What Day Is It?

Wow...time is a flyin' and I'm doing horrible with taking pictures these days. Photography is one of things that certainly interests me, but I'm too lazy to actually set aside some time to learn and practice. Hopefully I will get my act together one of these days.

Like I said in my last post, May turned into quite a busy month. Last weekend Grandpa and Grandma Elkington drove down to visit from Delaware. They still hadn't met Lena, so it was a fun weekend showing off our princess. Dylan, of course, loved having them here. He absolutely loves his Grandparents. Grandma K will play with him for hours on end and this kid never tires of the attention. Not sure where she gets the energy to run around with him all day...oh wait, she doesn't have to do it every day! Both Grandparents enjoyed time snuggling Lena and giving Dylan the attention he seems to be so starved for. Mike and I enjoyed the extra hands to give us a little break.

Lena continues to be a little angel. This girl has captured my heart and I find myself just wanting to sit in the rocker, snuggle up and stare at her cute face. She is slowly gaining back some weight, but she is still kind of miniature. Dylan was never this small so I'm kind of enjoying having a little baby. I think I'm also taking advantage of her because unless I get blindsided, she will be my last baby and I want to make sure I cherish every moment.

Dylan was a crappy crappy sleeper. Oh, did I mention what a bad sleeper he was? So, imagine my surprise, when at merely 5 weeks old, Lena slept through the night. I thought for sure it was just a fluke, but then she did it again. And again. And again. She has consistently slept through the night for 9 days. Some people consider a baby sleeping through the night if they sleep 5-6 hours straight. Well, when I say sleeping through the night*, I'm talking 8-9 hours straight. And, well, this girl is sleeping from 10pm until 6:30am. By my calculations that is 8 1/2 hours. Ahhh, I am a happy Mom. Well, except for the fact that my 3 1/2 year old still sleeps like crap. *For anyone wondering how this happened, I follow the Babywise method. I don't follow every single aspect of it, but I do like the schedule they encourage and it has worked for both my kids. (Yes, Dylan sleeps through the night. He just likes to wake up before the roosters.)

Seriously...don't you just want to snuggle her?! I've had a few people ask, so I'm just going to answer for any inquiring minds. NO...Lena does not have birthmarks all over her face! On her forehead, it's called a stork bite. She also has some on the back of her neck. Dylan had stork bites when he was born and they faded away by the time he was 6 months old. Although, when he gets really upset/angry they resurface...it's kind of cute and that's how I can tell if he's truly upset. The marks on Lena's eyelids are called 'angel kisses'. I have been told by a few pediatricians and parents of other children with them that they too will fade in a few months time. For now, I like to kiss her on her eyelids to remind her that she's extra watched over.

I am the first to admit that these two try my patience like nothing I've ever experienced before. BUT, I would not trade being their mother for anything in the world. They light up my life and I feel more complete than I ever have in the past. I struggle daily with the fact that I cannot be a perfect Mother to them. I feel bad that they are exposed to so many of my weaknesses. They deserve someone to treat them perfectly. I do, however, know that no person on this Earth could love them more than I do. I am so lucky.

Road Tripping

May is turning out to be a busy month for us. I thought I'd just be relaxing at home the first month or two after having Lena. And, we have done some of that but we've had lots going on, too. Mother's Day weekend my sister Kathleen came to town with my nephew Noah. Noah is going to visit his Dad in NJ for a couple months and Virginia Beach just happened to be the half way point between SC and NJ. Lucky for us because we got to spend a couple days with Kathleen and Noah!
Dylan and Noah don't get to see each other very often, but they sure do love playing together! Mike and I caught a glimpse of what having three kids would be like. Ummm, I think we're good with our two. Sure was nice for Dylan to have a playmate for a little while though.

Dylan loves his Aunt Kathleen (as I'm sure Lena will, too...I mean, she did get her middle name from my sister). Gotta say, I love my sister too.

Kathleen returned to Charleston on Mother's Day. Then we had a couple days to relax and get ready for our next exciting visit. Dylan's best friend David turned 3 last week and we decided it would be fun to return to Raleigh for the fun festivities. My first road trip by myself with two kids went pretty well. There were a couple bouts of screaming from Lena and lots of backseat driving from Dylan, but all in, I shouldn't complain. Could've been much much worse! Luckily it's only a 3 hour drive.

We stayed with the Fox family again. Renee decided to invite everyone over for a playdate one morning. Dylan sure does have a fun little group of friends...not to mention the cuteness.

I mentioned to Renee that I don't have too many pictures of me with Lena yet. So, she took a couple opportunities to snap some shots of me with my little princess. I love a few of them.

Our friend Noelle and her daughter Riley also stayed at Hotel Fox. So, it was a big slumber party. 'Uncle' David is such a good sport to let all the estrogen and toddlers invade his home. He even seems to have a good time when we're all there. We even caught him snuggling Lena and singing to her...guess he's just preparing for his #2 to arrive in August.

Since Renee is due in August, we have already decided that Daniel and Lena need to get married one day. So, we took the opportunity to get the first 'Mother in Law' shot.

Me and my little bug at the birthday party. We both had a great time and are so sad that we had to return to Virginia Beach. We miss our friends so much!

On a side note...Dylan has decided he is finally ready to be potty trained!!!! Yay!

Dealing and Surviving

I have to say, I love when Gram comes to help out. My mom was in town for 3 weeks to help out with cleaning and taking care of the kids while I recovered from my C-section. But, as it goes in life, good things must come to an end and Gram had to return home this past Sunday leaving me to adjust to life with two kiddos.

I did what any good parent would...set my expectations really low. That seems to have worked in my favor. I figured if I expect the worst, there is no place to go but up. The first night, the kids decided to tag team me and alternated waking up every two hours. Not cool! Luckily, it was a one night thing and Lena went back to waking up only two times and Dylan went back to sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, Dylan is still insisting that 5:30/6am is an appropriate time to start the day. Ah well, I'll take what I can get. We have succesfully made it to CostCo, two playgroup outings, the grocery store and a couple pediatrician appointments...just the three of us. High fives for me!

Dylan has just been an awesome big brother so far. He is so concerned with all things Lena. He doesn't like it when she cries and tries to solve what ails her. He is also continuing with his comedic performances. When asked what Gram's name is, his response was "Mommy's Mom Elkington." We are also still working on potty training...this kid is just stubborn (oh, and a little scared of pooping in the potty). Whenever I tell him he's such a big boy, he replies "No Mom, not until I poop in the potty. Then I'll be a big boy."

We are still loving life with Lena. I can't believe she is already 3 weeks old! Last week we were thinking she is a bit colicky. This week I learned that the poor girl was just hungry all the time. She has lost quite a bit of weight since her birth. We thought we had the problem corrected until I took her for her 2 week check-up earlier this week. At that visit I found out she has actually lost more weight and now weighs less than ever. Makes me so sad! So, we're now supplementing her with formula and it has made for a much more content baby. I have to take her back to the Dr every 2 days until she starts showing some weight gain...next appointment is today, so hopefully there will be some improvement. She is also staying awake for longer periods of time...which is nice now that she doesn't scream the entire time she's awake. My prayers have also been answered because this girl is an awesome sleeper! I can put her down awake and she will soothe herself to sleep. She is starting to crack a little smile, focus on objects and faces, follows my voice, and loves to wiggle all over the place. All in, she is a much easier baby than Dylan was and that has made the adjustment to two kids more pleasant.