Sisters

15 weeks!

Well, I have been back to work for 3 full weeks now and it has totally flown by. The first few days were nice bc I could just claim ignorance since I had been gone so long, but by now I am full fledged back in the trenches. It has been kinda nice to get back into the groove though.

Caroline slept through the night for about a week before I went back to work and I was so relieved since I kinda need sleep to function. Well, she hasn't done that since I went back to work (ok, maybe once or twice total). She generally wakes up between 3:30-4:30, I feed her and change her and she usually goes back to sleep without any issues. Total time is about 20-30 minutes, so it isn't too terrible, but I do long for the days of staying in bed all night.

The few nights Caroline did sleep well coincided with the same nights that Meredith has gotten up- it's like they are in cahoots! Meredith was up those nights because poor thing was dealing with a UTI and she wanted me to come to the bathroom with her every time she went bc it hurt :( We were at urgent care the morning of her dance recital. She did a fabulous job, but since her little bunny dance was the very first dance of the show, we opted to leave at intermission. She is much better now after a round of antibiotics :)

In the past two weeks, Caroline has turned into the smiliest, sweetest little baby! She doesn't eat all the time anymore and just hangs out and is so pleasant! Besides the night time sleeping, she has become the perfect baby! She obviously has her issues sometimes, but it doesn't seem to last too long.

Chris has been home with both girls since I went back to work and he is doing well. He has fully admitted that it is really hard work and even said he may be ready to go back to work early :) He has ventured out with both girls a few times- once was to a golf store that he loves. He described the scene for me which I think is just hilarious- Meredith was wearing a pink sundress and a pink Easter hat that was way too small and she was hitting golf balls on the little putting green in the store while Chris sat on a bench and fed Caroline a bottle! Such a picture!

Speaking of bottles- Caroline hasn't turned back on the bottle. She happily takes them while I'm at work and she even took a Dr. Brown's bottle yesterday, which is what we had for Meredith. So it seems that after the initial hurdle, she is doing just fine.

Caroline is also chewing on her hands constantly and drooling like crazy. She hasn't rolled over yet, but keeps pushing up on her feet, but can't get her other arm over yet. I don't think it will be too long before she can really roll over though.

Back to work

Well, Caroline is 12 weeks old, which meant it was back to work for Mommy. It was a Friday, so it was just enough time to get caught up on some emails and chat with folks about things I missed. It really wasn't bad at all. Mom kept the girls today and I was still a bit concerned about Caroline and her total dislike of a bottle, but amazingly, she took the bottle like a champ today for Mom! She must have the magic touch! (Meredith even helped with the bottle, which is something she has been begging to do for awhile, so she was pretty happy too!) So, today was a huge milestone and I'll feel so much more better about leaving her during the day. Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better first day back! Next week may be a different story, but it's time!

I think I can officially say that Caroline is sleeping through the night now, since it has been a week of solid sleep. There were a few mornings where she was up at 5am, but that still counts in my mind! She's been sleeping for 8-9 hours a night, which means I am getting pretty good sleep too- although, I still seem to wake up around 4am and have a hard time getting back to sleep. I'm sure that will fix itself over time, especially now that I'll be working again. Last week seemed to be a pretty big week for her. She seems to be much more able to just hang out for longer periods of time without getting upset and she is also able to go longer stretches between feedings. She definitely still has her moments of being pretty hysterical, but it seems to have a lot to do with her car seat. It has been incredibly hot this week and I think she just gets really hot in her seat in the car. She is loving her hands and sucks on them all the time. She seems to try to suck her thumb a bit, but it's nothing consistent. She smiles a whole lot more these days- just in time for me to miss them while I'm at work :(