Just in case you're wondering what we've been up to around here. I cannot believe my maternity leave is nearly over. Considering I work for a Canadian company, I wish their year-long maternity leave would apply to us! Ten weeks isn't nearly long enough. But if I want to continue to get a paycheck (and Troy insists that I do), then I have to go back to work on the 18th. Boo.
This leave seemed to go by so much faster than my one with Lainey. Probably because most of my leave with Lainey involved me sitting on the couch watching her sleep next to me on her Boppy Lounger pillow. This time, I've been all over the place. Lainey has gone to daycare most of the time to keep her to a schedule and to allow me some time at home with Harper. Plus, I thought she would be bored sitting at home watching me watch Harper sleep. Turns out, that wasn't what I was doing. What was I doing? It's kind of hard to say. I feel like I went lots of places when in reality, I have spent two weekends in Jamestown, one in Goldsboro and five days in Williamsburg. So what happened to the rest of the past eight weeks? Beats me. I imagine a large percentage of the time was spent at Wal-Mart though. Huh.
I have a couple of regrets from this leave: 1) I did not get everything done on my To Do List (but I guess I still have next week) and 2) I felt a little like Harper got the shaft. I guess this is the plight of the Second Child but I just feel like Harper doesn't get nearly enough of my attention. When Lainey is around and awake, she pretty much demands my undivided attention. Even when I'm feeding Harper, Lainey is right there, talking, asking questions, wanting to help and getting into stuff so I'm constantly having to watch her, talk to her, try to convince her to "bring that back" and shield Harper from her rough affections. And when Lainey is not here or napping, I'm too busy trying to get stuff done to be able to just watch my little one. Other Moms of Multiples, how do you do it? Do you ever feel like you get to spend equal amounts of attention on your children?
On Monday, the girls start at a new daycare. We loved the lady who has watched Lainey since she was 10 weeks old but for various reasons, we decided before Harper was born to make a change. So they will be going to a nursery/pre-school program at a local church just up the road from our house. We think Lainey will really love the pre-school atmosphere and getting to play with more kids. And, well, Harper won't know any different so she'll be fine. Plus, I imagine it's several older ladies who want to sit around and hold babies all day and that is Harper's favorite thing so she'll love it. But of course I am nervous about them starting somewhere new and how they will adjust and more so how I'll adjust. I've been pumping almost every evening for the past 2-3 weeks to get a supply but I wish I had started pumping sooner. I'm not sure why I was so reluctant to start pumping this time. Part of it was that Harper wasn't on a good schedule until then and would often still eat right before we went to bed (which is usually when I pump). But now she generally eats for the last time around 7-8 p.m. and then I pump around 10 and go to bed.
Harper has been sleeping through the night almost from the time she was a week old. By that, I mean going 5-6 hours between feedings. But ever since she was about 6 weeks old, she has for reals been sleeping through the night (like, I often wake up before she does in the morning). So definitely no complaints there! And she is chunking right up. She has recently started to get those cheeks like Lainey had as a baby. I know she weighed 11 lbs when she was 6 weeks old and she is definitely bigger than that now so I'm curious to see how much she weighs at her 2-month appointment next week. At 3 weeks old, she had to move from newborn clothes to 0-3 and then around 7 weeks, we moved her to 3 month clothes (mostly because she is so long!). She took forever (and two treatments of silver nitrate in the doctor's office) to get her umbilical stump to come off at 6 weeks. She just had her first bottle Monday night and took it without any issue at all. I imagine she doesn't mind how she gets a meal, just as long as she gets one. She has also been busy growing a new crop of hair. We were surprised when she was born with lots of soft, light brown hair. Then all of it on top fell off around 3 weeks. She had male pattern baldness and baby acne...her first awkward phase. But now she is growing all new hair that is still soft but appears to be more blond. I have a feeling she will share in Lainey's lack of hair (although hers has also been growing more lately!).
Well, I suppose I should get to the good stuff...the pictures! Here ya go...
