week 2 in review

Well, we survived another week thankfully!

I must first start off by saying how lucky and spoiled I am. Paul returned to work this week, but my mom has been over every day to help me out. (See? Spoiled, right?) It has really been a blessing and is part of why I think E is doing so well with the change - he's still getting a lot of attention.

E still loves to give his brother kisses and hugs. He will want to hold him and still pushes him away when he is done. When G starts to cry, E will run over to him and tell me what he needs "mleh" (milk) and points to me. He loves to watch him sleep in his crib/bassinet and will give him kisses when he's asleep in the swing. In fact, he ran over to me the other day when G was crying and pat his diaper. I asked if G needed a new diaper and E said yes.

What he doesn't like is when G is nursing on my right side because that's the side on which E prefers to nurse. E is still really great at being gentle with his brother when they're both nursing. E is doing much better about not needing to nurse all the time, but he still wants to nurse a lot. The counting down from ten seems to work when I know he just wants a "hit".

He's becoming a bit of a biter when he's upset, as well as throwing fits. Yesterday, he bit me really hard on my thumb in anger when I tried to get him down from climbing onto the stove (he wanted to turn it on). I let out an "OUCH!" and a "NO BITE!", but then I just started to cry. E looked at me in confusion and I kept saying, "Biting hurts! It makes mommy sad" and pointed to my tears. In fact, I just had to walk away from him and go calm down by myself. After a few minutes, I came back out and realized E needed a diaper change. He got upset that I had to change him, so I picked him up and carried him. On the way to his room, I said I could tell he was angry and asked what made him angry. He then pretended to bite, then pointed at me. I asked if he was angry because he bit me, and he then said yes and signed "sorry". :-( I'm not sure how much he understands about what happened, but I'm glad that he made some kind of connection.

I purchased "Happiest Toddler on the Block" and am in the middle of reading it. There are some tips in there, one of which is time-outs, which we should probably be doing. I've been doing pretty good with his fits in getting him to calm down, so I hope it helps in the long run.

G is doing well. Still sleeps pretty well and isn't much of a crier. His umbilical cord fell off on Friday evening...it was hanging like a loose tooth all day! This morning, P and G let me sleep in until 8! (E was ready to go at 5:45, but at least that's better than 5!) I'm becoming a bit concerned with his tummy though. It seems to me that he has a tough time burping. He struggles a lot with sleeping if he is put down too soon. I am doing my best to keep him upright for about 10-15 minutes after eating. When it's time to burp, he gets red in the face, almost as though it's painful for him to get one out. He spits up a lot and gets the hiccups at least once a day. I'm not sure if it's reflux or something else. It makes me sad when I see him wake up from sleeping with dried spit up on his cheeks or a wet spot next to his head.

I'm feeling much better...still losing some baby weight. Each day I seem to be a little smaller in the belly! There are still about 10 pounds to go before I'm at my pre-G weight, and 20 for my pre-E weight.

Paul seems to be doing well too. He's such a huge help and an involved Dad...I couldn't ask for more!