Feeding Olga

Ingrid fed her doll Olga today.  After swimming, she took off her bathing suit, only put on shorts, and found her nipples.  She was very concerned she only had one!  "Where's the other one??  I have to feed my baby!"  Some things she said I know she gets from me, such as "Oh!  I got milk all over!  Do you want the other side?  Here, let's give you a burp."  But others came purely from a 3 year old's imagination--"She wants baby pears from my nipples!" 

Six Months Old!

Tomorrow Otis turns one half year old.  I cannot believe he started as a wee peanut, scaring the crap out of me by coming so early, and now he's this giggling little cherub.

His last doctor's appointment he was 13lbs 4oz, on the small side even if you go by the scale he'd be on if he were born on his due date.  Oh well, Ingrid was always small too.  He's catching up though.  Little mister went on a nursing strike and scared me that he was going to stop nursing but luckily we've made it through.  He is teething like a mad man but no teeth in sight yet.  We just supplement with bottles when he gets so fussy he won't nurse.  It seems to be working fine.

Today we had a little photo shoot.  Ingrid couldn't understand why I wasn't taking pictures of her!  She was seriously perplexed "Mama, I'm right here!  Take a picture of me!"

 

We also tried some cereal with Otis today.  I'm not too gung ho about starting food, but I thought we'd give it a try.  He seemed to like it.  Ingrid did not her first time!  It took her awhile to eat it, but we started way early with her.

After looking at pictures and videos, it seems Otis is doing things at six months that Ingrid was doing at four months.  I think she grew up so fast!  I'll go slow with Otis, I'm in no hurry with him.

Siblings, and a Growing Baby

Ingrid likes being a big sister.  Sometimes she freaks out when I'm feeding Otis, or if I ask Brendan to deal with her because I'm holding him.  But for the most part she loves him and is a great little helper.  She loves to get diapers or clothes for him, whether I ask for them or not! 

Yesterday we were doing a little floor time with Otis.  He's pretty strong but he'd much rather look at people's faces so he doesn't last for too long.

I was on the computer listing more stuff for the shop when I hear "I can hold my brother all by myself!"  I look over and there's Ingrid, holding her brother.  All by herself.  And walking around on the hardwood floors.  Where she's been known to slip and fall ten times in two seconds.  I had a heart attack and yelled NO NO NO NO NO!!! which made her burst into tears because she had been so proud of herself.  Poor kid thinks she's ready for anything and everything...

But Otis was fine, just wide eyed looking around, like usual.  This kid is growing like a weed!  I'm not sure how much he weighs now, but he just switched over from newborn clothes to 3 month!  How exciting.  And he's outgrown the XS Bum Geniuses we have.  Also, he is just starting to act more like a normal baby and not a sleepy, snoozy newborn.  He smiles and makes eye contact and has started cooing and almost making the wee-est little giggles when you touch his nose or chin.  It's amazing to think he was this tiny little 4 lb. skinny chicken legged thing with tons of hair all over his body to help keep him warm.  Now he has an enormous head and a little fluffy faux-hawk. 

And this kid is a sleeper!!  Hot damn, we deserve a sleeper.  He goes to bed around nine or ten and sleeps until five-ish.  It's amazing.  If only Ingrid could do that.  She's almost three and still gets up three times a night, crying for her blanket or lately it's "I'm so lonely, I really need you, mama!"  God she knows how to tug those heartstrings, doesn't she?

Otis loves his mama-milk!  I just love the drunk look he gets on his face after he eats.

Ahhh, that's good stuff.  The nursing is going extremely well, another thing I'm amazed by.  It's so funny because I see all this stuff about no pacifiers, no bottles, until they get good at breastfeeding.  This kid has had everything in his little mouth and still nurses just fine.  Or takes a bottle.  He doesn't care.  Where did they get this whole "nipple confusion" thing from?  I think the first month of nursing is just hard, no matter what, whether you have pacifiers or bottles or not.  I'm just so glad the hard part is over and now I can just feed him whenever, wherever. 

Holy Crap, I Have Two Kids!

Yep, I have two kids.  It hit me yesterday when I told a friend I was chatting with that I had to go get "the kids" ready for their baths.  The kids.  Not just Ingrid, the kids.  Wow.

I love it!  Yesterday I was a complete multitasker, nursing Otis in my arms while sweeping up a mess Ingrid had made.  And the picture above is from story time before putting the kids to bed.  Every day seems to get easier, and I'm happier than I ever could have imagined.

Before we decided on having another baby, I worried a lot about what that would mean for Ingrid.  Would she get enough attention?  Would she feel left out?  Would that take away certain opportunities for her?  And now I know, the girl gets plenty of attention, she doesn't feel left out because we include her in everything, and yes, she's going to miss out on some opportunities, but the new family dynamic seems so worth it.  We may not get to travel when and where we would without another baby, but we only travel twice a year, the rest of the year we're at home.  And our home life is so much more amazing with Otis in it!

When I had Ingrid I was bound and determined not to have another.  I got rid of all her baby stuff as soon as she was out of it.  I dreamed of when she'd get bigger and we could travel all over with her and show her the world.  I never ever ever wanted to be pregnant again.  And now here I am, a month out of having a crazy ride having number two, and I'm already thinking I'm not done having kids.  WTF?? 

Brendan says I can't because I'm a bitch when I'm pregnant, and I agree.  Pregnancy is not my forte.  But motherhood IS, so unless we adopt, which isn't out of the picture, I have to get knocked up one more time to have one more babe.  Only one more time, honey, I swear!   Who can blame me, my kids are great, why wouldn't I want another one?

Dehydration

Whew!  After all the tests they ran on my little 5lb baby, it turns out that he was just dehydrated.  Good that it's nothing serious, but horrible because he had to get so much done to him when all he needed was a heat lamp and a bottle...

I feel bad now that I was so against bottles.  Truth is, I still am.  The drs. kept saying he needed formula to supplement the breast milk, as it has more calories and that's what he needs right now.  But I think that's a lot of crap.  Breast milk is made specifically for him, isn't it?  I get that he needs to eat more often, but it can still be my milk.  I am not paying for formula when my body is overflowing with free milk made just for babies...Anyway, we are now going to do breast feeding and then top it off with a bottle of expressed milk, to make sure he's getting enough.  As long as it's my milk I'm okay with it.  Still hate pumping but I'll do it so I don't have to go through another night at the ER!!

Otis was doing really well last night when I went to visit, hopefully he'll be able to come home Saturday after his antibiotics are done.  And this time I will make sure he gets his feedings and gets enough!!  Poor kid just doesn't realize how small he is, and we keep forgetting how early he was. 

So here's to a better 2011!!  Happy New Year everyone!

Back to Work

Today is Brendan's first day back to work all day.  It has been awesome!  I am loving that I feel back to normal, I have energy again, Ingrid's been in a great mood, we've gotten lots done.  Ahhh, after a month of craziness we are back to life.

We took down Christmas stuff today and cleaned up toys.  They seem to multiply overnight.  I thought I'd made room for the new toys but I guess not.  Today I did.  The play room is now clean and tidy, the living room has 60% less toys spilling out, and my sewing machine is back upstairs ready to roll. 

I took some pictures of little man sporting his new duds from Grandma and Grandpa.  They got him a frog ensemble, complete with a ridiculous frog hat.  He looks so cute in it!

Otis has been doing amazingly well with nursing.  It makes me so happy that I don't have to worry about bottles and other feeding paraphernalia.  So easy just to lift the shirt and let him have some milk!  We were told  we had to wake him up to feed him every three hours so he'd grow, but that was getting so old...He is so hard to wake up, it would take nearly an hour to get him awake, then he'd feed for three seconds and pass out again.  So yesterday I just let him sleep as long as he wanted and after a five hour stretch he was up and alert and nursed on each side for 20 minutes.  We have a doctor appointment again tomorrow to check his weight, so we'll see how he's doing.  I'm going to follow my mama instinct and say he's getting what he needs. 

The Best Christmas Ever.

It seriously was a great Christmas this year!  Brendan's parents came over from Wisconsin and it was the perfect day of relaxing, eating food, and watching A Christmas Story.  They came from their hotel this morning and we opened presents, then they all went swimming at the hotel pool while Otis and I hung out cleaning and nursing and sleeping.  Once they were back we ate a huge meal and then hung out playing with Ingrid's new toys and asking each other Trivial Pursuit questions. 

Ingrid got two drums this year!  One an old school Fisher Price, and one a real true bongo set from Grandma and Grandpa.  It was so cute, we had gotten Brendan's dad some homemade guitar picks so he was playing the guitar.  Ingrid got her drums and sat down right next to him, and Bob and Kathy sang songs while they played.  We are so going to be the Partridge Family.

And Otis was a little sweetie all day long.  I had to try to wake him up, which is SO HARD!!  He just will not wake up no matter what you try.  But once he did wake up, the little genius finally figured out how to latch on properly so I don't even need the nipple shield anymore!  I am just amazed how this whole nursing thing is all coming together.  I was so worried I wouldn't be able to do it, especially since he's a preemie, but he's just gotten the hang of it so quickly.  And when he's not nursing, he's sucking his thumb...something I'm not sure I like.  Ingrid never ever sucked her thumb, but Otis does it all the time, it's kind of cute.  But you can't take a thumb away like you can a pacifier.  That's a long way away, though, no need to worry myself now, right?

Overall it was just a great day.  Tomorrow Brendan is taking Ingrid to swim again, then they are all going to the Henry Ford Museum, which means Mama and Otis get a big chunk of the day to ourselves!!  I envision a nap and working on Otis' cross stitch birth announcement.  Good times.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, too!!!