Without us knowing, Gray arranged his toys all around him on the floor, and then took a nap inside that circle.

It's like nap witchcraft!

As you probably know, I cannot breastfeed Lena. Luckily she's taken to the Organic formula I bought before I headed to the hospital.



What we didn't know, since Gray was given breast milk, is that formula can constipate babies. Breast milk on the other hand is a natural laxative. So the diaper outcome of the two types of food are very different. 'Nuff said.

A couple of nights ago, Lena spent two hours or so howling. (Keep going, this is not a new story). Not at all something she normally does. She hadn't had a dirty diaper in about a day and a half, almost two days.

We figured out by the way she was acting that she was constipated. I had been giving Lena for the past couple of weeks breast milk for some of her feedings, and those previous two days, I kind of slacked. There's the defrosting, and the remembering, and the different bottles because the milk is much thinner than formula... and Lena was having a hard time with the flow of the milk and it was choking her a bit. This made the breast milk feedings much more frustrating for her and me.

But the result of not giving her the milk after her body was used to it was so disastrous, that I knew I needed a new plan.

I have the solution! Mix in the breast milk WITH the formula. An ounce or two in each bottle, and she seems to be a much happier baby. The bottle-flow problem is solved, and baby is not constipated. Yippee!!

And who is the generous gift of breast milk from? Cousin Divo, our hero!

Thank you, Divo! Not only is Lena getting all the goodness of breast milk's nutrition, but now it's practically medicinal.

Silly newborn sleepiness.

Gray came home two nights ago with a swollen upper lip, and a cut above his lip that looked really terrible. I wasn't sure if he could eat, it was so bad.

They had iced it down at daycare, but I tried to get him to ice it some more at home. Not so easy with a 3 year old. Patience is not a skill Gray has mastered.

I asked if I could take a picture of it yesterday (it was already less swollen), and he requested to pose with a "sad face".





Poor lovey.

Lena eats every 3-4 hours around the clock.

Liam handles the midnight feedings, and I go to bed at around 9 or 10 pm. Lena then wakes up around 4 am, and I handle that feeding.

I have to share that I do the entire feeding, burping, changing of the diaper, and swaddling in our bed. Liam never has a clue. That's the magic of the foam bed. Looove our bed.

And speaking of swaddling... I give you Baby Burrito. In pink.



Bunny is still optimistic.

Seriously, this baby has a very different personality than Gray.

She is a fairly easy sleeper, which makes for a much more portable baby. I've taken her, on my own, several places without fear that she'll become cranky and I'll have to take her home to soothe her in her own environment like I did with Gray. Oh the shame!

She eats big bottles (4 oz at a time), and conks out to sleep most of the time immediately after finishing the bottle.

Granted, she is only 4 weeks old (tomorrow!), but already I am getting so much more sleep than I did with Gray.

HURRAY!

I don't want to compare my kids, but I can't help it.

Last week we took Lena to her pediatrician for her 2 week check up. She was a bit more than 2 weeks at the time, but for her age, these are her statistics:

Weight: 8 lb 5.5 oz (45 percentile for age)
Height: 20.25" (42 percentile for age)
Head circumference: 35.5 cm (33 percentile for age)

And here she is just yesterday, smiling in her sleep.

Lena had her first real bath the other night. It's proving to be a little tough to coordinate both kids' baths at night. I suspect that once Lena has a schedule we'll be able to have a better evening routine.

But so far, so good. We have an excellent eater, and an excellent sleeper. We never thought it could be this easy with a newborn.

Doesn't she look like a cranky old man attached to a baby's body?
And so tiny!

My lovey.

I can't believe she's almost three weeks old already. Time is flying by!