The Past Few Days

Well, you already saw that Lacey is refusing to nap. ;-) What else has been happening? Hmmm.

Daycare was closed Mon. - today. We've been trying to keep things fun around here for Lacey. We went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time Tuesday. Lacey seemed a bit nervous and shy to start, but after having lunch, she warmed up and had some fun.

We also had gotten her a golf set, so she & Daddy have been playing golf some in the yard.

Leah had a rough night on Monday night - up almost every hour. The 1 time she slept 2 hours, Lacey woke up in the middle of it. Ugh. Last night was a huge improvement. Lacey slept from 8:30 to 7:30 this morning and Leah gave me 2 3-hour chunks, plus some smaller ones. I can't wait until things are more consistant! I have been wondering if Leah has a touch of reflux. Lacey never really spit up, but Leah does quite a bit. We inclined her cosleeper last night so that she isn't flat and that seemed to help. Usually she'll spit up in her sleep, but she didn't last night.

My Harry Potter book arrived on Saturday and I was so excited. However, I'm only a few chapters into it. With Lacey back at daycare tomorrow, I might be able to read some while Leah naps. (Doesn't that sound awful? Send Lacey to daycare so I can read??? But...she really does do better with her normal routine.....)

Hopefully the transition back to daycare won't be too hard. It's hard when we get off of her routine. At least Miss Lisa doesn't have any scheduled time off until late August. So, we'll have a few weeks of consistancy.

Oh - here's a picture to show what a loving big sister Lacey is!

Dee, Buck & family; and Rick, Kristina & family are all on vacations. Dee/Buck are in OBX and Rick/Kris are in FL. We have Woody (R/K's dog), who is neurotic. He can't be left alone or he'll pee/poop everywhere. He can't be put in our fenced yard because he'll get out, so he was in the basement while we were at Chuck E. Cheese yesterday.

Dad is watering Dee's plants and feeding Ginger and Tinks (R/K's other pets). Although, he called us on Saturday to ask if we could do all that the next day so he could stay at Frankie's. I wasn't happy. Note to my family: Everyone isn't allowed to go on vacation at the same time again......unless we all go someplace together! Honestly, I don't mind taking care of the pets, etc., since people do it for us. I'm just more grumpy than usual due to sleep deprivation. And, in all honesty, Woody has been really good on this visit.

Lacey is still sleeping on the floor in the family room (for an hour so far). It's after 5:00, so she needs to wake up soon for dinner and so her bedtime routine isn't totally screwed up. Although, she's probably so tired from skipping naps that she'll still go to bed fine!!! (Let's hope so.)

Rufusal to Nap

Lacey has been refusing to nap. Luckily, she's been pretty good, but still. It started on Sunday. She ended up falling asleep on the ottoman, but woke when I took her upstairs.

On Monday, she fell asleep on the stairs!!! Then woke as soon as I tried to pick her up - as if nothing had happened!

On Tuesday, thank God, she took a 2 hour nap.

On Wednesday, she fell asleep on the family room floor, and I decided that was fine! Leah & I are upstairs while she naps on the floor.

Heartburn During Pregnancy & Baby's Hair

Okay....you've probably heard the "tale" that if you have lots of heartburn during pregnancy, then your baby will have a lot of hair. I had heartburn with Lacey's pregnancy & she had lots of hair. I had even more heartburn (and for a longer time.........the entire pregnancy) with Leah's pregnancy and she had more hair. So, I've been saying that whether it's a tale or not, it's a fact for me. ;-)

I was reading Parenting magazine today and found a tidbit. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Univ. set out to disprove this......but they were surprised by evidence supporting it. 82 percent of women with moderate to severe heartburn delivered hairy babies. Most women with little or no heartburn ended up with baldies.

A few new pictures

Leah snoozing....Lacey holding her baby sister:

Lacey's silly hair-do after playing with Grandma:

Leah Slept In Her Room!

Last night we tried Leah in her own room. Lacey is still using the crib (can't remember if I said that yesterday), so we have the Pack n Play set up in Leah's room. It has a bassinet feature on it. We had tried it the night before, but she didn't really settle, so she was back in our room in the cosleeper. I tried again last night - this time putting Lacey's lambskin under the sheet so that it wasn't such a hard surface to sleep on. Leah slept from 8:30 - 11:40, then 12:00 to 3:05, then 3:30 to 6:15 and 6:30 to 8:15. Ahhhh. Butch & I slept SO MUCH BETTER without all the grunting. I hope this continues to work!

An Update

Things are going pretty well. Leah is a better sleeper than Lacey was, but I am still nursing her every 2-3 hours or so at night. Sometimes I get a 3.5 hour stretch of sleep. But, she has slept (for the most part) in her bassinet from the start. Lacey only slept ON ME for the first 6 weeks of her life.

I'm thinking of moving her to her own room to see if she'll sleep longer. She is NOISY....grunts and groans quite a bit. So, even when she's sleeping, we aren't necessarily getting that benefit! I tried her in her room last night, but she wouldn't settle, so I brought her back to our room.

She is gaining weight well. She was 10 pounds, 2 ounces yesterday. She is also starting to look a little chunkier.....filling out a bit. Still wearing 0-3 month clothes, though. ;-)

I started pumping today.....in hopes of going to see Harry Potter with Butch soon. (I'm so excited about that movie. And.......quite excited about the book! I preordered it from Amazon, so I'll have it on Saturday. Of course, I won't get to read it right away because Lacey's daycare is closed Monday through Wednesday next week, so we'll be busy around here.)

Lacey was home from daycare last week - because she was closed for vacation. It was tough since she is still adjusting to sharing us (me). Lacey went to visit Aunt Kristina and Jessica on Monday morning to get good one on one attention and give us a break. Grandma & Poppy (Nancy & Chuck) came down on Wednesday and stayed through Tuesday morning. So, she had lots of attention from them, too. Of course, it's not the same as Mommy, though, and there were a few minor meltdowns.

She has been super sweet with Leah. If anything, OVERLY sweet. She wants to help a lot - including trying to change Leah's diaper. And, she is very concerned when Leah cries. But, with the time that breastfeeding is taking, it's hard on her. I've thought a few times about switching to formula just b/c of the time issues, but that wouldn't be fair to Leah. And, I don't *really* want to stop. Hopefully, Leah will move to eating every 3 hours (rather than 2 during the day) soon and it won't seem so crazy.


The other difficult time is in the middle of the night. Lacey is typically waking up 1-2 times (she was before Leah's birth, too) and usually wants me. Unfortunately, her wakings tend to be close to a time when Leah needs to eat, so I don't go to Lacey.


The guilt felt at being a Momma is insane. I am not sure how anyone has lots (and lots) of kids and manages to give them all deserved attention. I think 2 is plenty for us. I want to enjoy them both! Enough about guilt!

It's been really nice having Butch at home! He's off until August 20 and it's amazing how much easier it is to have a newborn with someone else around to help. Of course, it's easier since she is our 2nd child, too.

We are hoping to meet up with some of Butch's friends (married with a kid) in early August in Baltimore - either at the zoo or aquarium, if it's a hot day. I've been wanting to take Lacey badly. Maybe if we go to the aquarium, we'll go to the National Zoo in the fall sometime.

Welcome Leah!

Most of you that read this most likely already know that Leah has made her arrival! At my last doctor's appointment (Friday before), Dr. Aron didn't think it likely I'd go into labor soon. So, we talked about the game plan for being overdue and he also "stripped my membranes" (sorry if TMI for some of you!). I had cramping on Friday, but that can happen and still no labor, so I didn't expect anything. Saturday night, after going to bed around 9:30, I rolled over....in my sleep....around 10:20 and my water broke. Wow.

Labor was faster than it had been with Lacey, but still somewhat long (at least it was long when you compare it to those stories you hear from others and their 3 hour labors!).

She was born on July 1 --- on her due date (just like Lacey!). She weighed in at 9 pounds, 3.9 ounces and was 21 inches long. Yes, a big baby. For those of you that had seen me toward the end of pregnancy, you know that I was worried about her size!

She also has lots of dark hair - very much like Lacey's was at birth. Whether it's an old tale or not, I did have LOTS of heartburn with each of them.

Big sister, Lacey, is adjusting well so far. She adores baby Leah and is obsessed with holding her.

I'll post more at another time! Just wanted to share.