing her ankles or holding her hands together like a little lady.

This is her today - sometimes when she's awake, she's really awake and has this zoned out stare.

This is her after eating. Michael calls her milk-drunk when she looks like this.

Well, it's about time to get Aidan off to bed and I still need to eat dinner and try to tidy up a bit before Keira wakes up again. Tomorrow is her 2 week appointment at the doctor - I wonder how much she's gained!

One Week

Today Keira is one week old - in some ways it's hard to believe it's been a week, but we've been busy! Today I propped her up on the couch and took some pictures:

Just hanging out

Chewing on her teddy

Pulling on her lip - I can't wait until that disgusting belly button thing falls offClose up
Doesn't she look like a little doll?
I wanted to dress her up and then take more pictures, but after I got her dressed she fell asleepShe loves her lounger - just like Aidan This is a couple days ago - and one of my favourite onesies. It says Moo, Meow and Oink and has pictures of cows, cats and pigs

Overall things have been going very well with Keira. It's still a big adjustment to get used to feeding her (constantly it seems), and also getting up in the night but my mom and Michael have been a big help. I've been feeling really great and have been able to be up and about and out for walks to Safeway or the park for which I am really thankful. I think it definitely helps to have another kid who would get upset if I spent all my time on the couch!

Aidan has been really really sweet to Keira and will come and try to hug and kiss her and give her her teddy bear and talk to her. He doesn't like that she cries so much but we've explained that she doesn't know how to talk so she just cries. Aidan's solution to this is to tell us that he will teach her how to talk.

Michael's also been a huge help - taking her at night when he can and hanging out with Aidan or doing household chores. Yesterday we got her all ready and he took her (and a bottle) out to his work to show her off. He was gone for about 4 hours and as soon as he came home I fed her and we went out again to Fish Place for dinner and she slept almost the whole time!