First Weeks at Home with Peter and Jill

We've been home from the hospital for two weeks now. The first week was bliss. I spent a lot of time just staring into Peter's face and enjoying him. I could feed him and put him down anywhere and he slept. He was an absolute peach. He's starting to get a little more demanding now, but caring for Peter was a breeze that first week.

Peter is a terrific eater. He was born at 8 lbs 4 oz, was discharged from the hospital on a Monday at 7 lbs 12 oz, and when we took him for a well-baby visit the following Wednesday he was back to 8 lbs even. Even more impressive was that he weighed in at 9 lbs 1.5oz the Wednesday after that. I guess babies typically gain an ounce a day, and Peter gained over 2 ounces a day that first week!

Here is a shot of Peter in his favorite spot, resting on his dad's chest.

Taking care of Jill these two weeks has been a little tricky. She loves her baby brother, but it seems like she is not so crazy about her mom and dad right now. She's thrown a lot of tantrums and puts up a real fight when we try to give her a timeout. She is sweet with Peter, though. In the morning when she gets up she says, "My baby. I go see him? I hold him?" While peering into his crib from her tiptoes one morning she said, "Baby's a big cute." Another observation of Jill's, "Mummy's a big milk." Yes. Yes, I am a big milk.

In the first few days, Jill tried to cover Peter with blankets and give him his pacifier when he cried. That sounds nice, but toddler love can be rough. When I turned the corner into the living room one time, Jill was jabbing the pacifier at Peter's face while he cried and desperately shook his head back and forth to avoid it. For the most part we've been able to discourage her from touching him without our help but she needs 100% supervision when he is around.

Some other funny things Jill has been doing... She loves to watch Peter get a diaper change. She runs for her toothbrushing stool and places it by the changing table so she gets a perfect view. She puts teddy bears and dolls covered in blankets in all of our baby carrying gadgets: the swing, the bouncy seat, Peter's car seat. She also loves to sit and pat Peter's back while I feed him. She gives him big smiles and air kisses.

Last week I started to look ahead to Bryan's return to work with increasing dread. I'd hold Peter while Bryan wrestled Jill into the tub and think, "Oh no! How am I going to do this?!" I turned to my big sister for advice, "Oh my goodness, Beck, how did you manage the two of them?" Her response, "I honestly don't remember." So the pain of labor she remembers, but her first weeks with two children she has had to block. Interesting.

Another interesting observation is how often one child will be at complete peace when the other is totally melting. Early in the week, Jill was throwing spectacular tantrums while Peter slept totally undisturbed. Then recently Peter was screaming and crying hysterically during his bath while Jill looked on with mild interest and ate a sandwich. It was like she was taking in dinner and a show.

Here are a few other notes about Jill that aren't baby related. Lately Jill has been looking for loop holes when we correct her in naming something. She'll say, "That's a basketball." And we say, "No, that's a football." Jill responds, "That's a football. It's kind of a basketball." Or after the same type of exchange she declare, "That's a pear. It's kind of an apple." And yesterday Jill grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to the TV saying, "Mummy, they fall in the tubby!" She was watching swimming on the Olympics and "falling in the tubby" meant diving in the pool. :)

Here are some other pictures of us as a new family of four.

And here are some pictures of some of the new big sister gifts Jill has received.