Monday, April 17, 2006

53 Hours Later

... and about 40 hours after Quinn came home and I can't say we're settling in to a routine or anything, but we're trying. It's amazing how much I find that I've forgotten about a wee bairn — how small, how flopsy, how immobile, how needy, ... — still she's a cutie and is doing well. We have her first visit to the pediatrician's in about two hours, so we'll see what the official medial opinion is.

Celeste is doing really well with her little sister. We do have to watch her closely; there have been some nice kisses for the baby and a few not-as-gentle-as-they-should-be pats. She's also charged over with a book once or twice — either wanting to share it with Quinn or wanting me or Evelin to read it to her — coming close to hitting the baby. (I've been clocked by a book-wielding Celeste on several occasions, so I know to be on guard ...)

The really funny reaction to the new baby is that she's started drinking milk. Celeste has never been too interested/fond of cow's milk and has only had a few sips here and there. My mom has long been worried about this (worried might be too strong of a word, concerned? interested?) even though Celeste gets milk in her oatmeal and she eats a ton of yoghurt and cheese, so she asked if Celeste could just try a glass Saturday night. And, what do you know, she drank a lot of it. The funny bit was she kept saying "baby" and signing MILK, and then would take a big sip of it. We'd reminding Celeste for a few weeks now about babies drinking milk from mumma — hoping to head off at least a little jealousy — and now it seems Celeste is drinking milk to reinforce that she too is a baby. She's been doing a similar thing with crawling, saying that babies crawl and then that Celeste crawls. (Of course, she'd been walking for four or five months before she figured out how to crawl, but that's beside the point ...)

Quinn likes to spend most of her time being held, and most of the time, it doesn't matter who is holding her. But she doesn't like laying in the co-sleeper or bassinet for too long. We managed to have dinner while she slept in the next room last night, but overnight she seems to end up in bed next to or on top of one of us for much longer stretches than she sleeps in the co-sleeper.

She is sleeping a lot, with some good trying to lift her head and look around in those bursts of wakefulness. She also seems to be eating well; it'll be interesting to see where her weight is this morning and if she's lost much since the birth.

Technorati tags:

4 comments:

Karen said...

I was going to send a personal email, but I seem to have misplaced your address and can't find it on the blog.

Belated Birthday wishes to Quinn and congratulation to the rest of you! I hope you have a peaceful week!

Karen

Anita said...

More birth story!!

Your audience wants to know!

KirstenM said...

Was Celeste also more interested in co-sleeping (or sleeping in arms) than by herself?

I ask because Liam was - he just wouldn't sleep on his own at all for a long time, and then only for day time naps for a still longer time... but we're hoping maybe this next one will be different. We'll have her in the room, but ideally not the bed, because I turned out to be an incredibly bad co-sleeper, ie I sleep really badly when sharing sleep with a baby.

T. Carter said...

Hi Kay, You know, I don't quite remember. I think Celeste liked sleeping on top of one of us during her early days. As she got older, she would sleep alone, but went through phases where she needed to be in bed with us.

Quinn seems to be a better sleeper than Celeste, although one week is hardly enough data points to generalize ... so who knows what we're in store for.

I think the sleeping badly with the baby is probably a good thing, at least as far as the baby's safety is concerned. Right now, we're using a co-sleeper that attaches to the side of the bed. Quinn is right there, but more out of the way than Celeste was when she was between the two of us.

(And, Anita, more birth story is coming; it's just been hard to get it all in a coherent form and other little things I don't want to forget need to get blogged too ...)

(And thanks Karen!)