Two Weeks Old

Lilly is two weeks old today. She now weighs 5 lbs. and 10 oz. and is actually measuring 18 1/2 inches long (no, we don't think she has shrunk, but we do wonder how far they had to stretch her at the hospital to get 19 inches long). That puts her in the 3rd percentile in weight and 3rd percentile in height for her age. She is tiny! But have no fear - she still has the large Cranfill head that measures 33 1/2 cm, or 10th percentile! I give birth to bobble heads apparently.

We still haven't reached our birth weight so we are being diligent in feeding her. She eats every 3 hours and is a little piggy. Most often she takes 3 1/2 oz. which is a lot for her age, so I expect her to start packing on the pounds very soon. I hope it happens sooner rather than later because she is a little too long for the preemie outfits, but much too small for newborn outfits, which means nothing fits her. It is a pain to keep her in clothing and swaddled.

Overall, Lilly is an incredibly good baby. In addition to eating and pottying well, she is not very gassy (yet) and is not much of a spitter (that was NOT our experience with Olivia). We have one fussy period a day and usually Daddy gets it (hooray for me!), since he takes the feedings until midnight and I take the rest of the night. My pediatrician has warned me though that newborns typically become higher maintenance at about a month old, which also happens to be the time when the newness of having a new baby at home wears off and the siblings can become more trying (more trying? It is possible for Olivia to be more trying than she is right now?) Considering that the holidays will be over when Lilly turns 1 month old and Daddy will start traveling again, I think we can safely say that the doctor was warning me that the "poop" will really hit the fan come January. Fabulous. I think I need to go ahead and fill my prescription for anxiety medicine now...

Elf on a Shelf

Many of you have heard about the Elf on a Shelf. It is a "game" to play with your children in which the "elf" pictured above visits your house each Christmas to keep watch over the children and to report to Santa Claus about their behavior. The elf watches the kids all day and then leaves to night to go to the North Pole to report to Santa. When he returns, he situates himself in a different spot and it is the kids' job to find him. Aunt Shell recommended this to us last year and we decided to give it a whirl this year. The Elf has been a BIG hit at our house. Olivia looks for him every morning and gets so excited when she finds him. She yells all over the house, "Elf, where are you?" and once she finds him, she will yell, "Elf, I be a good girl! Tell Santa I be a good girl!" It is really quite cute and funny.

As for the Santa update this year, I can report that Olivia has made two attempts to sit on Santa's lap. The first was with her Nanny. She refused to sit on Santa's lap by herself and would only sit in Nanny's lap when she sat on Santa's lap. Santa also visited Olivia's daycare and apparently she refused to get anywhere near him. She told us for days that she was going to sit in Santa's lap and tell him that she wanted a castle and a baby doll, but Ms. Diane reported to us that the second he poked his head in her room, she began to cry and Ms. Diane had to hold her the entire time (on a side note, neither Jeremy nor I were able to attend her Christmas party at daycare this year - Jeremy had to go to a funeral and I couldn't take Lilly to daycare due to the germs that cover that place. I think I will be carrying the guilt with me for years to come). We are going to make 2 more attempts this weekend at 2 separate Christmas parties, but I am not holding out much hope...

A Christmas Tradition: The Gingerbread House

A Proud Big Sister

Olivia is developing into a great big sister. Not only has she warmed up to Lilly, but she tells me often that she "likes/loves her baby sissy." She enjoys giving her hugs and kisses and takes quite a bit of offense if you don't let her help by picking out the bib, burp cloth, and handing you the bottle. She will help feed Lilly by holding the bottle and burp her by patting her back. Olivia checks on Lilly for me whenever she is in her bed and informs me if anything is out of place (i.e. if Maggie gets too close to her by Olivia's estimation, which means if Maggie is anywhere in the same room as Lilly). Olivia also loves to show her guests Lilly's room. We are really pleasantly surprised about how well she is doing with the transition.

At the same time, we are also noticing signs of jealousy, which can be exhausting to deal with. We are having a terrible time getting Olivia to go to bed anymore, especially if she perceives that Lilly isn't going to bed. I often have to put her to bed in tears as she cries that she wants Mommy or Daddy (depending on who is holding Lilly) to go to bed too. She also has developed an aversion to going to daycare. She never wants to leave in the morning and tells me that she wants to stay home "for a little while." Olivia refuses to eat her breakfast and struggles when I try to dress her, sometimes even stripping off her clothes after I have dressed her to avoid going to daycare. When Olivia comes home from daycare, she most often tells me that her "tummy hurts" and she wants to sit in my lap. This is usually when I hear that she doesn't like Lilly anymore. But after a while she will be kissing her and telling Lilly that it is "okay baby" when she cries.

I guess all these mood swings are very normal for the big sister but they certainly can be exhausting. Running on less than normal amounts of sleep, I am often having to count to 10 to regain my patience in dealing with Olivia's love/hate relationship with her little sister, as well as the "terrible twos." It is certainly a transition for all of us as we adjust to our new family of 4, but all things considered, I think we are doing well.

Lilly's First Bath

It was only a sponge bath because her umbilical cord stump hasn't fallen off yet, but she wasn't much of a fan...

Daddy and Lilly

Finally Warming Up

A week makes a big difference. Lilly is a week old today and Olivia has warmed up quite a bit to her. We have gone from refusing to touch her to helping Mommy by picking out Lilly's diapers, wipes, bibs, and burp clothes. Olivia helps me hold the bottles while I feed her and loves to feel her feet ("I like them Mommy.") She pats her on her back and tells her "It's okay, baby sissy, it's okay." She also will tell her it is time to get up to eat when we are ready to feed. It is really quite funny. I did tear up a little when out of the blue Olivia told me that she "liked her" and then later said she "loved" her baby sissy. Now if we can get her to hold her...

On another note, although Lilly lost over 8% of her body weight and reached 5 lbs. 1 oz. (like I said, a complete monster), she is finally gaining some weight and is back to 5 lbs. 4 oz. In the words of her pediatrician, she is a peanut!