quick update

I feel like I have a million posts to catch up on and photos to post as well but since I have yet to upload all my pictures (weekly photos and such) I will just post a quick update as to how things have been going in our house. 

Life is definitely busier these days. Lilah is settling in well and doing great. We go on Tuesday for her one month appointment (can you even believe that on Monday she'll be a full month old-WHOA).  When she was 2 weeks old she was up a full pound from her birth weight so I'm looking forward to seeing how much she'll weigh on Tuesday. She nurses extremely well and so far has been a pretty decent little sleeper too (knock on wood). She wakes up every 3-4 hours to eat and then drifts back to sleep usually without too much of an issue. The odd night when she doesn't drift easily back to sleep we have brought her into our bed and she sleeps very well next to her mommy. I usually nurse her like this so it works well for both of us =) She is definitely more of a mommy's girl at this point then Forrest was. If she is fussing in her bassinet, with John or whatever the minute I pick her up she's fine. This afternoon she was fussing a bit in her bassinet and the minute I picked her up she was happy and even gave a little smile. This brings me to my next point - she's been smiling since she was 3 weeks. Yeah I know most people will say "it's just gas" but it is in actual response to something we do. It's the best. 

Forrest is such a fantastic big brother. He's adjusting really well (again - knock on wood). The first thing he says when he wakes up in the morning is "Lilah" and it is also the first person he looks for when he walks in the door. I think keeping him at Joan's for now has been really good for him too. It gives him his place without the new baby, a place to play with his friends, a place that is still just his with no new little baby vying for attention. He loves going there to play with his friends and talks about them when he gets home - so cute. It also gives this momma some time to bond with just Lilah the same way I did with Forrest when he was a teeny tiny infant. 

About 2 weeks after Lilah was born, Forrest started climbing out of his crib. Friday September 14th, my in laws were here for a visit and it was nap time for Forrest. After we put Forrest down for his nap I decided to get in the shower. I was just running the shower waiting for the water to warm up when I heard the strangest sounds coming from the monitor in his room. Thinking how strange it was for it to be loud enough for me to hear it in the bathroom with the water running and equally as strange that John isn't headed down the hallway to check out what is going on I decided I would. I was just getting ready to open the door and check things out when John said "Ainslie, quick come here. Come look at Forrest". I felt a little nervous/worried so I opened the door and there John was standing with this funny look on his face. It was a half smile so I knew everything was okay and no one was hurt but when I turned my head to the right there was Forrest marching down the hallway with his cookie (something he only gets when he is going to bed). Confused at first as to why John had allowed him to get out of his nap and also to allow him to take his soother, but it didn't take long for me to put it all tougher. John confirmed it when he told me he climbed out of his crib. He did it again and so we realized the next day we had to transition him into his toddler bed before he potentially hurt himself. So we headed to Toys R Us on Saturday and bought the conversion kit to make his crib a toddler bed! The first few nights were a bit tough, he would get out and bang on the door, play with the door stopper thingy, cry and then we'd go in and put him back into bed and repeat repeat repeat. He also was getting up at 4-5 am in the morning making for some very sleepy parents. John would get up with him since I was getting up for feeding and changing Lilah through the night. By the 4th night it was a completely different story. We put him to bed, he'd go to sleep without getting up and he'd sleep right through until 6:30 - 7:00 the next morning and would stay in his bed until we'd go in and get him up for the day. It's been great ever since (HUGE knock on wood here). In fact, the other night John was at a work thing so it was just me home with the 2 kids. I got him ready for bed and then brought him into my bed to snuggle for a bit and was going to go get him some yogurt for a bed time snack. I put him down off my bed and said "let's get a snack before bed buddy" and as soon as I put his feet on the floor he took off out the bedroom door. When I walked into the hallway he was in his room climbing up into his bed. So I went in and he was laying down like he does when we put him to bed so I gave him his sookie, a kiss, tucked him in and told him I loved him. I never heard a peep after that. When I checked on him 20 minutes later he was fast asleep. I was stunned....did that really just happen?! I know we'll probably still have a few rough nights ahead of us but I am thankful for these easy ones right now. Getting up through the night for multiple feeds and diaper changes with Lilah is enough for this momma right now ;) 

We also turned Forrest's car seat around to forward facing. I was definitely sad doing this. I had hoped to get him to 2 years old rear facing. 

As for me well I've lost more than half my baby weight so far. I gained more weight with Lilah (even though she was smaller) so I am aware it's probably going to take longer. I haven't really gotten serious about it yet though. Recovery has been going really well. It's faster this time around. I feel like I healed faster and easier this time around. Breastfeeding has also been going great. I really missed it so it's nice to be nursing another baby again. We haven't given her a bottle of pumped milk yet but I have some in the freezer already. I imagine we'll introduce a bottle soon now that we've hit the 4 week mark and breastfeeding has been well established. 

 We had a great anniversary. John surprised me with a dozen beautiful long stem red roses. We put the kids to bed, ordered take out and watched season premieres. It was simple yet heavenly. 

Well it's late and I'll be getting up soon I imagine so I'm off but here's a quick family shot my mom took while she was here. Lilah was a week old.