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Thursday, October 17, 2013

Busy, busy!



Our sweet little Annie is nearly one month old! She is the sweetest thing.

Life around here is busy. In the past few weeks we've visited with lots of friends and family. Abigail and I went with Audrey on her field trip to the pumpkin patch. I took all the girls to see Rapunzel. We've had successful doctor visits, dance classes, and trips to the grocery store. Chris and I got to have a fabulous date night for our 9 year anniversary. We had a great newborn photo shoot. Even the days we spend at home feel super busy, lol.

All About Annie

What can I say? She's a great baby. More wakeful, but still sleeps a lot! She clearly knows night from day. During the day it's crazy loud and bright. Sometimes I have to get onto the girls about being too loud, but for the most part I let them be. At night we dim the lights and keep the tv quiet. She goes back to sleep after her feedings. She has a pretty clear cut night schedule. I feed her around midnight, she sleeps til 2:30-3:00. She feeds and we sleep together until 6-7 am. During the day it's just a cycle of feeding, a bit of wake time, and sleeping.

She eats about 3 ounces every 2-3 hours. I'm producing milk like crazy. I'm pumping over 50 ounces a day and I've frozen over 300! I freeze every other day because I run out of storage containers, lol. I'm going to start spacing my sessions further apart. Pumping every 2-3 hours in the beginning helped a lot, but I think I can afford to scale back a bit now :)

She's surpassed her birth weight and weighed 8 lbs 10 oz at her 2 week wellness check. She does seem to spit up a lot, but she's gaining weight and generally very happy. Sometimes she just wants to be held and will cry if you put her down. I haven't really tried the sling or carrier yet...I love just having her in my arms (it's amazing what I've been able to do one-handed!!) I love cuddling with her. She is a precious little angel and when I look at her I am just in awe of what we've created.

All About Big Sisters

Adorable. That's how they are with Annie! They just want to love on her and "play" with her. Abigail just swoons over her! She loves it when Annie is awake- "Her awake again! Her awake now!" And she continues to say over and over again, "Her so CUTE! So, so CUTE!!" Heart melted :) Audrey will come out of her room just to peek at her and kiss her. She definitely enjoys having Annie around. There is absolutely no jealousy from either one of them. They are even super patient when I'm pumping or feeding Annie. I'd say our only issue is when they fight with each other. It ends up with Abigail running out and crying about something. Luckily she gets over it quickly, especially if Annie is awake and I'm holding her. It's like a switch gets flipped and all of a sudden she just wants to dote on her little sister. I have low tolerance for their drama, and I will say that's probably the most frustrating part of my day.

Audrey still loves school and I always get the sweetest reports from her teachers. After spending time with her and her classmates at the pumpkin patch, it's very clear to me that she's the enthusiastic, outgoing class clown. Luckily she's not obnoxious- just very sweet and in awe of things that are going on. In other words, if she were one of my students, she'd be a favorite :)

Abigail still likes to push limits and is very direct, lol. We're working on listening and following directions (I've started the 1-2-3 count!) She's starting to realize that after 3 comes the fury, lol. She's also getting better with her manners...I love how direct she is, but we're always reminding her to say "please." And she can't tell us "no" it has to be "no, thank you." She's a smart girl and she's catching on quickly! I've learned to pick and choose my battles with her, which has helped a lot! I really wish she had more chances of socialization because it seems like she likes to keep to herself, play by herself. I'm not sure what the arrangement will be for her next year (preschool, daycare, both?) But I have to be honest and say I'm a little nervous that she'll be the exact opposite of Audrey...less social and withdrawn. She sticks to me like glue (at first) when we go somewhere new. I'm going to give her as many chances as possible to get out and socialize and see what I can do to foster her little personality.



We're taking it day by day and I feel great. Having 3 girls has been a dream come true. We love our sweet little Annie so much!