I think William will be making his first steps solo any time now.

Will and Emma

William is quite hilarious - a part from the fact that he is causing us to sleep about 3-4 hours a night - and so cute! He laughs at his own reflection in the mirror, smiles when he sees Emma or a picture of her, adores being tickled, loves new sounds, has absolutely no stranger anxiety - quite the contrary!

Here William munching on Sophie the giraffe while chuckling at the cow sounds another toy makes.

Emma's current favorites are "I spy with my little eye" and singing "Brown bear brown bear what do you see?"

She has also recently discovered Holly and Ben from < href=""> Little Kingdomwhich she loves and the very useful, fun and educational starfall ABC game.

The latter - and the fact that she has the letters of the alphabet stickers on her bed - means that whenever she is out and about she now spots letters in signs, tables, papers, logos, etc. and exclaims "Mummy! Look! It's Gogo! (meaning G for Gogo)" or "it's E for me (Emma)!" So funny!

Also, Emma now can swing herself on the big girl swing! Yiippeee!

William - 3 month update

A slightly late 3 month update:


Eating and sleeping

• During the day, he now roughly sleeps 1,5-2 hours hours and is awake about the same amount of time. At night he sleeps from 7h15 pm to about 6h30 am. Unfortunately he still wakes for a feed about 3 or 4 am and sometimes just wakes and needs a tap on the bum to fall back to sleep (on top of that he has a dream feed just before 11pm which means he has a total of 7 feeds in 24 hours! 5 in the day, a dream feed and one night feed).
• Thankfully, his naps are now better (less wakings) and he has started to sleep less fitfully in his pram (even when you stop walking).

• We've thankfully been able to get him to sleep without the swaddle a few times - it broke my heart to need to swaddle him up in this terrible heat! Hopefully this trend will continue.
  
• He is now mostly able to burp on his own (without being burped) but when he has trapped air, he let's you know! and hiccups seem to occur less frequently.
• He eats loads as long as he is not distracted by noise, people interacting with him or new places. Sometimes, I cover his face (and my breast) up so he can focus on eating and then we can play. He eats best in the quiet of his room.

Communicating

• When he screams, he seems to be even louder than before if that is even possible!
• His smiles are getting bigger and his "talking" louder and more varied with sounds like "aiii" "eiii" "whaiii" "wééé" "huh" and "gré"
• He is increasingly able to communicate feed-back and to interact more with the world around him.

Mobility

• He rolled from his tummy onto his back all by himself 3 times! but since that one time - nothing.
• It sometimes seems as if he wants to stand/sit up by himself
  
• He is chewing on his hands a lot - could he be preparing his gums for teething?
  
• He is now able to grasp toys and towels by himself and he is very strong (but he doesn't hang on to them for very long except if he is clutching my necklace or t-shirt)
  

Physical attributes

• His size of clothing is already 74cm-86cm depending on the brand and he is really quite a big boy!
• At his 3 month check-up he weighed 7,340gr!!!
• Apparently he has ears like mine (the tips stick out a bit) and we yawn in the same way.

• William is losing his hair like Emma did. Soon he will only have the little collar at the back that makes babies look like monks.

• He sometimes looks exceedingly wise for his age.

Other stuff

• We tried giving him a bottle of milk (both mine and formula) but he vehemently refused!
• He is gradually getting used to noise (Emma's and other) and wind and light so that he jumps a bit less and cries a bit less frequently. Phew!
• Generally Will can be very sensitive to the environment (positive and negative) and I hesitate in between sheltering him as much as I can and wanting him to adapt to it. I guess he will adapt when he feels more secure and as he grows.
  

He's a nice guy and we love him to bits!

Family update - nearly 2 months as a foursome

First, William:

• he has the cutest smile, the bluest eyes and the loudest voice

• he is growing very quickly and has already had a number of exhausting growth spurts (i.e going back to feeds every two hours)
• when his tummy is full he can sleep through Emma's singing, prancing and dancing and loud talking
• it takes him a while to find sleep and we have resorted to swaddling him - something Emma hated but he seems to enjoy - to stop him waking himself when he startles as he falls asleep - this seems to help a lot although we only wrap him before putting him down in his bed as he has no trouble falling asleep when carried in the baby björn or when pushed in his buggy
  
• he loves sleeping in his stroller and enjoys baths
• like most babies, he dislikes the wind and hates being cold
  

• his eyes follow me and he can turn and lift his head really well
• his poos are noisy and explosive
• he is not at all good at burping - Emma did this all on her own always twice as soon as she had eaten - Will needs to be burped in the middle of a feed and after which means you really have to pay attention of he'll heave half the milk all over you. I have found that it is more efficient to rock him forward and back from the waist holding him in a sitting position rather using the classic over the shoulder method. If you don't burp him properly, expect a lot of reflux!
• he has started to coo

• I clipped his nails for the first time this week

Now that we have mastered the burping and he seems to be in less pain after every meal (less colicky) and that we are finally learning how to settle him to sleep, all we need is to get some sleep ourselves... (so far day-time naps have proved impossible! and nights are extremely broken and short). Hopefully after this growth spurt is over we can get back to a three hour routine in between feeds and begin to feel more human. Fingers crossed please!


As for Emma, she is doing really well with her potty/toilet training (she uses both) although she sometimes still needs reminding (asking if she needs) to go to the toilet to pee.
She loves her big girl underwear "so wie you Mama" (like you - meaning like yours - Mummy!)

Pooing is a different matter; so far she doesn't use the toilet or potty for that.
Hopefully, we'll get there before her birthday.

Unfortunately, she tends to want to pee (accompanied) just as it's time to put Will down to sleep... Evenings are the hardest with both of them on totally different schedules but both needing attention and to be bathed, fed and put to bed.

Most of the time Emma is really good with William and tries to be gentle and helpful. She has learned to walk with fairy-princess tip-toes (as opposed to dinosaur bear ones) to tell him we are nearly home when he cries or that I (and she) are right there, not to be afraid. When I yawn, she asks me if I am tired.

In the evening as I put her to bed she sometimes forcefully states that I am her Mum and not William's or she tells me that she "needs her Mummy" in the morning when I take her to kindergarden. All things considered, I think it's good that she feels she can freely express such things. I try not to negate or question her feelings but rather repeat a hundred times over my love of her, focus on her when I am with her and avoid comparing her and Will at least vocally (although I inevitably have to explain that Will does not have teeth to brush nor can he speak to apologize when he burps).

At times it is good to reinforce all the great things about being big(ger) but she sometimes still needs to be small and helped and hugged and held even when she says she does not. Although she seems like such a big girl now in so many ways, I try to keep in mind she is not yet 3.

I have been telling her that I love her a lot and so now when asked "who loves you to bits?" (qui t'aime très très fort?) she bellows "Mummy!!!!" (we've now added, Daddy, William, Grand-papa François, Pata, Gogo, Deda, Tata-yéyé, Marta, etc. to this little ritual). We have great hugs and lots of kisses and tickles and still sing and read in the evenings. She also likes being told that I am happy to see her and is now using this expression herself with William too.


The initial "showing off" of William to get attention ("Schau mal! Das ist Mein Bruder William!") has become increasingly authentic and I sometimes think she is already protective of him. Oh and she is still interested to know if he has pooed and likes to help bath him.

Her hair is exactly as I remember my sister's was in the morning: a bird's nest!


There is a lot of joy in parenthood these days but many hours when my brain is mushy, my batteries are flashing low and I feel we are just surviving on some form of auto-pilot. It's really hard coordinating and juggling with two totally different time-tables, ages, needs, kids. More than ever, you need to put yourself last (but I did manage an hour of Pilates today thanks to Steph) and solidarity and cooperation between parents is essential.

Two kids is tough but it can only become better.

... I can't believe I have actually managed to download these pics and write this post all in one sitting! (don't want to jinx things, but it seems things are definitely improving!!! )Time to feed Will one more time before getting some sleep.

Still alive and kicking... albeit sleepily

I've been away from the blogosphere - and from my Mac - for the past three weeks, mainly due to lack of time and when that was available, sleep, food or a peaceful moment in the shower or a caffé latte were my priority... So if you've sent me an email or a text and are still waiting for a reply please forgive me and consider this your update for now and know that we are alive and kicking.

It's been tough and it's not over.

Not that I want to over dramatize, but lack of sleep is a killer. A colicky second child is a killer. Add to that an attention seeker first born and Spring that is more like November than May and you get a flavor of my feeling of tired.

I cannot emphasize how grateful I am to have super hubs around and SO helpful with Emma and Will. As things stand, Steph takes Will after I have given him a last double feed at 8 and 9pm so I can catch some sleep. I take over again at mid-night or whenever Will wakes up. We'll try getting on to a E.A.S.Y routine when Will is over a month old.


Oh, and whether you have a super hubs or not, the single most essential thing to have when you've got a second child is a baby carrier so that your hands are free!!!

My view of Will in his babybjörn baby carrier

Other than that, Will is super cute, if resembling Don Camillo from the Panzani commercials (see below) with his bulging absolutely huge eyes and funny nose.

He seems very "here" for such a young one. His eyes seem to focus and he actually knocks his little bells on his pram.

Unfortunately, he sleeps like log in the night to the point of not wanting to eat for more than 10 minutes a pop and hence wakes me exceedingly often. I am so tired by morning I just want to hide under the covers and tell everyone and everything to just go away. On the positive side, during day time he mostly manages to sleep through Emma's singing, shouting, crying, pouncing, jumping, etc. and manages to sleep between feeds for up to 3,5 hours. If only he would do the same at night...

His first visit to the pediatrician last week went well and we were told he had put on 700gr in two weeks and now measured 57cm (what?! 6 cm in 2 weeks?! well, maybe her just stretches out more).

Emma is being very good, giving him a zillion kisses a day and always asking where he is as soon as she wakes up or comes in from the garden or park. Her absolute favorite is when I tell her Will needs changing and she gleefully shouts "C'mon Mummy, let's change Will!" and that he has (no doubt) made a huge caca!

She also quite enjoys bath time as she pours water over his belly or holds his foot to lessen the Moro reflex.
She does, admittedly ask for more cuddles from me and sometimes looks a bit put out when Will is yet again "eating from boobie" but generally she has grown accustomed to having him around. It will be another thing when he starts moving around and playing with toys.

Having gone through a short spell of finding it really hard to tell Emma I cannot run/jump/draw with her while I am feeding Will, I have found ways to do things with her during this time. A book can be read and a song can be sung (she now knows the ABC song!) and questions can be asked - although Emma's focus on answering them is not great - sort of like when I am driving.
The most annoying moments are when she tries to kiss him or do my hair while I am breastfeeding; Emma is the clumsiest, heaviest dinosaur of a little girl and inevitably hits me in the chin, knocks Will, falls over the both of us, knocks over the bottle of water, falls over her own feet, etc. It can be quite annoying when it happens 20 times a day I can assure you!

Actually, I get annoyed at hearing myself repeat "be careful", "gently", etc. over and over again.

Well, that's about it (it's taken me about 4 days to write the above!) - I'm going to attempt a catnap before Will wakes.

William update - 3 days old

So what's been happening for the past three days?

Off the top of my head and once again sleep deprived new-mummy-brain:


Will slept a lot on Sunday and it was sometimes hard to get him to breastfeed for more than 10 minutes at a time (pause, burp, feed, sometimes reflux) but as the day drew to a close he got hungrier so I hope that all that sucking will bring my milk in soon.

He has really looong fingers and seems finer and of a more slender build than Emma, although, at the grand old age of 48hours things could change!


It's impressive how big and grown up Emma seems all of a sudden! Practically a teenager! ;-)

My days here at the clinic are busy, busy busy; After my first visitors (Steph and Emma before they go to work and kindergarden) the obgyn came by and checked my uterus, blood was taken for a blood test (not sure what that was about but will ask the obgyn ) the physiotherapist came by and so did a masseuse (I didn't get to benefit from these as I had visitors and was breastfeeding when they came on Monday but did on Tuesday).

My nights of sleep are currently 1h30am-5h30/6am. I definitely need a nap in the afternoon!

Will likes to sleep in after his first morning feed allowing me to shower etc. before breakfast and visits!

Will's weight was 3290gr on Monday morning and 3260gr Tuesday and today he is edging back up to his original birth weight at 3310gr. Yay!!!

He is looking slightly less pinky-blue and quite handsome.


Emma and Steph bumped into the obgyn Tuesday morning as they were leaving and Emma's first reaction was "das ist nicht dein Bruder! Das ist mein Bruder!!" Ever true to herself, although a "Guten Morgen" would have been nice too!

I had forgotten how ravenously hungry breastfeeding makes me. I literally wolf down my scrambled eggs and my lunch (soup, fish, potatoes, salad & desert) lasted all of 10 minutes !!

We survived the notorious day 3 slump! Hopefully as of today we will start feeling better again!