Growing Baby Shelton: 2U2: Week Four (and then some)

We're still alive! Are you surprised? I am.

Blogging is near impossible as of late. I have so much that I want to share, and absolutely no time to do so. My life is consumed by these two tiny Sheltons between the hours of 6:30 am - 8:00 pm. I'm tempted to blog during naptime, but then I lose my one opportunity to ~~nap~~ be productive around the house; and, of course, once the kids go down for the night, we like to have a little quality husband and wife time (or as we like to refer to it, an Entourage marathon). I'm happy that I was able to keep up the 2U2 series for the first four weeks (albeit not always in a timely manner), but holy cow are these posts time consuming...I'll be doing monthly updates from here on out.

So, for the lazy or short-on-time readers, here is the condensed version of our fourth week: my nipples are on fire (not in a good way), sleep sucks AGAIN, momma had a meltdown, there was a tarantula in our drive way, and I have mastered the art of leaving the house with two kids.

Now for the long version:

BREASTFEEDING
Parker is still exclusively breastfed and nursing every three hours. He's very alert during his waketime and nursing sessions. Casey gave Parker his first bottle on Monday, and had no problems. We are using my favorite bottle, the Playtex Nurser Drop-In. I nursed Parker after he finished the bottle to help avoid nipple confusion. We were anxious to introduce the bottle much earlier than we did with Lucy. The plan is to feed Parker by bottle once each day so that he's familiar with it (you know, for those extremely rare occasions that I'm not around to nurse him).

Ok, so about my nipples (haha), for some bizarre reason they are both cracked. Nursing is pretty uncomfortable for the first 30 seconds - no problems once Park is latched and my milk has let down. I would have expected this during the first two weeks, but not the FOURTH. What gives??

NAPS
I have been reminded once again that newborn sleep habits are not all the same. Park decided to add a little spice to our daily routine over the last week...the 2 hour nap (and 3 hour schedule) are no more. Sometimes he'll sleep for 45 minutes, other times he'll sleep for 1.5 hours. I very, verrrry rarely have to wake him after 2 hours. Maybe it's another growth spurt? I put Parker down awake, but drowsy, and swaddled with his arms free. If I catch him at the right moment, he won't cry at all or he'll CIO for 1-2 minutes. If I don't catch him at the right moment, he'll cry for up to 20 minutes. His waketime varies; I try to watch for his sleep cues after 60 minutes and follow his lead.

Lucy is officially down to one nap. I try to put her down at noon, and she'll typically sleep for 1.5 hours. (Today she spoiled me with a 3 hour nap. Thanks honey!) She'll stay in her crib for up to an hour after her nap to read and play.

NIGHTTIME SLEEP
Parker's bedtime is dependent on his last nap, usually somewhere between 8:00-8:30, and consistently wakes at 6:30 each morning. The first two stretches of sleep are the best at 2-3 hours, after that its every 1.5 hours. It makes for a very long night...

Lu's bedtime is at 8:00 and she wakes between 7:00-8:00.

DIAPERING
Lucy is in cloth during the day and a disposable at night. Parker is half cloth and half disposable during the day, and disposables at night. We are having a really hard time with prefolds this time around. Parker soaks through them right away and then (understandably) wants to be changed. I put him in a pocket diaper this evening and it fit really well on the smallest setting. I might switch him to pockets full time, and then use the prefolds on Lucy.

SIBLING INTERACTION
::shakes head:: Lucy, Lucy, Lucy...such a beast at times. If she doesn't have my or Casey's full attention, she acts out. It's the worst when I'm nursing Parker. She'll swing from the curtains, stand on the coffee table, yank the night light or baby monitor, dump the contents of the laundry basket all over the floor, etc. I've tried reading to her, cuddling, and even Barney DVDs, but nothing holds her attention. Pinching was also a big problem last week.

Contrarily, she's starting to console Parker when I can't get to him right away. She mimics what I usually do to soothe him - kissing his cheeks and rubbing his head or belly. So sweet to watch!

MISCELLANEOUS
We ventured out of the house several times last week. We did some shopping, visited Grampy at the hospital, and even went to Story Time at the library. It's a lot of work, but worth it to avoid getting cabin fever...because cabin fever leads to meltdowns...like the one I had on Thursday. The house was trashed before the day even started and I had absolutely no patience for it. I went batshit crazy for all of 20 minutes, and then my friends and mother-in-law reasoned with me. My expectations for myself and the house are up HERE and they need to be down here.

Oh, and we had a tarantula in our driveway. First one in this house. /dies

CONCLUSION
Another week down with two kids. TWO KIDS. I still find myself needing to be reminded. We have not one, but TWO little lives that we are responsible for nurturing and molding. Sometimes I get so caught up in the number of diapers I've changed and how few hours I've slept that I forget that...