The Perfect Little Bed

The perfect little bed for a perfect little lady... :)

Our family of four has really settled in now... Things are so much more relaxed with the second child... Probably because we kind of know what to expect since we've been through it once before... I'm finding it much easier to deal with sleep deprivation, which I didn't expect (I'm probably averaging between 5-6 hours of broken sleep within a 24 hour period... which with Beth, I found quite hard to cope on, but this time around, I'm finding it quite manageable, as long as I manage to grab at least a 30 minute nap in the afternoon). Phan and I have a bit of a tag team system going on where I go to bed around 10-11pm (or whenever Catherine's last feed is) and he stays up with her or sleeps in her room with her until about 1-2am. Mostly she sleeps, but Phan resettles her if she wakes, so that I can get a 2-3 hour block of sleep. He sometimes gives her a bottle of expressed breastmilk and then wakes me and I take over from there until morning and he gets a 4 hour block of sleep... and I tend to get anywhere from 1-3 hours of broken sleep from then until about 7-7:30am... which is generally when Beth decides to wake up. For some reason, Catherine sleeps really well during the day (often in blocks of a couple of hours), but at night she tends to wake up every hour or so... and sometimes she just wakes up and wants to play... which would be a lot cuter if it wasn't some crazy hour of 3am! Hopefully she will figure out the difference between night and day in the not too distant future...

Today, I took Elizabeth and Catherine to Playtime... it was great to get out of the house and not too hard going out by myself with 2 kids... It helped that I had some wonderful friends who were happy to help occupy Elizabeth with drawing and craft when I was busy... I also put Catherine in my new ERGObaby carrier which I use with the Heart2Heart insert... I love this carrier.. really comfy, easy to use, and Catherine loves being carried in it... She basically slept her way through the entire 2 hours of the Playtime session... I was determined to get a decent carrier this time around... I'd bought a Baby Bjorn with Beth and she hated the thing and as a result I only used it maybe twice and never looked at it again! The other great thing about this carrier is that you can wear it on your front, on your hip and on your back... so versatile!

Elizabeth really enjoyed herself at playtime since we'd missed the last couple of sessions... She made a superhero puppet which she thinks is pretty cool... and we had lots of people oohing and aahing over Catherine... something about itty bitty newborns brings out the cluckiness in everybody.. :)...

Some random thoughts about being a mum the second time around -

I'd forgotten the funny, cute, quirkly little noises and facials that newborns do... Even their crying is cute at this age... it's not annoying, just such a cute small cry... and I can even see the funny side of hysterical crying (which has only happened a couple of times in the car on the way home, when she's due for a feed)... it's sad and amusing at the same time, because it's such a little cry. Really, it's so nice rediscovering how adorable this little phase is... trying to enjoy it because I know it's going to pass fast!

I am producing an abundance of milk ... with Beth I had a really slow supply getting started, but I had a decent supply and never had any real issues with leaking... but with Catherine... my goodness, I am making WAY too much milk... I am leaking, leaking, leaking! (Sorry if too much info!)

Catherine is a little bit reflux-y... nothing major, but going from Beth who was the most non-refluxy baby ever (she probably posseted less than 10 times in her entire life!), it's a bit of an adjustment having a normal baby that does posset... we just get little milky possets after most feeds... I just try and hold her upright after her feeds and I'm feeding her smaller amounts so she doesn't spew it all up!

It is amazing the amount of extra laundry a little person can generate! Seriously, I don't know where it all comes from... I've gone to doing laundry 3 times a week to now doing laundry almost every day!

Catherine enjoys baths... much like her sister... I think we have another little water baby on our hands...

Elizabeth is loving to share stuff with Catherine... I've caught her a few times just sitting next to Catherine in the bouncer and talking to her and holding her hand or showing her a toy... it's really so sweet to see. And if we go somewhere, she reminds me that we have to take Catherine with us (just in case I'm going to forget!)