Lilypie First Birthday tickers

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Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Second Birthday tickers

Friday, March 16, 2012

Mary Tucker, 10 weeks old

10 weeks really sounds impossible as I watch Mary Tucker sleep and hear Stella waking up from her nap. Since I haven't blogged since Mary Tucker was 4 weeks old, you can imagine how busy we've been. Not to mention, we've been out of the interline for almost a month now. Today (yes, a few short hours ago) we finally got connected again and rejoined the human race. Don't get me started on the many reasons why we now despise AT&T.

So we've done lots of things over the past 6 weeks, including going to our first Mardi Gras parade, starting Stella in Mother's Day Out at St. Michael's (though I didn't get a picture of her on her first day...sad), taking our first beach trip with Stella (and of course, Mary Tucker), and more...here's most of our last 6 weeks in photos...

 Mary Tucker smiles, 1 month old

 Valentines Sisters

 Kisses, 6 weeks old

 Our Mardi Gras caravan...the Baby Brigade

 
Mardi Gras 2012 with the girls

 Beach babe, Perdido Key '12 - 20 months

 Stella and Daddy... her first time at the beach...loved the sand

 Pool time with Daddy

 ...annnnd she's off!

 beach strollin'

 How taking pictures with the girls works...not so well (but Jenn G., thanks for the Baby Ergo carrier!!)

 Mary Tucker was there...way down under there in the Baby Ergo carrier!

 Sand play

 beach walkers...[retty much love each other

She's judging me...so what if its a 6 month bathing suit...it was a spur of the moment trip!
 
the only shot of them in matching suits:) This photo op will get better once i don't have to super impose MT next to Stella with my magic go-go-gadget arms

 Ash Wednesday at the beach 

Our first beach trip as a family really was fun. It was just the 4 of us, and though the weather turned out to be mostly cold and windy, we had a few moments of sunny beach time. Stella was obsessed with walking in the sand. I believe I hated the sand as a baby, so I was happy to see her enjoying it. We enjoyed Ash Wednesday Mass at a Catholic church on the beach, and I proceeded to give up Facebook for Lent...I'm not even going to admit how hard this has been. That is sad.

Since I last blogged I've also rejoined the world now that Mary Tucker had her shots. Maternity leave is officially over and I'm back to teaching Pilates, which I adore. Gone are the days where we stay at home looking at Mary Tucker, feeding her round the clock (after working like h**l to get and keep her awake) and changing poop diapers. We are usually on the go every day, waking up to feed just once or twice a night, getting up in the morning, feeding Stella breakfast, either getting ready to take her to Mother's Day Out or getting ready to run errands before I have to teach class. We are lucky to have sitters who come to the house when I have to teach evening classes, but some days I have to get them ready to take to childcare at the gym where I also teach...this is always fun because Mary Tucker HATES the carseat...as in screams hysterically every time I put her in it. I've tried music, toy bars, mirrors, hanging toys, sunroof open and closed, radio music, etc...nothing works. There's no rhyme or reason to it, either. There are occasions (rare ones) where she's fine and doesn't cry even when shes awake in the seat. Like I said, that's really rare and I drive on pins and needles making sure I don't suddenly upset her. I've even borrowed my friends car seat to see if that'll make a difference. There is an extra headrest/shield thing on the Peg Perego that protects them in the event of a wreck, so perhaps that just pisses the poor baby off. We shall see!

Mary Tucker has been a joy for our family and we are so happy she was born healthy - Stella loves her sister and is now saying "May Tucker" instead of just "Sissy", which I love. I have a feeling she may shorten that to "Tucker" soon, which I don't mind. After her one month check up and shots she started to have some colic-like symptoms around 5-6 weeks old. She slept for the first month straight, which Stella did, so I call that the honeymoon stage. I would literally walk past the pack-n-play and glance down and startle myself at the site of Mary Tucker sleeping on the boppy..."Jeez, there's another baby in the house...I forgot!" Good think I had Mom and Mae Mae here:) She was a very sleepy baby and never ever cried. She really only whined to be fed at night. Now is real life. Right at about 5 weeks, the poor child spent most of every morning screaming in pain and had the.worst. gas. ever. I'm not even joking. Strangers have commented on how bad it smells and that with that gas she must have horrible stomach pain. I've addressed my diet and realized I really wasn't drinking half the water I should have been, which a Pediatrician at our doctors office explained was probably the reason she's been so fussy...she's been getting concentrated breastmilk that is too much for her little digestive system. It's not like I've been loading up on strawberries, cabbage and broccoli....I just didn't realize how much water I didn't drink. It's made a huge difference and she's much happier now that I carry a giant water bottle around all day;) It's funny how the simplest thing can fix the biggest problem.

Stella's started Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is adjusting well, though she won't answer to her name, won't stay in her seat when all the other kids do, and tries to eat every one else's lunch. Oopsies! At least she's not biting yet. The teachers said these types of things are totally normal, and she'll pick up the dos and don'ts of classroom behavior with time, because it's not like I can work on only eating her lunch when we're here at home. She's started just a little bit of separation anxiety whenever I leave her with the sitter or drop her off. I think it has more to do with knowing that Mary Tucker is now in the picture and when Mommy leaves, it means she might have Mary Tucker with her, too. Who knows...but everyone has reassured me its totally normal once #2 arrives.

We have a huge March and April planned, and I promise to blog more religiously now that we're online again. Happy late St.Patrick's Day!!!