Every Good and Perfect Gift: Two Weeks At Home With Hank

So far Lucy and Hank seem to be pretty opposite! From how they came into the world to their demeanor at home, I wouldn't know they were siblings if it weren't for how similar they look!

I now realize what a super chill newborn Lucy was, I had to wake her to eat at night and she rarely cried as a newborn. Hank is a little different! Overall he is a really happy baby, he's just had some issues with gas and pooping - every time he has something to get out he gets pretty upset about it. This isn't too bad during the day, because I can hold him and comfort him, but it poses a bit of a problem at night because I can't really get much sleep between nursing and comforting. Most of our nights involve me nursing him (which takes about an hour by the time he eats, burps and I change his diaper), getting him back to sleep, getting myself to sleep, and then waking up 30-45 minutes later because he's trying to poop and is fussing. Then he finally falls back asleep and needs to nurse in about 30-45 minutes... not leaving much time for me to get any continuous sleep! This has led to Hank spending several nights sleeping on my or Ben's chest - something I would have thought I would never do when we had Lucy, but we are in survival mode at our house and I'm willing to do just about anything to get more sleep!

I wrote the first part of this post about 5 days ago, and since then we've had a few good nights with Hank. I have him swaddled, in the swing, with the noise machine running and that seems to work (most of the time). Our nights seem to be hit and miss, some nights he sleeps well, waking only every three hours to eat. Some nights he fusses and has gas between feedings so I spend a majority of the night rocking him and consoling him. Needless to say I am pretty tired! And Ben has realized how different the nights are when you have two kids - I can no longer catch up on sleep during the day, so I usually recruit him to help in the middle of the night if Hank is up a lot.

Hank also got a bad diaper rash last week, so diaper changes have been kind of a hassle lately as I am only using water and paper towels and let him air out for a while while his skin heals (this has lead to me getting sprayed with pee several times!). Lucy on the other hand has never had a diaper rash.

I've wondered if maybe Hank has an allergy to something I've been eating, but he really does seem to be pretty happy for the most part. The only time he really fusses is when he's passes gas or when he's getting sleepy... thankfully he's pretty predictable in this way!

Other than that, Hank is a really good eater, and a much faster at nursing than Lucy was. He usually wakes like clock work throughout the day every 2.5-3 hours to eat and has been nursing for 15-30 minutes at a time.

Lucy has adjusted really well and has loved having Hank around. The only thing she has to work on is not being too rough with him. She's been told "NO" and "that's too rough" a lot this week.

I've gotten a little used to life at home with two kids - some mornings I felt like I wasn't going to survive: when I've been up all night with Hank, 8am rolls around and Lucy's up and needing food and Hanks screaming needing food too, I'm exhausted, hungry, and desperately want to take a hot shower... but somehow by about 10 or 11am, things are all sorted out, everyone's fed and happy, the house is a little messy, but liveable, and I've had a cup of coffee that helps keep my eyelids open for the day.

One day last week Lucy woke up screaming crying and had a fever of 104 degrees. Again, that was another day I thought I wasn't going to make it, I called Ben crying and begging him to come home, but after giving Lucy a dose of Tylenol and a little Sesame Street, things seemed to calm down and life seemed doable again!

So far we've made it out to a play date, Real Moms, and a trip to Target. I'm pretty proud of ourselves! But most days we typically stay inside - which hasn't actually been that bad because we've had visitors most days to keep me company. What a blessing it is to have so many friends and family members near by!

Some pictures from our first weeks at home...