In a nutshell: July 2010

Today, Hailey turned 4 weeks, and she will be officially one month old on Wednesday. As always, time is just flying by but we are enjoying (almost) every minute of it.

Hailey is still a very sleepy little baby. I think I remember Allison being much more alert at this age, but I could be wrong. We are trying very hard to stick to the Baby Wise guidelines, but she is testing my resolve. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope that she will start sleeping through the night in the next 4-5 weeks. Her sleepiness makes it nearly impossible to get her to take a full feeding in one sitting, and even harder to keep her awake after she eats. We've tried everything from rubbing her toes, undressing her, giving her a bath, and letting Allison sing (read: yell) Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her. NOTHING wakes this child when she is determined to sleep. And yet, at her two week appointment she weighed in at just under 7lbs (1.5lbs gained) and was 20 inches tall (2 inches gained). So she's clearly getting enough food!

Hailey is still looking a lot like Allison did as a baby, but we are slowly watching her features change, and seeing her turn into her own person. She has lighter hair, and has softer features than Allison did. Unfortunately, she is following in Allison's footsteps with the umbilical hernia, though. I was really hoping Hailey wouldn't get it, but it has arrived. The doctor said it runs in families, so there you go. We have kids with big belly buttons!! Oh well.

I have to admit that even though I was really looking forward to having another baby, I was dreading the first eight weeks. I did not do well in that time period with Allison, and all I remember was feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and stressed out. I think my hormones were really messed up, because I'm not normally that much of a basket case. Luckily, something is different this time, even though I have MORE on my plate! It could be that the hormones aren't that bad, or that I have more experience and my perspective is better - maybe a little of both. Either way, I've felt much better this time around and I'm SO grateful! I feel like it has given me a chance to enjoy Hailey more at this stage than I did Allison.

Allison is adjusting pretty well to having a baby in the house. It's taken some time, but I think she now really enjoys having a little sister. For a while she only referred to her as 'sister' which was really sweet to hear. She frequently asks to hold her, and wants to help feed her when she gets a bottle. She's turning into a wonderful big sister! Not only is she being helpful, but she also wants to include Hailey in family activities. She notices when she isn't around and will ask to go 'find her' because 'Hailey is hiding'. This is a big improvement since just last week she would tell me to put 'Hailey in bed' any time I was holding her.

All in all, things are going very well. Of course, adding a baby into the mix has meant making some adjustments, but it hasn't been as turbulent as we had expected. Mostly, we just feel so blessed to have two sweet, healthy little girls. We couldn't ask for more.

Allison continues to amaze me. She really is very smart - at least we think so. She is constantly putting ideas together, and using her imagination to build new ones. She is fascinated by letters, and she sees them everywhere - even where they are not. For example, she was given a piece of garlic toast at dinner a couple weeks ago, and she held it sideways and said 'D'! Frank and I are often confused by her strange proclamations, but upon further investigation she is usually right. Sure enough, the garlic toast was in the shape of a D. But it gets better. She took a bite out of the side of the bread and then told us it was a 'G'. Yep, it sure was! Here's another example - we were in the car together parked in a shopping center when I hear her calling out random letters. Then I realize that she is focused on a large sign and is spelling Market Street.

She also has started to study the clouds to find shapes. I definitely didn't teach her this because I thought it would confuse her to point to the sky and name something random that isn't really there. On our way to a friends house she kept pointing to the sky, though, and would tell me that she saw things like a train or a baby elephant. When I told her I didn't see it she would say 'cloud' and point back to the sky. I'm excited to see how she uses her imagination as she gets older!