a crazy week!

This week started with me calling to see if the lady who was supposed to be doing our taxes was in...when I found out that she wasn't, I told them I was coming to pick up our tax info so that we could get someone else to do them. I did that and then went to Peppy & Posh in Clinton to get waffle headbands and bows for the girls. I will definitely be going back there...they have lots of cute stuff. The rest of the week was spent with me trying to get in to get my eyes checked so I could get new glasses and contacts...I finally got that done on Thursday and was told by the optometrist that I NEEDED new glasses.

For some reason, Mattie Leigh has decided that she no longer needs to take naps...she has skipped them all week (and has been super cranky in the evenings as a result). I've tried to get her to sleep, but she refuses. She's also been pretty spotty on using the potty. I think it has become a game to go in her pull-up, but I haven't been able to figure out anything new to encourage her to go. I know part of her choosing to go in her pull-up is that she's a little jealous of Allie Grace and has reverted back to some baby things.

I can definitely tell that Allie Grace is growing. She is trying to hold her head up and refuses to lay on her back. I'm not sure how she's already able to do this, but she rolls onto her side to sleep. Our big issue with her this week has been her stomach. She has been extremely fussy and gassy...I changed her to Enfamil's Gentlease formula, but she is still having trouble. I'd given her a lot of Mylicon drops to help with that before we switched formula and she ended up constipated with those...after a few days and a couple suppositories, I think we've taken care of that. I'm hoping we're nearing the end of this issue and that we get our easy and always happy baby back.

whew! this has been easier than i thought...

Our transition to being a family of four has been easier than I thought it was going to be. I'm hoping that all the time we spent trying to prepare Mattie Leigh for Allie Grace's presence has really paid off and that we aren't going to have any problems in the next days/weeks. I'm really proud of our big girl for how she has adjusted to the changes. She really loves her baby sister and tries to help us with her as much as we'll let her. There have only been brief moments of jealousy, and the majority of those have been when we had company and they paid more attention to Allie Grace than to Mattie Leigh (which is totally new for her since she is such an attention hog). We have had a couple small instances where my focus had been mostly on Allie Grace and Mattie Leigh acted like she was going to hit her...she told me she was upset with me and that's why she tried to do it.

My routine hasn't changed all that much either. Allie Grace is a super content baby and adapts well to whatever we need to be doing. She rarely ever cries...usually when I'm changing her or giving her a bath. She also does really well at night and lets us sleep for good stretches of time...she would rather eat more during the day and sleep more at night (which is WONDERFUL because Mattie Leigh seemed to be up a lot at night until after her 2nd birthday).

I'm going to write a post sometime soon and highlight some of the similarities and differences between Mattie Leigh and Allie Grace during their first weeks. For now, I'll just post pictures of each of them during their first days...I thought I had one of Allie Grace in a similar pose to Mattie Leigh but realized that it is one of the ones that the hospital took and I haven't ordered it yet. Mattie Leigh is the one with her eyes open.

pictures

Here are a few of the pictures we have taken of Allie Grace in the last few days. My favorites are of Mattie Leigh holding her. Look on Facebook for other ones that aren't on here. Also, if you want to see the ones we had done at the hospital, go to www.newlifeportraits.net, search for my name and 3/3/2010 and the password to view them is 5968.

She's here!

On Wednesday of last week, I had started having contractions and didn't know it. I spent the night in the hospital so that they could monitor me and give me medicine to stop the contractions. We thought all was well and that I would be fine. However, Sunday afternoon I started having contractions again and they became really regular. I went back to the hospital and was given three more shots of the medicine to stop contractions, but it didn't work. Allie Grace decided that she wanted to be our early bird and was born almost 4 weeks early. She weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. I would have had a baby elephant if she'd waited until her due date to make her arrival! We're home and trying to adjust to being a family of 4.