Life with a second child is definitely different and crazier than life with one child. And I think it is a harder transition to two children from one than it is from no children to one. Jackie has for the most part been very good with Ben. She spent the first week mostly just fascinated by his feet and hands, and she understands she needs to be gentle with him. Even if she doesn't always remember exactly how soft gentle always is. Jackie has become more loving toward Ben as he gets older: she likes to give him hugs and kisses and likes to "hold" him. When Jackie holds Ben she wants his bum resting in her lap but she is too little to understand the need to hold any other part of him, like his head, so I hold the top half of him so she can pat his head or touch his hands while she "holds" Ben. It is pretty cute. This week she has also started giving Ben kisses and hugs on a pretty regular basis.
Whenever Ben cries, Jackie points to him, looks at me and generally says Ben although Jackie's "Ben" does not have a hard "n" sound at the end. If we are in anther room than Ben when he starts to make noise she runs toward the room he is in while doing the above. She wants to make sure I can hear him and will take care of whatever he needs. She does not like to hear him fuss. And yesterday (4/17) when we were getting ready to leave the house, Ben started crying in his car seat and Jackie tried to put his pacifier in his mouth. Mind you she was holding the nipple and trying to put the other end in his mouth but it was pretty cute. It was also the first time Jackie seemed to understand what the pacifier was for and use it appropriately. Before then Jackie was just fascinated by it because she hasn't seen a pacifier since she was three or four months old. So she would pluck it out of Ben's mouth or grab it from wherever we left it and look at it or stick it in her mouth.
I'm sure everyone would like to know what the progression of Ben's weight has been. He was born at 7lbs 9oz and was discharged from the hospital at 6lbs 15oz. That Monday we had a visiting nurse come and she weighed him at 7lbs 1oz and on Wed. at 7lbs 2.5oz. Thursday Ben had his first pediatrician visit and they weighed him at 7lbs 3.5oz. Two weeks later (or the Wed. before Easter) Ben was weighed again at the hospital when he went for his "procedure" and he was a whopping 8lbs 5oz. That made all the sleepless nights a little more tolerable. I am so thankful that breastfeeding is going more smoothly than it did with Jackie. It has been nice to spend the first month mostly at home and not in and out of the Dr's office and the hospital like we did with Jackie.
And Jackie and I are getting a little more used to life with just us and Ben during the day. The very first day the three of us spent alone was fairly traumatic for Jackie and I, Jackie especially had a rough time. But we have sorted life out and Jackie is getting more patient and I am getting better at doing things for Jackie while Ben is eating (which seems to be most of the time). We even made it out of the house a couple of times in the last week. I think I am finally getting the hang of being a mother of two and Jackie is getting the hang of being a big sister. Now if we could just get a little more sleep all around life would be good.
~Tiffany
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