Week 102/3

Dear Little Honeybuns,
It's been an exciting week for Nathan. Last Thursday, was his first day of toddler preschool. It was an exciting morning: parents and children running around with their new backpacks and lunch boxes. We took a few pictures outside of the church and proceeded to go inside.

 Bam. The little guy trips and falls. It was like something out of a movie, when the nerdy kid trips on the first day of school. But Nathan took it all in stride, stood up, brushed himself off and continued on. He didn't even want me to kiss the boo boo.

When we picked him up from school, he was very happy. The teachers even said that he did the best out of the whole group and asked if he had ever been in school before. Of course, we said, "no" but perhaps being in the same room for church and mops meetings help a bit. Afterwards, as we walked towards the car, he seemed to have a sense of pride as he carried his lunchbox all by himself. I'm glad we decided to have him start school.

Today was his second day. Things went well again. We figured out that he is the oldest kid in the class. The next oldest kid is only a day younger than he is. It's so crazy how a few months can make a huge difference in a toddler's development.

Taking advantage of multiple people staying at home this week, we allowed Nathan to open his birthday present early. Immediately, he started scooting around the house.

 After we felt that he had a pretty good grasp of pushing himself, we went outside. Nathan really enjoyed scooting around. Even after a big lip bonk on a curb, he still wanted to ride his scooter home.

 Last week, Daddy was able to stay home and play. Unfortunately the boys got sick towards the end of the week, but in turn, they were able to spend some quality time together as the girls tried not to get sick. Luckily the cold was short-lived and in a few days, they boys were back in tip-top shape.

Hannah has gone through a major growth spurt this week. For about 3 days, she was feeding every 1 - 1.5 hours. In about a week, she has gained 1.4 pounds. At 3 weeks old, she is over 8 pounds. (It took Nathan 2 months to reach 8 pounds)

 We took Hannah to get an ultrasound of her hip on Thursday. The doctor determined that her right hip socket has not developed completely, so she has to wear a harness for a few months. He thinks that after a month of wearing it for 23 hours a day, she will be able to reduce the time to about 12 hours a day afterwards.

I actually hate the harness. The material that it is made out of is quite rough and abrasive. It's so awkward to cuddle with Hannah when she has the harness on. I value the hour where I get to hold her sans harness and I look forward to the day does not have to wear it anymore. Nursing is quite awkward too. I'm finding that the football hold and the across the body hold works the best. The days of side-lying while co-sleeping are over. It just doesn't work with the harness. Here's a picture of Hannah in the harness. It's amazing to think that pretty soon she will grow to be larger than this baby doll.

Grandma has been visiting this week and Nathan has been really enjoying time spent with her. Grandma is very impressed by how coordinated Nathan is.

Thanks to Grandma, I've actually been able to catch up on sleep. I've been able to sleep in a bit later, and get an hour or two nap in during the afternoon.

I am actually able to get about 6-7 hours of sleep each night. Hannah does a pretty good job of going back to sleep after she nurses. Some nights are better than others: sometimes she takes an hour to feed, sometimes it's only 30 minutes. But I'm just thankful that the growth spurt is over...for now.

I'm thankful that Hannah doesn't need to be swaddled to sleep well. She is happy on her back with a blanket over her. We are also very fortunate to still not have to pace around the house to get her to fall asleep. Most of the time I can lay her down as she is drowsy and she will fall asleep on her own. Some nights, that doesn't work and I just hold her or nurse her until she falls asleep and then I put her back in her pack and play. Steve has been fortunate to be able to sleep through the night. Thank you Hannah.

Well, that's it for now. I'm off to get some much needed sleep.

Love,
Mommy