Our first week home

We have survived our first week home. I have been recovering really well from my c-section. I only take pain medication now when I've been running around doing too much. It's SO hard to take it easy with two kids and husband to care for. Luckily, my Mom stayed with us during the week and it was a HUGE help.

EATING
Holly has been a much different baby than Charlie. While it was a struggle to make Charlie eat, Holly eats eagerly and seems hungry a lot, but she spits up A LOT too. I didn't go through that with Charlie and it is a MESS! She seems to be a "happy spitter", meaning she doesn't have a lot of pain and isn't crying or struggling to eat. But if she lays down right after eating, she always spits up. And even if she doesn't lay down right away, the spit up comes later. She often spits up in her sleep. If I try to wipe it off, she wakes up. Needless to say, I see a lot of laundry in our future. I am really hoping she grows out of it soon, but from what I've read it often lasts through 6 months.

SLEEPING
Holly is a great eater but she is not a good sleeper. Charlie would sleep 5-6 hours at night (if I wasn't having to wake him up to eat). Holly hasn't been sleeping well at night. Last night is the first time she slept in her bassinet for any length of time. Before that, I was usually resorting to letting her sleep in my arms. I'm hoping we're turning a corner regarding nighttime sleep!

NEWBORN CHECK-UP
Holly had a great report at her newborn well visit. They were very impressed with her weight gain (She was 7 lb, 5 oz at birth, 6 lb, 15 oz at 3 days old, and 7 lb, 3 oz at 6 days old.) and her muscle tone and said she was very strong. The only negative was in regard to her spitting up and her dirty diaper...they think she may have a milk protein allergy. That means no more dairy for me for a while. It's been 6 days since the appointment and her poopy diapers have improved a lot. But her spitting up has not changed. In a few more days, they want me to add dairy back in to my diet and see if her poop goes back to diarrhea.  If it does, I have to stay away from dairy. Boo.

CHARLIE and HOLLY
Charlie has been amazingly sweet since he got home. I can tell that he really missed us all while he was gone. His first night home, while Kyle was putting him to bed, he said "Daddy home, Mommy home, Holly home, and Charlie home!". He will still come over to me and give me a hug or kiss, or just a rub on the back and say, "Mommy home, Charlie home" at some point almost every day.

I think my being so busy with Holly has been almost harder on me than it has on him. My Mom has been here to keep him busy. But I can sometimes here him downstairs asking "Where Mommy go?" or "Go upstairs, see Mommy, see Holly." It breaks my heart, but it's getting better. Now that I am up and moving around more, I am trying to spend as much time with him as I can.

I don't know how it will be when Lili isn't here as much, but I am encouraged by the way he has behaved so far. In fact, Charlie hasn't been asking me to play nearly as much as he used to. At first, I think this was due to the prednisone he was taking for his cough. It made him a wild man who couldn't sit still long enough to wait for anyone to come play with him. I loved it because he ran around playing by himself. He is no longer taking the prednisone, but he still seems to be playing by himself a little bit better than before. Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

With regard to Holly, Charlie has been beyond wonderful. He is so loving and sweet with her. He wants to help with everything and he always wants to know where she is. When she cries he says, "What's wrong Holly?" He is always giving her kisses, rubbing her head, or patting her legs. Of course, being a wild two year old boy, he has a hard time being super gentle. In the beginning I think I said "gentle!" about 400 times a day. It's getting better. I'm down to about 200 times a day now.

Breastfeeding is still fascinating to him and he likes to watch Holly eat. He always asks to "see better". The other morning I got my breast pump out while Holly was still asleep and Charlie said, "Mommy horns?" If you know what a breast pump looks like, you would understand why that is hilarious. They do kind of look like small trumpets. I laughed and explained what "Mommy's horns" were for, and then I started the pump. He stared at it for a while, then looked up at me and said, "WEIRD!" I couldn't argue with that. :)

More pictures and videos of our two adorable kiddos coming soon!