Ah...The Terrible Twos Have Arrived

Well, our little Mia got into trouble at school yesterday. She has been refusing a few naps lately, but on those days, she spends the nap time playing in her bed. This nap-refusal followed her to school yesterday. She did not nap when all the other children napped - she pulled their hair! So, her teacher had to call the Director down to the room. Mia had to leave the room, as she was preventing the others from sleeping. We all had a chat when Daddy got home. We talked about how pulling hair is not nice, and she must be nice to her friends and her teacher. She knew she was in trouble. She was pretty solemn during the chat. Oh, and she napped for over two hours once I got her home. She was exhausted from all that hair-pulling no-napping activity!

And have I mentioned how much fun the no-napping girl is when her brother is incessantly crying? Cole is a crier. Actually, more like a screamer. And, if he had his way, he would eat every hour and a half. It definitely makes me feel a little nuts.

But...watching John and Kate Plus Eight during a middle-of-the-night nursing makes me feel less crazy. :) As does seeing Cole not screaming...

Hints of Normalcy

It's weird, because before having Mia, I never understood how much being a parent changes your life. And it did...and it took some time, but we flowed into a new sense of normal. Well, this time I knew having another baby would rock our world. And, again, it did. But now I am seeing glimpses (however brief) of our new normal. It makes me happy. :)

By the way, kicking Cole out of our room was a brilliant move. Since then, he has slept from about 11 pm until 2ish. Then, after eating, he will sleep again until about 5:30. After another feeding, he will usually go one more hour. This is definite improvement! It may also be that on his first night out of our room, we went back to completely swaddling him. We thought he preferred having his arms out, but they flailed about and kept him awake. Anyhow, I can function with six hours of chopped-up sleep!

That's about all from our house!

Happy Birthday!

My baby girl is 2 years old today - and I can't believe it! We are going to dinner tonight so she can have her favorite...noodles! Then, the family party is Saturday - featuring a chocolate Elmo cake with pink icing.

Small Victories

Cole just slept for about 4 hours! Which means I slept for about 3.5 hours. After I fed him at 10, I held him upright while I messed around on the computer. Then, at 11, I put him in bed...and he slept until 2:30! So, I fed him again and we are now in the upright-holding, computer-messing stage. It doesn't matter that it is 3 am - what matters is that I just got 3.5 uninterrupted hours of sleep!!! In about 15 minutes, I will try again. If he goes until 7 am, I will be one happy girl!

By the way, it is tough typing with one hand while holding a baby.

Night and Day

It really is amazing how different things look in the middle of the night when compared to the daylight hours. Cole is not sleeping very well at night - in fact, that's putting it mildly. He prefers to cry and cry, and reject his paci, and act hungry, and cry some more, and then pretend like he is sleeping...until we lay him in his bed...and then he goes back to the crying. And this was after two fairly decent nights. So, it is almost worse because we know he can do better. The two-and-a-half week old is just choosing not to. I guess he is already demonstrating some of his sister's stubborness.

But it is hard to stay frustrated with such a cutie! Here is a picture from his first "real" bath. He was not too pleased, to say the least.

Oh, and I got to meet Campbell today. So tiny and precious!!! I must say - knowing that one of my closest friends is also going through the new baby stage at the same time is very comforting. It makes me feel like I can do it because she also will be doing it. :)

Praying for at least a little sleep...

The Magic of the Mommy Memory

It was less than 2 years ago when my daughter was born. And I know that we had many a sleepless night in those first 2 months of her life...but I just do not remember that at all! My husband and my mother seem to remember, but I don't. I think it is the power of the mommy mind that allows us to forget that so we will have more children. That must be it. Because I could swear that Cole is the first baby to not sleep well at all during the night. Supposedly his sister was equally as stubborn for her first couple of months. At least that gives me hope. So, possibly, in 5 and a half weeks, Cole might be sleeping for 8 hours at a time. Although, at this exhausted state I am in, 5 and a half weeks seems like a really, really, really long ways off. And, that is not a guarantee. That's what Babywise tells me and that's what I have written on Mia's baby calendar - that at 8 weeks, we were getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. We will see, I guess.

Because right now, he seems completely opposed to getting any rest before the early morning hours. In fact, it was about 5 am before he calmed down this morning. And I am not too pleasant after an hour or so of sleep. And poor Chris - he had to actually go to work today. Thank goodness for my mom, who helped me out yet again today so I could get another hour of sleep.

Then, I ran a few errands by myself. It was so nice outside and so wonderful to be like a normal adult for a couple of hours. I must say, I am ready for Spring!!!

Proud Mommy

Here are some pictures of the kiddos. Yes, Cole is a little jaundiced (which accounts for the yellow hue to his skin compared to Mia's normal skin tone).