Week 100 / 1 : Surviving

Dear Nathan,
Congrats on reaching your 100th week of life! It's kind of neat that you and your little sister are about 99 weeks apart in age. Since I've been recovering from surgery, life has been kind of uneventful. However, are lucky that your Ama (grandmother) is visiting this week. We have been fortunate to be able to eat her yummy cooking and play lots of fun activities with her. In fact, your Chinese has improved with her being here and you have picked up some of her manerisms like "ayo!"

For the most part, you are adjusting to not being the only child pretty well. You are very gentle with Hannah, and the times you have been a bit dangerously rough were due to your general clumsy self. You really love Hannah and love to give her hugs and kisses.

I thought you would be a bit more jealous and seek attention. While you are a bit more clingy to me, you haven't acted out. The only instance that came even close occurred today: You had just come down from your nap and found me napping with Hannah in the bedroom. She started to cry and I took her out to nurse. You then climbed on the bed to play. A few moments later, I heard you "crying" and came in to check on you. 

 You were imitating Hannah's cry. After a brief reminder of why babies cry, you were back to jumping around on the bed.

I don't know if you've gone through a growth spurt, or if I have been changing too many infant diapers, but you definitely feel more hefty. We measured you on the Wii and in a month, you've gained 1.5 pounds, which is pretty good considering you have been hovering around the same weight for a few months. At this rate, you will be able to fit into your new glow in the dark train shirt that your great grandparents got you in no time.

I look back to the posts from when you were little and I wish I wrote more about the new mom experience and the things that we were all going through as a family, so starting with this post, I will be writing more about that. 

Joys: 

• I have instantly fallen in love with Hannah. Initially, it took a few days with you, but I now can see how I can love someone else as much as I love you. 
• I am so thankful to have a your Daddy as a partner. He has been so supportive through everything and he does everything possible to make sure that we are all taken care of. 
• I am so thankful of support from friends and family. Ever since your sister was born, and even before, so many people have offered to help. 
• I am glad to be able to spend some time with my mom. I don't get to spend much time with her at all, so having 3 generations of women in the same home for week has been/is amazing. 
• It's so interesting to see how you have instantly fallen in love with your little sister. When she starts to cry, you are genuinely concerned and will make sure I know that she is crying. You are gentle with her and you share your toys with her. I look forward to seeing you two grow close. 
• Hannah is a pretty good sleeper. She is able to fall asleep on her own if I put her down drowsy. This was not the case with you. We always had to walk around to make you fall asleep. 

Frustrations

•  Hannah is sleeping for stretches of 45 mins to 3 hours, which is normal and expected. However, she falls asleep within 5 minutes of the start of a nursing session. I don't mind it so much in the day, but at night, feeding sessions can last an hour, sometimes 2. The whole cycle of feed, try to wake, feed, try to wake can get quite tedious when you are exhausted yourself. 
• For the first few days, nap times between the two of you lined up so that I was able to take a nap as well. Luckily your Ama is here and I've been able to take a nap even on days when your nap times don't line up, but I know that  this will not be a luxury in a few days. 
• The first 5 days of recovery were really rough. The simple act of sitting up was painful, especially if it was almost time to take the next dose of medication. Coughing, sneezing, and even laughing were painful. (It doesn't help that you are a super funny boy.) A week later, I have weaned myself off of the vicodin, and am surviving off of just Ibuprofen. 

Ama gave you your first bath at home after you were born. Unfortunately, we never took a picture. We decided to keep the tradition and here is Ama getting ready to give Hannah her first bath.







Finally, I leave you with some cute pictures of Hannah taken during her first week of life outside of the womb.