Loving Life!

Ahhh... things are finally settling down, and we are finding our daily groove! It has been a reality check for me that I am now coming to accept, that my sleep has been taken away from me for the next couple months. Now that I have come to terms with this new reality, it is getting easier to wake up multiple times each night with Charlotte. You know me, heels in the mud as long as I can when it comes to resisting change. 

Charlotte is sleeping pretty well for a 1 month old! She passes out for the night between 9:30 and 10p.m., and then will sleep until about 2 or 2:30 a.m. It's what she does to me after that first feeding, that kills me! She will wake up again about 4:30 or 5 a.m., and then just grunt until around 7 a.m. when she will finally pass out... right as Emma is waking up... AWESOME *insert thumbs up here*

The grunting, by the way, is so much worse than just a full on cry! At least a cry you can usually figure it out, give her what she needs and she's a happy baby again. Oh the grunting!! She grunts in her sleep, she grunts when she's awake, she grunts when she's stretching or waking up, then moves around a little, and will pass back out.. I mean lights out-out. So by the time I am fully awake to take care of her... Miss thang is sleeping peacefully. 

The most frustrating part is that I can't seem to figure out what she needs! I go through the check list: diaper change, feed, burp, cuddle...  but the sleeping part just does not come. She is wide awake after that second feeding, and unless she is on my chest cuddling, she will not sleep quietly. I've just been keeping her on my chest and laying back down so that I can get a few more hours sleep before Emma wakes up at 7:30 a.m., and sometimes even that doesn't work. Nyquil for a 1 month old is frowned upon... right?

Anyways, that is my sleeping dilemma, and I may have to start my day at 5 a.m. so I am not so sleepy and irked that I couldn't sleep until AT LEAST 7 a.m. Talk about Mom problems.

As for me, I am feeling like my normal pre-prego self again. After about 3 visits to the doctor's office, and lots of pain meds, I can say that everything feels normal again, and I don't feel like I just popped a child out of my uterus. Yay! I am lucky enough to have been able to drop almost all my baby weight within the first month, and now only have a few pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. That will start AFTER the Holidays of course, no sense in trying to diet/exercise when there's pumpkin pie and chocolate to eat!

Emma is also doing great; she is growing into herself and definitely developing her own personality. She is very particular and everything has to be her idea. She has become very independent, and wants to do everything herself, without any help. Even down to opening fruit snack packages... I have to let her try first, and then after a few failed attempts, she will bring it over to me and say "pease". It is pretty cute. 

We have also established "time-out" with Emma, which let me tell you, has been super fun. A whole new world of fun actually. Her biggest reason for time-out is not listening. I mean, looking right at you, doing what you told her not to do, not listening. Or just blatantly ignoring us. Today, I had to call her name about 5 times and she still wouldn't look at me when I told her "No". It's like if she doesn't acknowledge me, she can keep doing what she wants! Once placed in time-out, she cries for a few seconds, and then starts to play in her crib. Today, she was playing with her boogers that were all runny from crying. When I went in to talk to her, I found her with both fingers up each nostril. And then came that Emma smile, the one that is irresistibly cute and adorable where you can't help but to just laugh. 

She has got the, "say sorry and give Momma a hug and kiss" part down to an art though! I go in and let her know why she was in time-out, and then ask her to say sorry and give me a kiss, and she does it every time! It just melts my heart to no end. How can I be upset at this loving and gentle soul? We have a lot of do-overs throughout the day, where I just have to take a step back and remember that she is a sweet girl at heart, it's just the toddler stage that gets in the way. 

I am loving being home, through all the hard and sleepless days, I love my girls and I love this opportunity to raise them and experience life with them.

To end, I'll give you a taste of how cute our Emma is (as if you didn't know already!) with some videos of her first slurpee and showing off her teeth. Enjoy!

xoxo
The Twistles