Ooooooh. My oh my.

Currently doing a heart wrenching "CIO" with Meirah (cry it out). I don't think she managed to nap longer than an hour at any given point today..... she wanted to nurse all day, and I think she is to the point where she is smart enough to try talking me into letting her nurse to sleep every time. Some may say that's not a bad thing but our life is structured in a way where that is not always possible. So, she doesn't yet beleive me, but it is in her best interest to sleep a little more independently. At about six weeks of age Ivria did the same thing where she didn't want to sleep unless she was being held, so I suspect that it is partially a developmental thing. With Ivi I let her have a pacifier to sleep and that worked like a charm.... this one is such a light/busy sleeper that she distracts herself with the darn thing so that plan is out the window. Jim stayed with me today because of a killer migrane, and even with him home I accomplished nil :-) Mom has been here since June 3rd, but this week she is up visiting her mom, so I am all by myself during the day this week. I think I'm just having to resign myself to the fact that I'll not be able to accomplish things as well as I would like for the next few months. Just got to remind myself that these first few months are as precious as they are difficult, and they will pass quickly.

Good news is that Meirah's checkup went well :-) our little chunkerino weighs 10lbs and 11oz already! I was worried for some time because she wasn't making as many poopy dipes as I would expect, but the doctor says her positive (understatement lol) weight gain nullifies my concern. Yay!

Life as me :-)

I just thought since I had a few moments (and there is a mountain of laundry with my name on it) I'd sit and ponder the past three weeks. Meirah was born 3 weeks ago tomorrow, I can't beleive how fast it's gone by. And I made it this far and I'm not gone cookoo yet! The girls are really great. Jim is SUPER great. He has been volunteering and helping without me asking, and I couldn't be happier with him. He is of course happy that his wife is returning to her "normal" state...... Normal being still 20 lbs overweight and nursing most of the day, but hey, it's life :-) I think we are all getting into the swing of things, Meirah was giving me a run for my money last week. She had three nights in a row where it took 6+ hours to get her to sleep for the night, so the colic alarm started going off in my head. After a little reading and a little observation I'm starting to suspect that she might not be able to tolerate a great amount of dairy in my diet. I could live on milk and cheese, but she seems to have more tummy bubbles on days where I consume any great amount. So I'll get some rice milk and try a week with no dairy and see how she does.
Mom comes into town on Wednesday, and I'm so excited! It will be great to see her, she hasn't been out since Ivi was born. And I think it will also be nice to have her around as I transition back into my work role at church. And, it'll help to have her here while I figure out my routine around the house again. Jim took two weeks off and did all the housework and then some, and I've been on my own while he is at work and it's hard to get back into the swing of things! It's so great though to have Jim's support, like today, he did the dishes (which got out of hand from the weekend) first thing this morning and that was enough to get me motivated. Go Jim! He really is a super hubby. Sigh. He makes me happy in so many ways! And he makes cute babies.....

Our cutie pies have been getting along really well. The only jealousy that Ivria has exhibited has actually been toward Jim, if he is home and busy with a project for what she deems is too long, she gets out of sorts. Once we hit 3 or more time outs before nap time we know something is up. So Jim, being the good daddy he is, took Ivi into her room before her nap and spent some one on one time with her, and she has been a doll all day since. She doesn't really seem phased by me giving Meirah attention when it's just us girls a home. THank goodness! And Meirah is getting better at napping on her own. I was able to give Ivi a bath and do her bedtime story on time without interruption tonight. Today has actually been mostly stress free. I say mostly because we are in the process of trying to buy a house, and I just found out that our health insurance premium went up by $200 a month, which takes us back out of the ballgame.......I'm so frustrated because I found a house that we could have been able to afford! So I'm looking into other options, but it looks like we are stuck with that health coverage until October. Graaahahaharrr! I do need to be grateful though, because it looks like all of our birth costs are covered at 90%, and that means the little savings we have right now will remain intact. :-) so I get all worked up over that and then I realize that it's once again time to tend to my new baby. And then I walk over to see her sleeping peacefully, and I realize that I could be living in a cave and I'd still be happy because we are all healthy and happy and I know there are people out there who can't say that right now. A family we know just lost a pregnancy at 8 1/2 months along. I have no room to be anything but humbly aware of God's blessing in our lives.

Firsts.

This week brought us a few "firsts". Meirah had her very first bath, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She loves to chill out in her little bathtub hammock. (check out those chubbs!) And Miss Ivria had her first Ice cream truck. Papa came over and while we were walking with him around the neighborhood, the truck came by and Papa treated us to some yummy ice cream. He chose a cotton candy flavored popsicle for Ivi and she gobbled it all up, and got all sticky in the process of course. A picture of her eating that first ever popsicle is at the bottom of this post.

I put these in just because they are sooo cute.

Yummmmm! She is concentrating very hard here :-)