Growing Up

Bridget seems to be growing up all at once!

This week she has initiated toilet training. Thank the lord!

She had her nappy changed in the middle of the day last Wednesday then said she wanted undies on. I said OK but explained (again) that she had to make sure she told me when she wanted to do a wee.

10 minutes later she did. So, playing along with the "game" I took her and was very surprised and pleased when she did a wee!! :) I gave her a sticker and praised her up and all that afternoon she went back and forth to the loo doing little wees. Rob made a chart for her ( see below) and when she got up to the prize square she was to get a little something. Lucky for me one of our local shopping centres has some new vending machines that swallow a $2 coin in return for a piece of cheap plastic crap (read: worldly treasure for a toddler). We are collecting Strawberry Shortcake bracelet charms now :) So cute. I am so proud of her.

Sorry the above photo is so blurry - for the life of me I cannot get a focused shot of the chart.

Bridget is also cementing friendships! Another sign she is growing up. She and her little friend Molly were enjoying cupcakes one day last week (see above photo) and were cracking each other up with the mess they were making of their faces. Molly's mother and I were in turn laughing at them. It made my heart sing to see Bridget laughing her head off and having such fun with a friend. I don't know if you can see in the photo - they are both wearing fairy wings. I can imagine them getting their ears pierced together in several years time.

She is in her big bed too and has been since about May this year. I was feeling all precious and nervous about the transition but when it came to the crunch it went fine. The bed was in her room for a good few months before she was ready to go into it, so it wasn't a new object for her. The guard rail must make her feel nice and secure because to this day - touch wood - she has not gotten out of bed either of a night or of a morning. Some evenings it has taken her an hour to settle. She lies in there howling and growling and fighting sleep but has never gotten out of bed!! I am not sure whether she is not game to or whether it has just never occurred to her that she can.... I don't care and I am not going to ask. Which brings me to the next milestone for Bridget.

The evening bedtime fuss is something that Rob and I can do without now that Elke has come along. We decided that Bridget could probably do without the day sleep. She has hardly had a nap at daycare for the past month and we just bring the routine forward to cater for that. She has hot lunches at daycare anyway, so a sandwich, yogurt/ fruit and some milk for dinner is enough and we pop her in bed around 7.30. Bliss. This week she went without a day sleep from Tuesday through to Friday. I picked her up from her grandparents on Friday afternoon and she looked knackered. As I expected she fell asleep in the car on the way home. I got her out and woke her up, plying her with sugary foods in an attempt to get her going again - a chocolate biscuit and her fave juice. Below is the result. Not exactly what I intended and not such a big girl that she can completely go without day sleeps, it seems.

Have a close look at what is going to waste in her hand!

And so onto my next little treasure. Elke is just gorgeous. I could eat her up! She is generally very easy going but she can really let you know she is pissed off! Her howl is much louder than Bridget's ever was. She is growing up too - reaching her first milestone this week by learning how to smile. Love it! I spend many minutes trying to get her to smile more for me. Below is a photo of her smiling - which is very hard to capture!

Rob and I are blessed.

State of War

I know, the post title sounds a bit dire, doesn't it!! Everything is going fine really.

But, what is it with the cluster feeding?????
Last night Elke fed from 5pm till 9pm straight - well practically. There were brief little "I'm so tired/ drunk on milk/ windy/ I have no idea what's wrong with me" moments in there too. She fed again at 12.30, then 4am then 6am (reasonable). From the 6am feed, however, till about 11am, she fed almost constantly again!! Arrgh!

So.

I caved and bought a tin of formula.

I bathed her and dressed her this evening as usual, then breastfed her as usual. I then gave her a bottle (60mLs) of formula and ...

she was settled and out like a light by 7pm.

Hmph.

I don't know. I feel mixed up about the whole thing. On the one hand I feel like a failure. On the other hand I feel relieved. I am determined to keep on breastfeeding though. I will just add the odd bottle of formula in to the mix.

It's a slippery slope though, comp feeding.

Ah well.

On a brighter note, my two girls are just lovely and we are all clicking a way as a family of four.
Bridget is starting to really respond to Elke now. She demands to cuddle her at least twice a day. She talks to her and kisses her and even on the odd occasion tells her she loves her. So sweet.

Below is a photo of Elke at 3 weeks. She has just had a bath and is having a nudie kick. She loves this time of the day.

Below is a photo of Bridget holding Elke. Elke is having a good old cry and Bridget looks less than impressed - poor thing. She finds Elke's howling to be a little stresful and often gets upset too.

The photo below was taken last week and again, Elke is crying. Poor Bridgy. She hasn't stopped asking to hold Elke though.

Rob just brought Bridge into the kitchen and put a bandaid on a little bump on her forehead. Are all toddlers fascinated with bandaids like mine is? Any bump, bruise, scratch or imaginary injury requires one. They last about 20 minutes before they are peeled off.

OK. Off to phone my mum.

Well it's day 11 and all things are still going well. Elke in fact gave me a "one feed night" - which I don't expect to happen again for a while. She was fed at 1am, I was back in bed at 2.30 (I think I dozed off in the rocker) and I woke up to Bridget calling out at 7am!! My boobs were killing me!

Of course, Elke made me pay for it today. This morning she fed almost hourly and cat napped in between. Ah well.

Elke is in her cot at night now and therefore I am sleeping a whole lot better! yeehar! Some of her sleeps during the day are in her rocker bed. We will get there.

Bridget is going alright. She was very sweet this morning and read a couple of stories to Elke while I had breakfast. Sometimes, however, she can be a real ratbag. There have been a couple of occasions where I have had to lay down the law about what she can and can't do. Definitely can't go banging her little sister over the head with a maracca!

Newborn days are so easy - we have been out a few times as a whole family and E has slept the whole time. We went out for dinner with my cousins on Saturday night, then to my cousin's Nanna's 80th Birthday Lunch on Sunday. E just slept.

I expect her to "wake up" soon! LOL

Introducing sweet Elke Mae!

Here she is! Isn' t she the sweetest thing?

She was born 9th July at 8.50am after an amazing labour and birth.

I wont go into the details here - I will post my birth story on EB soon.

Elke about 6 hours old.

1 Day Old

First Bath

In her cot 11th July

With big sister Bridget 12th July

With Bridget 13th July

Things are going well - it is a lot easier second time round. Bridget has been a bit tricky at times. I think time will improve things there. Poor chicken has been the absolute apple of our eye for 2.5 years and now Elke is here to share the limelight. It must be hard for her.

I am getting enough sleep so far but it is early days yet. Fingers crossed Elke turns out to be a good sleeper like Bridget was. Currently we are co-sleeping but I will start having her self settle in her cot soon.

I have been spending a lot of time just cuddling her while she sleeps, which I didn't so much of with Bridget. I was so anxious about making sure she was sleeping in the "right" place. Right now Elke is asleep beside me on the couch after having had a big feed. I am just going with the flow and taking each day as it comes.

I plan on enjoying it all a bit more.

3 weeksish to go!

Can't believe how fast these last 6 weeks are going! We don't even have the nursery set up yet!
I'm feeling alright. I think the bub is posterior though as I have been experiencing a lot of pressure in the bot area - really really painful! I have been told to do a lot of leaning forward to encourage bub to turn.

My feet look like little pillows.

But, apart from that all is well. I will see my Ob on Wednesday after not seeing him for 4 weeks (business/ holiday). I feel fine so am not guilty about not persuing the Midwife clinic or the GP just to get my BP checked.

I started maternity leave last Friday thank god - I was ready! I caught a cold in the middle of the week and have felt really tired. I popped out to work yesterday to do some catching up on things but, today I took it easy. Bridget went to day care, I went to a cafe and had raisin toast and a decaf latte, read the paper, browsed around the shops for a bit, picked up some parcels from the PO then headed home. Lovely.

When I look at this photo and compare it with the one taken at 34 weeks (a few posts ago), I don't think my belly has gotten any bigger - but, it could be the angle of the photo. It certainly feels heavier! Plenty of movement and plenty of Braxton Hicks, so I feel confident all is well.

Just hoping that the threeish weeks turns into four. Now that I can stand still I am getting my head around the fact there will be another little bub in our lives very soon.

a scary old fellow is Humphrey!

Humphrey was given to Bridget when she was a tiny baby by a well meaning family member. I was a bit taken aback - I mean, he is not cuddly at all is he! So he sat around for a while for appearances sake, then he was tidied up and relegated to the bottom of the blanket hamper.

About a week ago I was pulling some sleeping bags and blankets out of the hamper to wash in preparation for the new baby when B spotted Humphrey. "Who's that?" she asked. I said "That's Humphrey - he's been sleeping in the blanket hamper for a while". She insisted I get him out. She eyed him dubiously but wouldn't hold him. I brought him into the loungeroom and busied myself with what I was doing again when I heard a scared little yell from the loungeroom. Apparently Humprey "hurt" her (B gets scared and hurt mixed up). So, Humphrey was banished to the spare room and the door closed.

Everytime we go into the spare room she eyes Humprey off but won't touch him. I have explained that he is a nice bear etc and gradually he has been let out of the spare room and allowed to sit on the couch.

She still won't touch him though! I don't blame her - he stands about 3 foot tall, has big eyes, a hard shiny nose and is as stiff as a board! Not the kind of fellow you would want to take to bed! apart from the last part but this font is so small you can't read that anyway can you!!

Imagination is the highest kite you can fly....

I have a banner with that saying pinned up in my library at school.

Bridget's imagination has really taken off in the last couple of months. It's just fascinating to watch and be involved in it. She is right into role play. Her favourite role play is to do with dollies. She picks up so much of what is going on with the babies in her Day Care room.

About a month ago she spread a blankie out on the floor in the loungeroom, scavenged around in the bottom of her toy box for some "baby" toys, grabbed her dolly and sat down to have playtime with her. I should have taken a photo but didn't want to ruin the moment by disappearing - she loves an audience these days.

Just a couple of days ago though I was able to catch her having "toilet" time with the dollies. I was wandering round doing things while talking to mum on the phone, so picking up a camera wasn't too much of a distraction - although I only got off a couple of shots before she demanded the camera so she could take photos herself. Miss Independent!!

Here's one of them.

Whilst Happy Dolly was busy on the potty, another dolly (that has no name) is having her bum seriously wiped!