Non-Sleeping Baby

Julia is still waking up every three hours at night.  Sometimes every TWO HOURS!  "WHAT?" says every well-meaning (I hope) person who is more than a little bit removed from the newborn stage.  Such-and-such began sleeping through the night at ten (eight, six, twelve) weeks.  Here's a sampling of the advice I have been given:

Let her sleep more during the day
Let her sleep less during the day
Feed her more when she wakes up at night
Feed her less when she wakes up at night
Feed her every three hours during the day
Feed her every four hours during the day
Dream feed her at 10:30
Don't dream feed her at all
Are you sure she's not hot?
Are you sure she's not cold?
Have you read Babywise?
Don't consider using Babywise.
She should cry it out.
She's too young to cry it out.
Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child?
Try rice cereal in her bottle
She's too young for rice cereal
Try a big formula bottle at night
You should breast feed exclusively for 6 months

What they all seem to forget is that I actually have another child.  Said child slept 12 hours with one wake at 3 weeks.  I did, shamefully, think that it was because of something I did. 

Guess what?

Every baby is different.

I did the EXACT same thing with Julia that I did with Clara and Julia's not sleeping.  Clara did.  So, what is my conclusion?  She's not sleeping for more than three hours without eating because she's not ready to sleep more than three hours without eating.  I don't mind when people come to me with what worked for them, but my actual friends have all told me the same thing.  Their kids didn't sleep more than three hours, and then all of the sudden they did.  If someone had had actual "I used this swaddle and it helped" or "try warming up the crib with a heating pad before you lay her down" kind of advice, it has been welcomed and tried. 

No one wants her to sleep more than me, but she is a giant (90th percentile), happy baby and she likes to eat.  As her mother, I can tell you that she is not manipulating me, she is hungry.  No one knows her cries better than me.  I wish that instead of criticism or advice OR LAUGHING AT ME, people would say "oh you poor dear.  Let me get you a hot (or cold) beverage."

See this smile?  It's cute, right?  Feed me or I'll SCREAM!!!!!!!!!

1-2-3 Magic

This is my third post in one day and I'm not even sure anyone still reads this.

But on the off chance that my friends still do, I wanted to share something that has worked for us. 

Clara will be two next week and according to her daycare teachers, she is talking ahead of what is developmentally normal or even developmentally advanced.  (I say this not to brag, but to explain.)  The result?  She hit the terrible twos early too.  (I actually think she peaked in badness right when Julia was born.)  Terrible twos coincide with communicative talking.  I was pretty worried about her behavior and mentioned it to our pediatrician at her 18 month appointment.  She recommended 1-2-3 Magic and it has been, well, magic.  Clara still throws her fair share of fits and is still pretty wide open, but you can now get her to listen and mind and can even take her out into public without being completely on edge that she's going to melt down any second.  The concept is simple.  State the consequence, count to three without emotion, if you get to three, consequence MUST HAPPEN.  The hardest part is not getting emotional and being consistent.  If you are in the thick of it, I really recommend the book.  It takes a LOT and I mean a BIG GIANT HEAP of patience and an EVEN GIANTER HEAP of attentive parenting.  You know.  The kind you might not have the energy to give with a tiny baby in the house.

See?  Here she is at my parents' 40th anniversary party.  Acting like a civilized precious beast!

Life with Two Babies

Lots of people have two babies, right?  It's not impossible.  It should be easy?  WRONG.

The first three months with two babies is a lot like playing whack-a-mole.  And this with me having somewhere for my very busy toddler to go and be entertained during the day!  SAHMs?  I long (secretly) thought that my job as a corporate attorney was easier than your job at home.  Or at least on par?  I now know that if you are a SAHM, for the first three months after a new baby enters the house, your job is harder than almost anything on the planet.  And are you reading and listening to me?  Have that second baby in January or February when the toddler is in preschool!!

That said, I keep mentioning three months--it is getting easier.  Finally.  I really think we passed a milestone in the last 10 or so days.  I had just started to feel like a weight had come off of my shoulders and then I went back to work.  And let me tell you one thing about that--mothering those precious beasts from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. may just be the death of me.  Today Julia's sitter got there at the same time as Alicia, our marriage counselor cleaning lady, and Clara had been screaming about needing a bandaid and a pen for about 10 minutes straight.  I had given her bandaids (that she didn't need except to accessorize her outfit) but there wasn't a chance I was going to trust her with a pen while I had Julia in my hands!  The sectional in our living room may be uncomfortable but it looks a lot better like it is than marked with a pen!

So here's the three of us at three months.  Julia looks less terrified than she usually does around Clara.  Clara looks like she pretty much always does, and I am headed to host (hostess?) a baby shower and am actually remarkably clean.  In other words, this picture is better than it deserves to be.  The couch could use some fluffing and new pillows, but really, who has time to worry about things like that?

Julia Huntington King

Julia Huntington King joined us at 7:10 pm on April 6th, weighing in at 7 lbs, 10 oz.  She was 20 inches long.  She is now three months old and I am back at work.  I started this post when she was 6 weeks, so I better go ahead and publish it!

Big sister was pretty non-plussed about the whole event, but she has really come around.  We have to keep reminding her to be gentle, but she just loves holding and kissing her baby sister.

This is the first picture of Clara holding Julia.  Julia was just a couple days old.  I have about a million more that I will attempt to post in the nearish future!

Still No Baby

I realize it's not even my due date, but Clara set the precedent that my babies would be early!  I'm so ready to greet our new little one.

Anyway, it's Teacher Appreciation Month at Bright Horizons.  Today was dress like a movie color day and the toddlers dressed up for Men in Black. 

Here's Clara, too cool for school:

Mobile Pictures

Man, do I love my iPhone!  Apple just really got it right on that one (and pretty much everything else, but that's a whole 'nother post).  I got a new one a couple of weeks ago and while I was underwhelmed by most of the the changes since my old one (which was nearly 3 years old), the camera is a huge improvement.  I seldom remember to upload the pictures to any medium where they can be shared.  The iPhone is so easy because I can just email them out/post them to facebook straight from the phone.

Here's what Clara has been up to lately, taken on my phone:

Playing large instruments.

Practicing to be a big sister.

Tucking in her babies.

I also have a bunch of cute pictures from her teachers.  Clara has a bunch of sweet friends at school, but she always likes to play with her sweet friend Sophia the most.  Sophia's last name is also King and they look a lot alike, so it's cute to see them together.  Their favorite activity is switching shoes, pictured below (each had on one of Sophia's rain boots):

On the riding toy.

Naptime sleepover.

Sharing stacking toys.

It's actually quite rare that toddlers as young as Sophia and Clara would play together rather than play alongside one another.  I hope it's the start of many precious friendships for Clara in the future!

Peaceful Moments/Recap of the Last Month

Ever since Clara began talking, there has not been much quiet around our house.  We adore the chatter, but still embrace the peaceful moments.

I took this picture last night.  She just looks so cozy and peaceful in her crib!  Clara has really taken to her baby doll lately.  Notice that she even gave her a binky!  Snap is still #1, he is under the blanket closest to her, but she is starting to really love babies.  The cradle that my great uncle made me never fit into her nursery, but it has a prominent spot in her Big Girl Room.  She loves to put baby inside the cradle, cover her up and rock her. 

The last month has wreaked havoc on our lives health-wise.  Clara was first diagnosed with pneumonia when I brought her in for pink eye (mother of the year, I swear).  The pneumonia was viral (much less of a worry than bacterial) and presented like a regular cold.  After reassuring me that with no fever she wouldn't have even listened to her own daughters, Dr. Shaw put Clara on antibiotics.  Clara never really got better and then all of the sudden last week she started wheezing.  We brought her back in and Dr. Shaw declared the pneumonia cured, but Clara still had a sinus infection that needed breathing treatments and stronger antibiotics.  I have managed to catch the cold twice, which has been tough during my last month of pregnancy.  I'm not sure which was worse, the actual cold or the fear of bringing a newborn into that germ festival.  Meanwhile, Quincy has gone from one basketball-related injury to another, the latest being an elbow strain.  Fortunately, we are all on the mend and things are really looking up.  Which means New Baby will be late and we'll all have time to catch another cold.

I am less than two weeks from my due date with New Baby.  If I were to have this baby as early as I had Clara, I would go into labor TONIGHT!  I don't see it happening.  I am heavily pregnant and ready to be done, but also not so eager as to not let nature take its course.  New Baby doesn't have a name yet, but we do have 5 options listed.  It will be fun to name her once she gets here.  Everyone who hears the five names has the same favorite, so we'll probably go with that one, unless it really doesn't fit her.  There is one more thing to hang in the nursery and then it will be complete!  I was not sure that was ever going to happen.