Ahh, sleep. Something Cate has a lot of and I have little of. It could be worse really. She eats every 4 hours and I know many babies eat much more frequently, but she likes to sleep all day. I mean ALL DAY! We went to a birthday party for one of Emma's friends the other day. I think we were there for about 3 or 4 hours. No one saw her awake the whole time! Anyway, she does have a wakeful period or two each day, but often it's at night, like last night. We were up from 1:45 to 4. Fun times! She doesn't seem to understand that I can't sleep all day like she can. I am grateful for the fact that Emma sleeps really well and I can get both girls to nap at the same time in the afternoon. What to do with that 2 or 3 hours though? I should sleep, right? Except, I also don't have any other time of the day that is just mine. So I usually catch up on chores, reading, e-mail, TV. By the end of the nap time, everyone has napped but me. Oh well, I think mother's were built to run on very little sleep.
Can you tell who is who? Both pictures are taken at 2 weeks ... Emma thought they were both Cate!
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| Emma at 2 weeks |
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| Cate at 2 weeks |
We are settling in a routine sort of. Since Cate is so portable, it's pretty easy. She either sleeps in her Boppy chair, or her car seat, or my arms, or her pack n play. Pretty much wherever I need her to. As long as I have clean diapers and a bottle, we're set. Of course, having Grandama and Grandpa around to watch her when I run Emma down the hill to camp or when I think I might cry and just really need to go to Starbucks ... ALONE, is more than a blessing. It makes my life much easier.
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| Cate taking one of her MANY naps My swaddling has much improved since Emma was a baby. Cate taking one of her MANY naps |
Thankfully, I am feeling great! Okay, this is my moment to brag ... I lost all the baby weight already! At 12 days post partum, I was at my pre-pregnancy weight and wearing regular jeans! I still have work to do to get my body in shape, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. I wouldn't normally brag, but weight loss is one of my biggest struggles. I didn't really lose all the baby weight after Emma until this past Fall. Just in time to get pregnant again. This is one time in my life that I am happy with my weight ( at least, considering this circumstances.) Okay, bragging over. I really do feel a million times better though. I don't think I realized how awful I felt. I sort of wondered if maybe I always felt slightly crappy and that not much would change once I was no longer pregnant. Not the case though! My family members have all noticed how much better I feel and have also told me I look much better than I did a few weeks ago! Thank goodness for that! It's so nice when people ask me how I'm feeling and I can honestly say, 'I feel great!'
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| The last photo of me pregnant ... 36 weeks maybe? |
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| This was about 12 days post partum ... still a little tummy, but not much! (Plus some of it is just me, not pregnancy related.) |
Emma is doing very well as a big sister! She wants to do everything with and for Cate. Sometimes that is a challenge for me, but I'd much rather have it that way than have her mad at Cate for existing. She is challenging me a little bit, but I think that is to be expected and I think it has more to do with being 3 than it does with Cate's arrival.
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| Enjoying some Cate-free time with Mommy |
We are all excited that Jeremy arrives back in town on Friday and will spend the rest of the month with us! I can't wait to see if he thinks Cate has changed. I feel bad that I haven't done a better job of posting or sending him new pictures of her over the last 10 days or so. I've fallen in that trap though that I've heard so many second time parents fall into. You take 1,000 pictures in the first weeks of your first child, but with the second child, you are so wrapped up in the day to day duties of life and caring for your children, that you can't sit and adore them all day like you did with the first. Consequently, not nearly as many pictures are taken of #2. Anyway, Jeremy's trip home is bittersweet. We can't wait to have him here, but it also means that we are that much closer to his real departure. At least for the last few months, he's been able to come home on weekends frequently. We have been able to talk to him several times a day if we wanted to and we've known when we will see him next. This will be different. When he leaves, we won't know when we'll see him again. We won't know how often we can talk to him. We won't know if we can even Skype. I know we'll all be fine, but I won't be wishing this month away at all. I am so grateful that I delivered Cate early so that the 4 of us can do lots of fun stuff together instead of me spending the time recovering from child birth.
I'm curious to see what this week will bring for us and how Cate will change!
1 comment:
I can relate- I loved when Reggie would come home from work and I would go to whole foods ALONE for 20 minutes! And one cannot underestimate the help from parents- youre very lucky to have yours REALLY close! haha!
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