Kaiya
Kaiya's doing great and growing like a weed. She's too tall for her newborn clothes already, though she's still slender enough to fit into the newborn onesies and her newborn cloth diapers. She's still a great eater and we continue to feed "on-demand" for the time being. She also still sleeps awesome, when we can get her to sleep. Yesterday and last night were a struggle for some reason, she just refused to GO to sleep. Once I was able to get her to sleep at nearly 2am she slept for a good 5 hours, which is her typical pattern. She sleeps for 5 hours, feeds, then sleeps for another 3ish hours before feeding again. I think there has only been one night her whole life wherein I had to get up more than once in a night (not counting the hospital nights when the nurses made me try and wake her, which was never successful). I'm pretty sure that's not the typical pattern for a newborn, but I won't argue. I'll also share a little secret with you but I have no way of knowing it's validity. Since before I got pregnant, I've been taking a high-quality magnesium supplement daily. There is lots of evidence that it helps promote better sleep in the person taking it, but I'm inclined to think it might aid her sleep as well. (Pregnant ladies, it also prevents muscle cramping and pre-term labor). If you're interested, the supplement I take is from jigsawhealth (also available on Amazon).
And when I saw she sleeps awesome, I mean she sleeps awesome IF she's next to me. We decided early on not to co-sleep. John is petrified of SIDS (and checks every few minutes if she's breathing ANYTIME she's sleeping) and I didn't want to give up our bed again just as we trained Cooper out of it. Kaiya had plans of her own. She'll sleep soundly but as soon as I put her in the bassinet, she's awake again. I've tried warm blankets, adding an item that smells like me, swaddling her, playing white noise and heartbeat sounds. None of it worked. She liked to sleep on our chests, or next to me near the boob. Well, a few days ago I came up with an idea that would allow me to sleep at night without worrying that one of us would roll over on her, or that a blanket would fall over on her face. I stuck the changing pad in bed. She now has her own space and is protected from us. Unfortunately, it means less space for John and me. I guess we'll try again when she can sleep longer in the night. Maybe I'll just stick the whole changing pad in the crib when I transition her over. :/
 |
| Kaiya's makeshift co-sleeper |
I am doing pretty well overall. I love being home with Kaiya every day, and it'll be hard to transition back. Some days, when Kaiya decides that she can be a bit self sufficient and just chill in her bouncy chair or swing for a little while, I am pretty productive. Other days she's a bit more needy and I end up getting very little done. There are a number of things on my to-do list that are hanging over my head, such as sending out the last few thank you cards, mailing out the birth announcements, completing coursework for my current nutrition class, returning a couple phone calls from good friends that have kindly remained my friends even though I haven't called them back. And then there is the obligatory housework that gets ignored, like the laundry, and finer points of cleaning like dusting and organizing the areas that became dumping grounds for things I just didn't have time to deal with. The upside is that I've been very efficient in catching up on the many shows I had neglected. It's much easier to watch TV with a baby on the boob than do nearly anything else, including reading a book as I have yet to find a great place to hold it that isn't uncomfortable or digging into her somewhere.
As soon as the weather clears up a bit here in DC I'll start a nice little routine to help get back in shape. In a week or so I'll go in and get cleared by my doctor to go back to my normal routine, which I'm pretty excited about (not that I've restricted myself a whole lot anyways). In the meantime, I've been introduced to a little addictive sensation called Candy Crush:)
John
John is FINALLY slowing down a bit. He is the master of taking on too much, and on top of working full time and being a new dad he's also been taking 3 college classes, working out when he has a free moment so he didn't die doing the triathlon last week, and prepping for the years biggest fund raiser at work. Thankfully his last final was last Wednesday, the fundraiser was Thursday and the Triathlon was Sunday. That means that for the first time since Kaiya was born we're only competing with his regular work schedule for attention. I assure you, it's a lovely change in pace. He's also looking forward to his paternity leave come mid-June. I am too:)
Cooper
Cooper is such a good boy. He's amazing with Kaiya, always coming up and gently licking her ear just to say hi. The only "jealousy" he demonstrates is with John in the evenings when he comes home. Cooper has always had this ritual of laying on his lap at night when John's relaxing on the couch. Now Kaiya's in his lap/on his chest. Cooper will act like he's willing to share 50/50, but then slowly tries to nudge Kaiya further and further off his chest. He's never aggressive though, he's more of a "passive aggressive" dog I guess. When she's on her own though, Coop loves to lay next to her chair or bassinet.
Luna
Luna is a nut and has zero regard for the baby. I woke up this morning to find Luna laying over Kaiya's legs. Not okay. Luna also likes to climb up and lay on people's chests and often she's attempted to lay on my chest by laying ON TOP of Kaiya. It's like she's coping with the addition of the baby by pretending Kaiya doesn't exist altogether. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about her disregard for Kaiya, but I'm guessing once Kaiya's able to defend herself (ie: pull Luna's tail and other appendages) the issue will take care of itself.
John is FINALLY slowing down a bit. He is the master of taking on too much, and on top of working full time and being a new dad he's also been taking 3 college classes, working out when he has a free moment so he didn't die doing the triathlon last week, and prepping for the years biggest fund raiser at work. Thankfully his last final was last Wednesday, the fundraiser was Thursday and the Triathlon was Sunday. That means that for the first time since Kaiya was born we're only competing with his regular work schedule for attention. I assure you, it's a lovely change in pace. He's also looking forward to his paternity leave come mid-June. I am too:)
Cooper
Cooper is such a good boy. He's amazing with Kaiya, always coming up and gently licking her ear just to say hi. The only "jealousy" he demonstrates is with John in the evenings when he comes home. Cooper has always had this ritual of laying on his lap at night when John's relaxing on the couch. Now Kaiya's in his lap/on his chest. Cooper will act like he's willing to share 50/50, but then slowly tries to nudge Kaiya further and further off his chest. He's never aggressive though, he's more of a "passive aggressive" dog I guess. When she's on her own though, Coop loves to lay next to her chair or bassinet.
Luna
Luna is a nut and has zero regard for the baby. I woke up this morning to find Luna laying over Kaiya's legs. Not okay. Luna also likes to climb up and lay on people's chests and often she's attempted to lay on my chest by laying ON TOP of Kaiya. It's like she's coping with the addition of the baby by pretending Kaiya doesn't exist altogether. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about her disregard for Kaiya, but I'm guessing once Kaiya's able to defend herself (ie: pull Luna's tail and other appendages) the issue will take care of itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment