The Yoder Family: Been a while!

Okay, so it's been 2 weeks since Claire was born, and I figured I should talk about how it's going.

Well, first of all, it's getting tougher. My parents are here for the week and it's REALLY helpful, but it's getting harder for me because Paige is a little overwhelming for me with my sporatic sleeping patterns. In other words, when I'm tired all the time, Paige is too much for me. It's not that I can't deal with her, but it's just getting a little harder to show patience with her. Especially when she asks me for everything to eat ("oatmeal? crackers? fishies? apple? vitamin? juice?") all at one time while I'm feeding Claire. It's comical from a different perspective than mine...so someday I'll get to laugh about it.

Haha.

Other than Paige being overwhelming, she is a very good big sister. She helps me with a lot of things. Like when I am feeding Claire she will hand me stuff when I can't get up. Or if I'm changing Claire, Paige will fetch me things that I forgot to get (wipes or diapers or something). She also will console Claire in her cute little way if Claire is crying ("s'okay Care, s'okay") or put her pacifier in for her. She loves to hold her on her lap (assisted of course) and give her kisses on her head. It's very cute, and Paige is a very good girl.

Claire is two weeks old and still looking the same to me. Although I can tell she's growing too. She seems a little bigger to me. Which is good, because that means she's eating well! That's kinda the "downside" to breast-feeding versus bottle-feeding. With bottle-feeding I knew how much she ate and made sure she ate enough. With breast-feeding I can't tell how much she's eating. But of course that doesn't mean it's not worth it. So I guess I can't fairly say it's a "down-side".

Although she's 2 weeks old, her 2 week "check-up" isn't until next week because her doctor is on vacation this week. So by then she needs to be back up to her birth weight. Which I'm sure she is, especially since I can tell she's getting bigger.

Claire is doing well too. Sleeps a lot. Which is nice because then it allows me (for the most part) to be able to do things around the house still. I know I should be resting, but it's SO HARD to do...as most moms know. I can't just leave my dishes in the sink...and I can't just let the laundry go un-washed...or the floors un-vacuumed. Come on now. But I think I'll be able to time me/Paige/Claire nap-times at the same time. All I have to do is feed Claire and then she goes back to sleep! Haha. Well I know that wont get to happen forever/all the time. But I'm thinking I can swing it for a while ;)

So yeah, Claire sleeps a lot. Which newborns do, but Paige really didn't sleep this much. But Claire is also a nice little snuggly wuggly. I love it! All I have to do is keep her clean and fed and she's basically as happy as a clam. Sleeping at night isn't TOO bad. I usually wait until 11 to go to bed, that way I can avoid more than 2 wake-ups a night. If I go to bed at 11, she'll wake up as early as 2 or as late as 3, and then we'll go back to sleep an hour after that, and then she'll wake up again as early as 7 or as late as 9. But then on "bad" nights, she'll wake up every 2 hours or so. I keep her in bed with us for now. She sleeps longer when someone holds her...and I kinda feel like it's a wee too early to "sleep-train" her. When I do put her in her bassinet she only sleeps for an hour and a half or two hours. Which actually is way better than Paige did. You'd put Paige down and then 20 minutes later she would cry. Then you'd pick her up and try to hold her 10 different ways to get her comfortable, but she would still cry. So...Claire is a breeze compared to Paige at her age.

I'm doing okay. Like I said, not getting a WHOLE lot of sleep. But if you know me, you know I love my sleep and I prefer no less than 9 hours of sleep "normally" hahaha. So, collectively, I'm getting about 5-6 hours of sleep per "night" so I'm technically good to go. Other than that, I'm healing pretty quickly and able to do mostly normal things. I'm ready to hop on the treadmill, but I don't know if I should yet. It was nice to lose 20 lbs off the bat though! I just need to make sure I don't go backwards and gain any.

Thats really about it. Just trying to adjust to two kids and juggling both kids needs and wants, especially making sure Paige doesn't feel neglected because of the new aspect in our lives.

So yeah...I'll write more when I can.

Sweetness <3