2, 4, 6, 8! Abby let us sleep in late!

I tell ya, ladies and germs, last week was a monumental week.  Abby finally started getting on a schedule and was able to sleep about 6-7 hours each night last week!  Kelvey and I had just about reached our wits ends with both of us getting up every 2-3 hours to feed, change and rock Abby back to sleep and were trying our best to figure out how we can get her on a day and night schedule so she would be able to stretch out her nighttime feedings.  We even pulled out Eli's old log to see how old he was when we got him on a schedule, what times he was eating and sleeping, and how he compared to Abby's feeding habits.  Luckily, we found that Abby had naturally fallen into a routine very similar to Eli with a similar starting point to the morning and a similar rough patch from 2-5pm (the intervals were only off by about 30 min to 1 hr).  Unfortunately, we were now faced with a very big dilemma: how do we set a bedtime routine to help Abby get her body and mind ready for a long night's sleep when we have a 3 year old trying to get ready for bed at the same time?!  It took some trial and error, but we were able to figure out a way to get everything done without denying either child their much needed attention: 

7:30pm- Eli hits the potty for his nightly pre-bath poop while Abby bathes

8:00pm- Abby's out of the bath and Eli is on his way in

8:30pm- Abby's dressed in her pajamas with a fresh diaper and gets a late dinner with Kelvey, Eli's out of the bath, brushing his teeth and (very slowly) getting into his pajamas.

8:45pm- It's story time with Eli and Abby together!  *One of the best parts of the night*

9:00pm- Eli gets hugs and kisses from everyone and gives his special kiss to Abby on her head, then he's off to Sleepytown.  Abby hangs with us and usually ends up sleeping in our arms because she's not quite ready to lay down yet.

10:30pm- Abby gets topped off with one last feeding and is ready to go down for the night.

The first night that Abby slept for about 6 hours, she started fussing around 5am and I sprang awake thinking, "Holy Crap! I slept through a feeding an Kelvey is going to KILL me!"  Thankfully Kelvey woke up too and confirmed that Abby had been sleeping the entire time.  We were both a little confused at what had happened and the joy of our good fortune did not settle in until much, much later.  Hoping that Abby was on her way to more restful nights, we got her more acquainted with the bottle so Kelvey and I could alternate nights feeding her while the other got to sleep.  The combination of a regular routine, a nice relaxing bath (which Abby actually loves!), and a full belly make for one peaceful night.

To be completely honest, I used to dread the idea of getting set in a routine and having a life full of constant predictability.  As a parent of 2 kids, I have come to accept it with open arms if it will help me get 35 of my 40 winks at night.  By the way, I have found that getting a decent night's sleep also makes managing Eli much more tolerable.  For a while, Kelvey and I were so tired that it felt like we were in a constant battle with Eli to get him to follow the simplest of directions.  It didn't help that for a brief period, Eli was also waking up every other night talking and crying because of crazy dreams he was having, and we would have to go in and comfort him back to sleep.  It was such a horrible feeling spending so much of our time together in the evenings just trying to get to bedtime without any hassle, but things are getting back on track and the difference is noticeable in all of us.  I just keep assuring myself that we will eventually be able to bring flexibility and freedom back into our lives as Abby gets older and we all find a find a groove we can share comfortably.

Abby Abby Bo-Babby

So Abby is approaching her 2 month mark and even though she is still a teeny tiny baby girl that doesn't do more than eat, sleep and poop her pants, she has shown us a hardy mix of personality traits and funny little quirks.  For starters, the girl likes to eat! I mean she puts it DOWN.  Abby loves milk like a fat kid loves cake, and the only time she gets super fussy (to the point of turning purple in the face, actually) is when she wants to eat.  Unfortunately, Kelvey also learned very quickly that Abby's powerful appetite is coupled with her powerful sucking reflex.  Abby is relentless when feeding and tore Kelvey up pretty bad the first few weeks.  I have felt the power of Abby's chompers on my finger while giving her a finger pacifier, and I'm thankful I will never have to experience our little honey badger gnashing at my nipples.  Speaking of pacifiers, Abby doesn't really care for them too much.  You would think that a child with such a strong sucking reflex would latch onto anything remotely similar to a nipple, but not so with Abby.  She knows when you are trying to fool her and she will have none of it.  NONE OF IT.  She'll either spit the pacifier out or just cry around it most of the time.  This isn't so bad because she falls asleep pretty easily without it and it is a good sign that we will not have to deal with 5 yo still attached to her pacifier.
Another funny little thing we have noticed is that her chin often quivers for no reason.  It just seems to happen at random times.  You'll look down and there it is shaking as if we just took her out of the industrial baby freezer.  She also has a tendency to snort and grunt like a warthog as she wakes up, begs for food, tries to burrow in your arms to sleep, or just squeeze out a fart.  It's quite funny and Eli likes to make fun of her with us.  Eventually we will have to teach Eli not to tease his sister, but for now it's all fun and games and taking baths together:

(We recently started giving Abby baths in the big tub while Eli is taking his pre-bath poo and a few days ago Eli said, "I wanna get in with Abby".  So he hopped in and helped wash her.  Lately he has enjoyed helping by holding Abby's towel for me, all the while still sitting on the potty, as I take her out of the tub to dry off.)

A rough end to the first month

I have to say, our first few weeks with Abby were pretty great.  She has been such a mellow and easy going baby that her introduction into our daily lives was a breeze.  She only cried when she wanted to sleep or eat, and she did not seem too affected by the day to day craziness of 2 barky dogs and little boy that likes to yell random phrases like, "A whistle in your tummy and a poo in the pie!"  I had high hopes that we would have a lot to celebrate at her 1 month birthday . . . but then life had to throw a stick in the spokes of our stolen bicycle.  On May 20th, just 5 days shy of her first month, Abby had a fever that just wouldn't break.  It was nothing too serious and her temperature would linger around 100.7, but it was enough to raise concern for our little 4 week old girl.  Kelvey ended up taking her to the ER at our local children's hospital and she was quickly admitted due to her age.  From there, Abby endured a barrage of culture samples and tests including a spinal tap to test for meningitis.   Ugh, it makes my lower back twinge just thinking about it.  Kelvey stayed with her overnight while they waited for results to rule out various virus's and bacterial infections, and it was ultimately determined that she just had the enterovirus.  We were relieved, but Kelvey was absolutely drained from lack of sleep due feedings for Abby, hospital staff coming in and out of the room, and the stress of watching our little girl get poked and prodded.  I thought my first visit to the ER for Eli's croup was bad (see his blog for more info on the horrific x-ray tube they stuck him in), but I have a feeling Abby's visit was much more difficult.  What's worse is that even though Abby was discharged the next day, we were instructed to take her back when her fever popped up later that evening.  Thankfully the doctors decided to not do all the tests over again and they were sent home a little quicker.  Hopefully, this will be our only medical road bump for a while, but we have heard that younger siblings tend to get sicker more often due to older siblings bringing home more germs from day care and school.  Time to break out the gallon of Purell and bleach.

The Journey Begins!

Believe it or not, we had another baby!  This is little Abigail Emerson Oeser (Abby for short) and she is absolutely adorable!  She was born on April 25, 2012 at 8lbs 4oz, which is just 2oz smaller than her big brother Eli.  Kelvey and I were hoping we would round out the family with a girl (we had decided to keep the sex a secret throughout this pregnancy too) and we were pleasantly surprised to have this sweet little chubby-cheeked munchkin fall into our laps.  Well . . . technically she fell OUT of Kelvey's lap.  
If you haven't heard the story already, Abigail took only 38 minutes of active labor to make her way into the world.  Kelvey was a champ throughout the delivery and was able to push through it (HA! Push.) au natural and sans drugs.  Hopefully Abby will be that easy on us the rest of her life, but if the first few hours of her life are any indicator, I think we will be alright.