One Month
Baby Heidi is already a month old! This month has flown by. The newborn days seemed interminable the first time around. Now I'm wishing they would slow down so that I can savor them, just in case this is our last baby.
Third newborn seems almost comically easy. Three kids, on the other hand, is a little nuts. Someone at Karl's office told him that with the first kid, you know every single thing they do; second kid, you know when they're causing trouble; third kid, you just start counting. Precisely right. I constantly feel like I'm forgetting someone. I did forget the stroller on the sidewalk outside school once. Don't worry, the baby was not in it.
The hardest part this time around has been the lack of maternity leave. That was the one great thing about working for a law firm: 16 weeks of leave. "Sleep when the baby sleeps," everyone says. Great advice for your first kid. There's no napping with two other kids to entertain/drop off/pick up/keep alive.
Karl has been heroic in taking care of the big kids and the house. He's been cleaning up and packing lunches at night, plus going to work late in the morning in order to get us out the door before school. But he's going to have to get back on schedule soon. Then I'm on my own to get thesecrazy people darlings fed, dressed, and out the door in the morning.
I'm slowly figuring out this baby's quirks. When she sleeps on me, she likes to be canted off to one side with her face mashed into my armpit, not upright on my chest. Heidi our first baby who doesn't like to nurse to sleep. Both of the other kids fell asleep after eating, then napped, then had wakeful periods before eating again. This little lady likes normal baby things like rocking and bouncing. And there's this rubber thing you can put in her mouth and it...how do I say it?...pacifies the child. We've been doing bedtimes with paci, rocking, and a song. After she naps, she wants milk Immediately upon waking.
We had a very easy time with nursing. She had a good latch and no tongue tie to start with.
She's chunking up nicely but it's all going to her belly. Heidi is already growing out of the 0-3 month clothes because they're too short but she would swim in 6 month clothes. Her arms and legs are so skinny! They're also really long. Her hands can easily touch over her head. Henry did not accomplish this until he was like a year old.
Otherwise she still looks just like baby Henry. Sometimes I look down and think, "Why is Henry wearing a pink onesie?" She also has some of Henry's quirks. Her nursing dismount is the same. And when you raise her arms over her head, she looks surprised. She might even have a small tuft!
Heidi fit right in with the family. I've forgotten that we didn't have her before (I have also mercifully forgotten that I was pregnant for freaking ever). Transitioning from two to three has been easier than one to two. Perhaps it's because we were already used to "the kids," plural, rather than adding another child to the individual, over-attended, first-and-only child.
The big kids adore her. Henry is a hit-and-run brother. He swoops in, demands a cuddle or squishes Heidi's cheeks, and then loses interest quickly. Ingrid lovingly harasses the baby all day long. She wants to hold her and feed her and change her and cuddle her and dress her.
I never posted the stats from her two-week checkup. The doctor confirmed that she is perfect and adorable. As usual, we crushed it at the weigh-in. They like the baby to regain her birth weight by the two week visit.
Birth weight: 9lb 2oz.
2-week weight: 10lb 10oz.
One-month checkup is next week. I assume she will continue to be adorable and chubby.
Third newborn seems almost comically easy. Three kids, on the other hand, is a little nuts. Someone at Karl's office told him that with the first kid, you know every single thing they do; second kid, you know when they're causing trouble; third kid, you just start counting. Precisely right. I constantly feel like I'm forgetting someone. I did forget the stroller on the sidewalk outside school once. Don't worry, the baby was not in it.
The hardest part this time around has been the lack of maternity leave. That was the one great thing about working for a law firm: 16 weeks of leave. "Sleep when the baby sleeps," everyone says. Great advice for your first kid. There's no napping with two other kids to entertain/drop off/pick up/keep alive.
Karl has been heroic in taking care of the big kids and the house. He's been cleaning up and packing lunches at night, plus going to work late in the morning in order to get us out the door before school. But he's going to have to get back on schedule soon. Then I'm on my own to get these
I'm slowly figuring out this baby's quirks. When she sleeps on me, she likes to be canted off to one side with her face mashed into my armpit, not upright on my chest. Heidi our first baby who doesn't like to nurse to sleep. Both of the other kids fell asleep after eating, then napped, then had wakeful periods before eating again. This little lady likes normal baby things like rocking and bouncing. And there's this rubber thing you can put in her mouth and it...how do I say it?...pacifies the child. We've been doing bedtimes with paci, rocking, and a song. After she naps, she wants milk Immediately upon waking.
We had a very easy time with nursing. She had a good latch and no tongue tie to start with.
She's chunking up nicely but it's all going to her belly. Heidi is already growing out of the 0-3 month clothes because they're too short but she would swim in 6 month clothes. Her arms and legs are so skinny! They're also really long. Her hands can easily touch over her head. Henry did not accomplish this until he was like a year old.
Otherwise she still looks just like baby Henry. Sometimes I look down and think, "Why is Henry wearing a pink onesie?" She also has some of Henry's quirks. Her nursing dismount is the same. And when you raise her arms over her head, she looks surprised. She might even have a small tuft!
Heidi fit right in with the family. I've forgotten that we didn't have her before (I have also mercifully forgotten that I was pregnant for freaking ever). Transitioning from two to three has been easier than one to two. Perhaps it's because we were already used to "the kids," plural, rather than adding another child to the individual, over-attended, first-and-only child.
The big kids adore her. Henry is a hit-and-run brother. He swoops in, demands a cuddle or squishes Heidi's cheeks, and then loses interest quickly. Ingrid lovingly harasses the baby all day long. She wants to hold her and feed her and change her and cuddle her and dress her.
I never posted the stats from her two-week checkup. The doctor confirmed that she is perfect and adorable. As usual, we crushed it at the weigh-in. They like the baby to regain her birth weight by the two week visit.
Birth weight: 9lb 2oz.
2-week weight: 10lb 10oz.
One-month checkup is next week. I assume she will continue to be adorable and chubby.
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