Two Weeks Old

Time is flying! How is my little newborn already 14 days old?!
Before I write this week's update, there were some things I forgot to mention in last week's post. . .

When Logan saw me nurse Krissa for the first time, he said, "Why is the baby eating your mole?!" I could tell he thought it was really strange for the first few days; now he doesn't think anything of it.

He loves to bring me water when I'm nursing (I forgot how thirsty it makes a new mom) as well as burp towels, blankets. . .anything I need! I hope that continues because he really is a big help.

In my last post I mentioned that she is strong like Logan (who rolled over for the first time at sixteen days old) -- we noticed she could hold her head up while we were still in the hospital, and she rolled over twice from her back to her stomach during her first week. She always immediately goes to her side when we put her in her crib or pack n play; that is how she prefers to sleep. She is not sensitive to light like Logan was (and kind of still is).

During her first week she kept pooping and peeing on Joe! It was funny because this never happened when I changed her diaper, but whenever he would change it, she would start peeing or projectile pooping as soon as he took off her diaper. :p We had thought that whole thing would be easier with a girl compared to a boy (i.e. getting sprayed) but it's been just as messy!

Speaking of Joe, she is doing better with him. In Krissa Anne Rodgers' Birth Story, I wrote that she is a mama's girl. For her first week that meant that if Joe held her, she'd start getting fussy. If I took her from him, she'd immediately relax. Thankfully, she has started looking at him and even smiling now when he talks to her, too. (BTW, I was wrong when I said that Logan was six weeks old when he started smiling -- I just read on my old blog that he started smiling at two weeks old.) She'll let him hold her now (as well as anyone else), although she still seems to think she belongs in my arms the majority of the time. So, on Wednesday I got out my Baby Bjorn carrier that I bought for Logan but never used because he didn't need to be carried/held as much. . .looks like I'll be getting good use out of it this time. (Unlike Logan, she does not care for the swing yet, but like him she does like the carseat.) So far Logan has done well with not waking up when Krissa wakes up in the night. He got up the first night and checked things out, but then went back to sleep and has slept through all of the nights since. This week Krissa has been sleeping for five hours straight!!!!!!! She has pretty much had her own predictable schedule from the start. When I was pregnant, I wrote here (and said A LOT to Joe) that I had a feeling she was going to be a night person because I always felt her most active in the evenings but then hardly anything in the mornings. That has indeed been the case. She sleeps the mornings away, but does not want to go to bed until after midnight. This is actually like me :p I would prefer to stay up late and sleep in, but having Logan put an end to that because he's the opposite -- ever since he was in the womb, I knew he was a morning person. He'd wake me up with his kicks, but then be calm in the evenings.

So, just like with my two pregnancies and childbirth stories, their differences continue. Logan was always easy to get to go to bed, we never had to do anything other than put him in his crib and that was that. However, he woke up every two hours for his first two months (he didn't do Krissa's five hour stretch until he was two months old), and even though the first time that he slept 12 hrs straight was at 4 months old, it wasn't consistent/every night until he was 9 months old. In the mornings, he'd be wide awake and ready to go (he still is). Krissa, on the other hand, needs me to hold her, nurse her and rock her several times before she falls sleep. I go back and forth between her room and my room for usually an hour. But then once she falls asleep, she's out like a light for five hours. Then she wakes up to nurse and I have to hold her on my chest while I lay back in the recliner (I STILL LOVE MY RECLINER!) and I usually drift off for about a half an hour and then I wake up and put her back in her crib and she's fine for another 5 hrs. Then, she usually goes another 4 hrs before wanting to eat again, followed by 3 hrs.

At first I was worried because this means she hardly eats in the mornings/early afternoons. . .but she makes up for it in the evenings! Starting at about 5 pm, she she eats back to back every single hour until midnight starts the whole cycle again. Surprisingly, I don't mind it; this way I can do what I need to during the day (and it will be good once Joe goes to work and I have to take care of Logan) and then relax with her on the couch in the evening (which will also be good once Joe returns to work because then he'll be home to help with Logan)! So far my milk supply seems great (I've pumped a few times just for relief and to store in the freezer and I pump 4.5 oz in five minutes; with Logan at this stage I could only pump 1 oz in twenty minutes!), she is gaining weight, and having a lot (we've lost count because there are so many) wet and dirty diapers.

She's had projectile spitting up twice already. I remember Logan had it twice as a baby, but his were both when he was a full month old. For both kids, I think it was because I don't think they realized that they were eating too much; both of them were in my arms at the time and so it sprayed me good. :p

She's still a very calm, content baby who doesn't cry much -- just grunts! It's humorous how she makes these sounds almost constantly! Joe and I don't remember Logan grunting as much, haha, we wonder if that means she'll be chattier than him. One of the first things the nurse checking her over at the hospital said (before Joe or I had a chance to really look at her) was, "She has a cute dimple!" Both Joe and I groaned internally, as that was what we'd thought Logan's brachial cleft fistula was for his first two months! Thankfully, she does NOT have one anywhere on her body, yeay! Indeed she has an adorable dimple on her left cheek!

She also has Logan's stork bite (his has disappeared now that he's three -- the same age I was when mine disappeared; for those who aren't familiar with it, it's the red birth mark between the eyes. It occurs in 1/3 of newborns. Unlike Logan who didn't have any other birthmarks, she also has one on back of her neck and the back of her head! The one on her face is expected to go away anywhere from 6 months to 3 years; but the ones on the back will stay forever.

She does not react at all to Bella & Cosmo barking! Clearly she heard them for 9 months in my womb (well, whenever she started hearing) because she does not flinch or anything when they go psycho, which is too often. :p

Speaking of psycho. . .carpet, toilet paper, and dryer lint are not appealing to me anymore, LOL.

In my last two weeks of pregnancy I became addicted to smoothies. Never in my life have I liked smoothies! I love shakes, but I don't know what it is about smoothies but they have never appealed to me. Then one day I saw a picture of one and I HAD to have it. Within two weeks I'd had like 8 smoothies from different places -- all were very good. But, guess what? Now when I've thought about ordering one (Joe had one at the hospital), I have the same reaction as I did in all of my years prior: No smoothies for me, thank you. Finally, I forgot to post the winner of The Baby Rodgers Challenge Second Edition! The only person who picked the correct date was my grandpa/stepdad's dad. He was only off by 4-hours-8-minutes. However, he had guessed a boy for the gender (and was off by 3 oz and one inch on the size). Therefore, he could only win second place (but both first and second place receive prizes). ExpectNet, though, (the site I used this time) had their own point system and so when all of the results were tallied, my grandpa came in fourth! The first three had guessed girl as the gender; the first two (my Omaha friend Stacy and my college friend Emily) had picked the day before she was born and my stepdad had picked three days before she was born. Stacy was only off by one oz. on the weight and one in. on the length, Emily was off by 5 oz. on weight and three in. on length, and my stepdad was off by 3 oz. on weight but had the correct length. So, Stacy and my grandpa are the ones who get prizes, but Emily and my stepdad get honorable mention, haha! (And, Joe's mom was the only one who got the exact weight at 7 lbs, 10 oz; Expectnet didn't let anyone pick 20.5 inches for the length so technically nobody got it exactly, however 11 people picked 20 inches and 7 people picked 21 inches.)

BTW, Joe's old co-worker's wife (who had shared my due date) had their baby this week, an 8 pound-6 ounce baby girl named Charlotte.

Anyway, so after I last posted on Sunday, July 24, I took the photos that you see here, and then we've spent this week packing the remainder of our "clutter" for the POD that we decided to wait until August 5th to get (since every day costs $). I can't believe that the time has actually come now to move. I remember back in March sitting (pregnant) in a bounce house at Bounce-U, telling Brooke that this was all a possibility for the summer. Joe had had the first interview but hadn't heard anything yet. I remember trying to imagine having a baby and moving and thinking there was no way this could all end up happening! But it has, and so far it's been A LOT easier than we ever imagined. We made it passed Joe working for five weeks while I stayed here with Logan. We made it through the birth of Krissa with Joe actually here at the time (no scary middle-of-the-night call to him to drive 3 hrs). Now we have the final thing: living at my dad's until we can move in our new house. Believe it or not, that has always been my most stressful when I've thought about the three because it's the only one where I am not in my element. Being on my own when Joe was away, I still had the comfort of being in my home which is a huge deal for me. Even the fear of going into labor without him, at least I knew I'd be in my familiar surroundings. But, not being able to move directly from this house to our next house brings just a ton of "unknowns."

I'm happy that we can stay at my dad'd house rather than have to get an apartment, but I haven't spent an entire weekend there since I was in HS. Since Joe and I have lived in Omaha, we've spent the night but we are usually only there an evening and then a morning. So, it's hard to imagine staying 7 weeks, especially since I don't know how often my dad will be there (or my stepmom, as she just learned that she gets to take the entire month of August off from work), and have never used someone else's laundry, kitchen, etc. So, I'm just worried that if I'm not comfortable then it's going to be tough.

But I just need to suck it up. Tuesday night I was getting worried about this and then I started reading the personal blog of my photographer and it put things into perspective. On Monday, July 25 Joe had tagged Krissa's newborn pictures (which I gave a link to in my last post) on facebook from our photographer's facebook page. Well, small world. . .it turned out that one of his HS friends has been reading her family blog for years, although she's never met her. I had no idea that my photographer has two children with a genetic disorder that will leave them without muscle and brain function. :( She had told me that she's expecting her fifth child in October and that #3 is just three months older than Logan, but obviously she didn't tell me about the disorder. Joe's friend from HS has a friend with a child who has the same thing and linked to my photographer's blog (http://livianasjourney.blogspot.com). So, we found it and I started at the beginning and have been reading all of her posts from the past 3.5 years.

Just this past Feb thru May their family stayed in Milan so her children could be tested and hopefully find a cure (as currently there is none). As I read about their stay in cramped living quarters without many personal items or essentials, and the stressful circumstances, I realized that what is to come for us is nothing. My heart goes out to her and her family, and I am praying for them. I'm glad that I hired her as the photographer since these medical issues are a drain on them financially; my becoming her client can help her out.

On Tuesday, July 26 was my first 5.5 hours by myself with both kids! Joe's old golf league asked him if he wanted to join them, so he did. I teared up at the idea, but I knew it was going to have to happen sometime, and it turned out well! Except at the very end, I was not balancing bedtime for Logan with Krissa's active time and so at that point I called Joe (who had been hanging out with the guys for a couple of hours after they'd finished) and told him I needed his help.On Wednesday, July 27 Brooke & Kaelyn came over to meet Krissa! They brought diapers, lotion, and homemade bread :-) They are going to be in Des Moines the week of August 22nd so I am looking forward to getting together with them again in a month.

Thursday, July 28 Lisa and her girls Lexi & Riley came over, too, to meet Krissa! They brought stickers and a big brother bracelet for Logan, and an adorable flower+bow and Mermaid toy for Krissa.

These visits have made it really hit that our life here has come to an end. I started crying a little on Thursday when Logan asked, "When we get our new house, will we still come back to this house?" I said, "No, honey, this won't be our house anymore." Logan, who has been excitedly packing and talking about our upcoming move, got the saddest look on his face and said, "But I like my house. I don't want to move."

I think he truly understands what's going on, as just like we prepared him for 9 months on having a sister, we've been preparing him for two months about moving. Most of the time, it is a really exciting and positive feeling. We chose this, it's what we wanted -- but then sometimes there's an element of sadness at leaving the good parts of this life -- and Logan's life -- behind. I suppose that is normal and best, as we are dealing with it now so that hopefully it won't be a shock to our system later on. I have confidence that Logan will adjust well like he did with Krissa, like he did with school, and actually like he has with every change he's ever been through.

I will always remember Fazoli's as Logan and my "last moments" as just the two of us in Omaha. Even though it was on Tuesday of the week Krissa was born on Friday, that is what stands out to me. Logan and I had gone to Babies R Us to get a gift for Stacy's daughter Olivia who turned one year old on July 14th (her birthday party was July 16th but we weren't able to go because I was still in the hospital that day!). Afterward, it was time for lunch, but Logan insisted he wanted to go to a restaurant rather than eat at home. I realized that I had never just gone to a restaurant with only him; we've always either met someone there or gone with Joe! It was time to change that! He wanted pasta, so we went to Fazoli's and had a little date. It was really special. Then, that night I put him to bed and teared up a little and he asked why I was sad. I told him I wasn't sad, I was just treasuring these moments, as I knew life would be changing extremely soon.

These past two weeks, Joe has been putting Logan to bed and keeping him entertained during the day which Logan seems THRILLED with since his dad had been away for 5 weeks, but hopefully once Joe returns to work and Krissa & I get into more of a routine, Logan & I will be able to have our special one-on-one moments again.

On a more light-hearted note, we told Logan about Pinocchio this week because Logan has started fibbing. I had asked him if he'd washed his hands after going to the bathroom and he said "yes" even though I knew he hadn't. So we showed him pictures and a short internet video of Pinocchio -- and it had a profound effect on him! Rather than understand the concept of truth vs lying, though, he thinks that Pinocchio's nose grew due to him not washing his hands!!! So now Logan wants to wash his hands all of the time and keeps telling us about Pinocchio's nose growing. He accidentally pressed a button to watch the video again and he started crying because he didn't want to see it again. Great, I've traumatized my son with the story of Pinocchio. :p

Today, Friday, July 29 was Krissa's 2-week pediatrician check-up. It was also her and Logan's last here in Omaha. We told Dr. Arispe that we are moving, so we got copies of their records and said goodbye. :( Krissa's appt. went great -- she passed her 7 lbs, 10 oz birth weight (which is where she was at a week ago) and is now 8 lbs, 5 oz (putting her in the 49th percentile for a two week old), her height was 21 inches (the 76th percentile), and her head was 14 inches (39th percentile). Logan was 8 lbs, 3/4 oz at this point and still 20.5 in with a 13.5 in head (those two were what he'd been born with -- the same as Krissa).

In closing, I lost six more pounds this week which means I've lost a total of 27 of the 35, so I have 8 more to go! (At this point with Logan I only had 7 more to go, despite gaining a total of 42 with him)Here is the post that I wrote about Logan at this point: Strong Baby