Pool!!!

Ok, so it is pretty normal to have a baby pool for the little ones. We had one but I think the dog ate it. Friday I invited Noah's friend (and my friend) over to play in our sprinklers. I got out our set of three animal sprinklers and our water table. Erin and Noah had such a blast and played for FOUR hours without reprimand or major crisis. It was pretty blissful. I just was slightly amused and slight amazed at the contrast between their play and my good friend AJ's pool play (7 month olds in a pool). It never ceases to amaze me how kids change and grow soooooo quickly. Noah and Erin set up the water table and crocodile to make their own little water park and when they had saturated the earth they started digging up mud and putting it in the pool. The little video is at hour 3.5 out of 4. Enjoy the summer!!!

The Flying Creatures NEVER leave!!!!

We've been working on this bat colony for SOOOO long.  Since we moved in.  Things have gotten incredibly better over the years.  We used to have quite a few bats in our living space all the time but it has slowly dwindled.  We hadn't had a bat in ages and then the night Maeve was born Paul's mom stayed in our house and one flew around in the entry way!  Poor Ina!  We couldn't find it later and haven't seen it since.  We had a contractor replace all of the rotten wood all over our house a few weeks ago to deter the bats as well.  And then, last night I was walking to VBS and Sophie was acting weird.  I went to see what she was doing (as she has taken to eating birds...) and there was a bat on the tree just hanging out. How weird! They are usually flying or sleeping, but not this guy.  And he was gone when I came home, so I know he was alive.  eeew.  

Perspective

At birth Noah was 7 lbs. Maeve was 6 lbs 10 oz.  At 3, Noah was 37 lbs.  At 1 month Maeve is 8 lbs, 3oz.  Mind you, Noah has ALWAYS had a big head, but seriously, look at the comparison!

Siblings

This is pretty much every day for us...  super cute.

5 weeks

Maeve is now 5 weeks old. At her one month appointment she was 8 lbs 3 oz! She gained about a pound and a half in a week!

The not so good news is that at her appointment she was diagnosed with reflux (insert dramatic dark music here). I never wanted to hear that word again, but alas, here we are. She is in a lot of pain after feedings and you can hear her choke up fluid and sometimes she spits, though not very much. The doctor prescribed zantac to help. I am trying to eliminate dairy from my diet as well to see if it helps her. I'm not convinced it's reflux as she is super gassy and fussy. She is not fussy at night or after the first feeding in the morning which makes me think it is something I'm eating. We are looking into infant probiotics, anyone ever had any experience with them?

In other news, she is changing every day. She very much enjoys looking into the mirror for long periods of time and she really, really likes tummy time which also surprises me. We also started the cloth diapering again this week because we were able to borrow newborn cloth from a friend (the one size fall off of her in the smallest setting) and we started the cloth wipes that we just bought as well (we scented them with jasmine and chamomile oils!). She still isn't awake for more than 10-20 minutes after she eats and then drifts back off to sleep for the next hour and a half.

Here she is, with her uber loving big brother!

(Noah just got out of the shower...)

Our curious 3 year old

Noah has been very shy about going up for children's chats in the new church... so we don't push him at all.  Today he decided he wanted to go and that was fine.  He insisted on telling the pastor that his dog is named Sophie and she is at home.  Cute enough.  Then he got up and walked across the altar to tell the lector that his dog is named Sophie and she is at home.  Cute enough.  Then he walked to the pulpit and saw the pastor's guitar and started strumming it.  Mommy was right there to reprimand.  Then he saw some money inside the pulpit and he took it and started to walk away.  I had to force him screaming to give the pastor his money back.  Ugh.  Great intro, huh?

4 weeks!!!

Here's my little girl today!!! 4 weeks old! I am just stunned at how quickly it has gone. She will officially be one month on Monday. She is the most beautiful little girl and just perfect. I think I'll do my review now since I have some time, who knows what Monday will bring!

So, I think she will be up to 7lbs. by Monday. She was 6 10 at birth and 5,8 in the NICU and 6,1 when we came home. She was 6, 14 when the home health nurse came to visit. 7lbs or more is my guess. She is growing quickly and today she wore her first 0-3 month oufit.

Overall she is a very calm and happy baby. She sleeps a ton still and is only alert for about 10 minutes after each feeding. We are doing Babywise again and it is going very smoothly. Maeve pretty much had herself on a schedule before she came home and we have just followed that. She wakes about every 3 hours on cue around the clock. She has some longer spells at night, sometimes up to 5 or 6 hours. Generally we wake her to eat at 11 and then she wakes one more time before the morning. It's pretty nice. Babywise calls for a routine napping schedule and so after her "awake" time we just put her in the crib and she sleeps until the next feeding. Generally she naps 2 out of every 3 hours. She has recently been having terrible gas pains that make her cry a lot but it amuses us because she screams and then farts really loud and is fine. We've tried gas drops but I kind of think they're a hoax. She is also a pooping maniac. She seriously poops 20 times a day. She wakes up poopy after every nap, she poops like crazy during feedings so much that you think the diaper might not hold it, and she poops on you or right after you have changed one of the other two!

Noah is still crazy in love with her and wants to show her to everyone as his prize. We have been good about having just Noah time and emphasizing what a big boy can do and he seems to be doing okay. Noah is still the center of attention around here; his personality and temperment just demand it.

I can't say how happy I am to have two children. It's hard to explain, but I just feel more like a family now. There isn't one on/one off, we're all needed all of the time! It can be exhausting, but also fun. I just appreciate the littlest things about both of them and it makes me so happy to see them grow and change each day. I feel so lucky to be enjoying this because I know that many people warned me about having two. I feel like for me it was a much harder adjustment from 0-1 child than 1-2. I've already been steamrolled so nothing seems so bad anymore. Plus, Noah is potty trained, gets himself dressed, is fully functional and VERY helpful. He isn't needy in the way many who have kids closer together are and he has never been a very clingy child. Maeve just goes along for the ride wherever we go... she's already been to birthday parties, longwood gardens and the zoo. We were still trying to figure out which end was up with Noah at this point!

So, the first month is down and we can't wait to see what's next!!!!