Best Friends

The house is asleep and I am holding sweet June so I thought I would write a quick blog post. Willa and Bridgett's grandmas both unknowingly sent them the same dresses. Needless to say, we made them dress alike for church and everyone there loved it. They really are the best of friends and I get very sad at the thought of either family moving away. Just this morning Willa called up Britt on her toy phone and invited her to go to the park. That pretty much sums up Willa's two favorite things.

Social Smiler!

We got this picture last night. The quality isn't great, but the baby is adorable. Social smiles are so fun! My parents have been here the past week to visit and it's been sooo nice and it's going to be a rude awakening when they leave. There was someone to hold June, play with Willa, and clean the house at all times!

We are blessing June in church today so Ryan's parents flew in on Friday night. It's been so fun to have everyone here! Two sets of grandparents is quite a big deal when we hardly ever get to see any of them.

She's Back!

 Willa FINALLY asked to hold June last week. It was the first time she has shown any interest. June wasn't too excited, but that's siblings for you!

It's taken about a month, but my sweet Willa is mostly back to her sweet self! I read in a BYU magazine about a study concerning the amount of time mothers spent with each of their children. Even accounting for all other factors, mothers still spent more time overall with the oldest child. On the one hand, this is sad that the other kids never get quite as much attention, on the other hand it is completely understandable.

Willa is my little buddy. She was my first baby and we were just learning together. We have been each others' company every day, all day - sometimes with no one else! Even with more kids, she is still going to be my buddy. Because she's the oldest, she is going to help me (she already is great at bouncing June in the bouncy chair and helping give her baths), and I'm pretty sure that she will continue to be my little companion to talk to during the day when I need conversation. So, instead of feeling bad about spending a little more time with Willa, I'm going to embrace it as a part of her privilege and responsibility of being the oldest.

She really loves when June lays on the floor. She almost always come over to sit by June, hold her hand, kiss her, and pet her hair. I think maybe she feels too intimidated or shy to come over and show a lot of affection when others are holding June.

I also had to show this little photo. I love both of my girls' crazy hair! Willa had just woken up from a nap was very out of sorts. I let her have a pacifier for a bit and I also got this little doll carseat that I had found at a consignment store. I have kept it in the attic until a moment when she would need something to cheer her up. She was in love and wanted to take her baby to the store in the grocery cart, just like I do with June. It's so funny what they notice and want to imitate!

Easter Chicks

My sister sent these little outfits for Willa and June. I decided to take June to Sacrament meeting for Easter Sunday. She wore her beautiful dress, but was covered with a blanket and slept in her covered carseat the entire time. Still, if you can't dress your little girls matchy matchy on Easter, then what is the point of having two girls?!!!! These were the best pictures I got.

And here are a few more pictures, just for the heck of it. June is really cute, but often gassy - so if it looks like she is grimacing, she probably is!

One month old and CUTE as can be!

Little June turned one month yesterday! I can't believe so much time has passed. With Willa, it was definitely a more stressful first month as I tried to figure everything out and adjust to having a different life. With June, it's just so much easier this time around. She's not a better baby than Willa (she might be more fussy, even), but I am just so much more relaxed. (I know I've been saying that every post, but it's so true and I keep thinking about it!)

June is filling out and getting really chubby cheeks. Her little hands and feet are starting to be soft and dimply instead of scrawny newborn hands and feet. She is getting little rolls on her legs and overall she is just growing too fast for me! The newborn phase is scary to me because of all the crying and not sleeping, and I definitely love when they get older and more interactive, but personally I still do love newborns. As June gets bigger and bigger it makes me want another small baby! Don't worry, no plans for that AT ALL!!!

Here are her one month pictures, laying next to a little owl. She was a little crabby so I couldn't get anything too good before she started screaming.

June is a fabulous little nurser and sleeper. She's not great with naps - she does nap, but almost always needs settling back down a few times during each nap. However, she is a GREAT little sleeper at night. Two of the last three nights she has only woken up ONE time! I feed her around 9 or 9:30 pm, she goes to sleep within an hour and doesn't wake up to eat again until around 2 am, then she sleeps until 5:30ish. I consider 5:30 morning since Ryan and I are up and our day has started by then. I hope this pattern keeps up! I absolutely love and recommend the books Babywise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. I honestly think that following their recommendations (and picking and choosing which recommendations work for you) really helps the babies regulate their sleep and eating patterns early on.

At book club the other day, this one mother nursed her 8 month old twice while we were there. I know that everyone has their own way of parenting, but to me babies do not get hungry that quickly if they have had a full feeding the first time. If he is eating that frequently and for such short amounts of time, that is a lot of wear and tear on the mom and not necessary. In my opinion, it would be better to combine those feedings into one longer feeding that happens less frequently. Obviously, this is just my opinion and everyone can do what they want. If your baby is hungry, then feed him. But, if he is merely bored or fussy, that doesn't mean he is hungry. Anyway, that was my soapbox.

I love these books, over 80% of all Babywise babies are sleeping through the night at six weeks old. Willa didn't sleep through until 10 weeks, but very soon after that she was sleeping 10-11 hours straight each night. I have to give June herself some credit for sleeping well. I noticed while I was pregnant that she was really active around 8 or 9 pm when I would sit down, but in the middle of the night she never ever bothered me. I remember waking up in the morning even during the last week of my pregnancy with the baby being so still that I would have to think for a minute whether or not I was even pregnant. Weird, but true.

Back to June, she is very cute. Her hair is very long and crazy. I think it might be longer than Willa's was, she definitely has a different hairline and it grows differently. When it gets wet it is CURLY. We will see if it lasts. Her eyes are a pretty clear dark blue, it feels to me like they are lightening and might stay blue, but I kind of doubt it. If I were a betting woman, I wonder what odds I would give her for having blue eyes. 10:1, 20:1, 1000:1? Overall, besides the hair she does not look anything like Willa at this age. Having said that, I have a feeling that in 20 years I won't be able to tell who is who from looking at baby pictures.

Three Weeks

I know that I need to post more updates, but I have hardly taken any pictures of baby June to post! We are unfortunately suffering from second-child laziness syndrome which is mainly characterized by not freaking out if the baby is crying and/or deviates from her schedule and being really bad at catching her very sweet face on camera.

June was three weeks yesterday and has the double chin and chubby cheeks to prove it! She is still small, but to me she actually seems quite big. I think I'm unfortunately treating her like she is a month or six weeks old because she just seems so big. I think she is longer than Willa, so maybe that's the issue. At her two week appointment she was measuring 21 inches long, which is two inches longer than when she was born. Did she grow two inches or was there a faulty measurement? I don't really know and it doesn't really matter. It's not worth it to me to conduct my own measurement. She is definitely too big for the premie clothes I brought to the hospital and is stretching out of a lot of newborn things that seemed to fit Willa for much longer. My memory is hazy, though. The beginning with Willa seemed very long, but time now is flying by. The second one is so much easier mentally and physically for me. Is she crying? I'm sure it's okay. Is she latching on? Good enough, just make sure she can take that pacifier! I used to feel so panicked with Willa that I wouldn't know how to calm her, or what to do if I ate something that didn't agree with her, or if we deviated from her babywise schedule. I'm still a little paranoid now, but so much more relaxed. We have a life now and can't freeze everything until June is sleeping through the night and taking three regular naps a day. For now, she'll have to sometimes nap in the car, stroller, or baby bjorn when we are out and about. I'm sure she will survive :).

Willa fascinated with all the baby gear:

Her main form of affection has been to pet June's hair or brush it. She is very good at this and likes to help.

She is most affectionate and cute when I lay June down. She likes to come sit by her and show her toys.

Going in for a kiss.

Chubby cheeks and greasy hair!

Willa has been fine with June the baby, but she has been a little naughty for me and I feel badly that I haven't been as patient as I need to be. Any advice? She is very good until I need to hold or feed June and then she often just starts crying and screaming and sometimes hitting me. Hitting me is a big thing for her right now. I'm not sure if it's best to ignore it (I think she's acting out mainly because of all the changes going on) or just not to tolerate it. I've been trying both methods and neither is succeeding. I don't want her to think it's okay to hit, so sometimes she goes straight to time-out after the first hit. But then, I don't like her to be in time-out several times a day, AND I'm not at my best either so sometimes instead of calmly disciplining, I put her in time-out with a lot of anger on my end. Advice on being a more patient and loving mother? I spend a lot of one-on-one time while June is sleeping, and even when she is awake I sit on the floor and hold her while I play with Willa. The good thing is that in a few years she won't remember being so displaced.

I did want to add this two-week photo of June. Look at those high-water sleepers - is there a flood around here?

Today is our first day on our own. Ryan's mom was here about ten days and it was so nice! Since she was here when June was born, it was so nice to be able to leave Willa and not worry about her at all while I was in the hospital.

Aunt Rebecca came out the day after Melinda left and stayed for a very fun week. She is June's middle namesake and we love her so much. She hasn't seen Willa since she was a baby, so they had a lot of catching up to do. Aunt Becca knows how to win Willa over - lots of trips to parks, treats, and presents!She left last night and we already miss her so much.

 I wanted to get a quick new family picture of the four  of us. Not perfect, but I think we're doing well. It's amazing to see my two little girls and realize that there are TWO of them and that we are a family of FOUR. I love it!

Lastly, if anyone doesn't already love Chik Fil-A, here is another reason. They have a program called Cow Cares. You go in and sign up before you give birth, then once you get home from the hospital you phone them. They deliver to your doorstep this giant platter of chicken strips, brownies, salad, and a gallon of lemonade - all for free! Unfortunately, I had to eat the brownies sparingly because chocolate and nursing does not a happy baby make (for me), but it was all so delicious!