6{ish}weeks

time has escaped me. i fully planned on doing the whole 1 month, 2 month, etc. pictures in something like a laundry basket, but honestly, my laundry baskets have been way too full of mountains of dirty clothes, and that just doesn't seem right. they rarely have fluffy clean laundry in them, and because cora hit one month on bella's 3rd birthday, we just kind of forgot that she was one month. 

such is the life of the second child.

so here is her {almost} 6 week update.

at her one month appointment, she had gained 3 pounds from birth and 1/2 an inch in length! my girl is a big eater. 

while, for the first 2 weeks, she hardly made a peep and slept a lot, she started to get more vocal around 3-4 weeks. her constant grunting and grumping lead us to believe she had some serious reflux (that, and all the spit up). we put her on xantac, but a week later, i took her off because it didn't seem to be helping, but laying down to nurse DID seem to help. we realized it was just over supply of milk and a forceful let down that was causing her problems and since then, we have been mostly spit up free (with the occasional bit that is normal, aside).

as far as breast feeding goes-the second time around, it's amazing. so much easier than the first time, but i think i may have been suffering from a mild case of "baby blues" last time. very mild as it didn't really interrupt my ability to function. maybe it was just first time mom blues, but nursing cora has been so much sweeter and i feel a stronger bond, earlier on. with bella, it took a full 6 weeks for me to really feel that connection. i felt like i did everything because i knew i had to take care of my baby, but didn't really feel that sweet cuddly feeling everyone describes. reading that, i almost feel a bit embarrassed. i loved being a mother, and i definitely got that bond after a bit with bella. and maybe overcompensated a bit. but with everything we went through to have her, i think i spent a lot of time in fear that we would lose her. once that passed, the walls came down and i stopped trying to guard myself from that emotion. 

but enough about bella.....this is cora's update!

cora is a mommy's girl, through and through. she will be in a full on choking screaming fit with anyone else and nearly the moment i pick her up, she calms. poor joel is sure she hates him. in the last 2 weeks, i have started wearing her a lot more. she has finally warmed up to the moby (that's currently where she is sleeping) and she LOVES being carried in the ergo. 

she sleeps swaddled half of the time, but doesn't seem to be bothered either way. she goes to sleep around 9 or 10pm waking once at 12 and once at 4 until she finally wakes at 9 or 10am. nights are pretty easy, especially since she got enough head control to manage nursing laying down. she sleeps beside us in a bassinet (the FP newborn rock and play sleeper-best infant product EVER!!!). 

unlike bella who would sit in a dirty diaper for HOURS if i let her (and still does) without ever fussing about it, cora screams the minute her diaper is dirty. i swear, i think cora will be potty trained before bella is! but this meas we go through a lot of diapers. i tried her in cloth at 4 weeks, which is when bella started, and her little legs are so skinny that it was almost like she wasn't even wearing anything. i have newborn gdiapers and am getting some liners today, so we are going to try again and see if we have any better luck she goes through about 10 diapers a day, and i have about 24 newborn/small sized diapers, so hopefully i can keep up, until she is in her normal sized diapers.

cora flipped from front to back yesterday. she was having some tummy time and started getting grumpy. i was getting bella dressed beside her and was fully intending to just let her grump for a bit when i looked down and noticed she was on her back. i got excited and bella screamed really loudly "YAY BABY SISTER!!!!!!!" in her high pitched siren wail, so i am pretty sure cora will never do that again. 

and as for the sisterly bond-bella loves her baby sister. cora is terrified of bella. i was holding cora and we were "talking' when bella came running over, squealing, "baby sister is AWAKE!!!!!", and cora's eyes about popped out of her head and she started screaming. clearly bella's big head coming at her, full speed is not the thing that makes my girl happy. i feel really bad for her and i am pretty sure this 

is in our future. (BTW-if you want to laugh until you pee, check this out you are welcome. and also i'm sorry). 

people keep asking me if having two is so much harder than one. it's not really. it's just as hard as it ever was. the toddler is the most complicated part of it all. maybe it will get harder. the hardest part is generally the tantrums and bucking done by my big girl and that hasn't gotten harder since cora came along. i will say, it's much funnier having two, or maybe i am just delirious and everything is funnier.