"C" is for Clare (1 mo)

My baby girl is already a month old.

1 month

Time is going by much more quickly with #2.  She has battled through most of flu season with only some chest congestion, and I think we caught the reflux early, so overall she's a pretty happy girl.  Daddy is convinced we have a conspiracy against him because she cries nearly every time he holds her, but I have assured him, this is not the case.  It turns out that anytime she doesn't nurse to sleep, and I'm tired, I hand her off.  When she decides she is sleepy, she wants Mommy, so Daddy starts bouncing and shushing until she falls asleep.  He's bounced her to sleep on more than one occasion while the heater runs for white noise in the bathroom.  Clare, you owe your Daddy big time.

The good news is when Clare does go to sleep, she stays asleep.  Her brother, on the other hand, liked to take 45 minute cat naps.  Clare likes her beauty sleep.  We do too.

Clare and I don't have anything that resembles a schedule, but that's to be expected at this point.  My schedule is wake up when she wakes up, feed her, diaper change/interact/do something around the house, if it's daytime, and then sleep, sometimes nursing again before sleeping.  She eats every 2-3 hours, but sometimes I get some 4 or 5 hour stretches at night.  I'll be glad when she masters nursing while laying down.  She likes to get a lazy latch on me when we try, so I'm stuck sitting up and sleeping at 3am.

In other news, she lost all of the dark hair on top of her head.  (You like the bow toupée?)  My poor kiddo is balding.  There is some bright blonde hair coming in in its place though.  Until then...bows!

Tully has been very sweet with his baby sister, who he now calls "Baby Care" or "Baby CiCi".  He likes to give her "bisses" and share all of his boy germs with her.  She's going to have a stellar immune system.  He had a nasty virus and 103 fever for several days, but he wanted to get in on the photo action though.  Please excuse his sweaty, crazy hair.

Tully 22 months; Clare 1 month

Tully's sickness really came out of nowhere.  John took him to the grocery store, and when they got back Tully was a bright red, sweaty, snotty mess.  John walked in and said he had to pull over to try to calm Tully down on the 2 mile drive home from the grocery store.  John NEVER pulls over for that kind of stuff.  About the time John is telling me this, I show him my poop covered hand from Clare's explosive diaper change, and casually mention that our dog Zach just vomited all over the patio.  Trifecta!  If there was ever any doubt that we would stop at two kids, it was confirmed in that moment.  Enough with the pee, poop, and puke.  We've been able to keep Tully's fever under control with ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and thankfully he tested negative for flu and RSV.

We switched pediatricians (again!).   We were spending waaaaay too much time waiting during appointments at Dr. Ross' office, so we changed to Dr. Brian Raley at Avalon Park Pediatrics (www.BrianRaleyMD.com).  Dr. Raley has really impressed me.  He did Clare's newborn check during a home visit--like a real old-school home visit.  The guy showed up to my house with his nurse, Katie, and they did everything they needed to do here in my living room.  Katie also gave Tully a flu shot.  It was nice because both kids were perfectly healthy, so we didn't have to visit a doctor's office with other sick kids.  Clare's next 2 month visit will be a home visit as well.  As if the home visits weren't enough, Dr. Raley has weekend hours during cold and flu season.  He posts on his Facebook page that he will have hours, and when you call the office, he gives instructions to text his cell phone to coordinate an appointment time.  I have my pediatrician's cell phone number.  What?!  The icing on the cake is that you can message him via the web portal, and he'll respond.  He is so accessible, and it's been great, especially with Tully in school during the cold and flu season.  I also like Dr. Raley's bedside manner, and I appreciate that he requires his patients to follow the vaccination schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  With all of the hooplah and misinformation on the internet about risks associated with vaccinations, I'm happy we found a pediatrician whose views are in line with ours.

Overall it's been a great first month.  I can't wait for Clare and Tully to start interacting more over the next few months.  Clare is getting more and more alert each day.

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