Looking Up

Before Louisa was born, I had prepared myself for completely sleepless nights, breastfeeding complications and a constant wail from our new baby. Aside from doing laundry every day and a surprising slow recovery from the so-called miracle of childbirth, things were not nearly as hard as I had imagined.

So because I over-prepared last time, I think I failed to prepare myself for life with a newborn and a two year old. I thought I knew everything about "staying calm and carrying on" with a baby. Well, I have to say, it's way harder this time. What I still have to learn relates mostly to having patience when two little beings need my attention. Thankfully Cora has not forced us to endure completely sleepless nights or feeding challenges, and she doesn't even cry that much. But WOW - these first four weeks have been a wake-up call regarding my ideas of child spacing. Louisa is doing fairly well with the transition, but there are definitely challenging moments. For now, the way I cope is by having low expectations of what I can accomplish in a day.

***24 hour distraction***

Last night was difficult but then marvelous. Let me explain. My parents are in town and last night we took the train downtown San Jose for dinner. We went out for Cuban food and Cora wasn't a happy camper on the way there. Riding along in her Ergo carrier on my chest, she was sleeping, then POOF - awake and very unhappy. I tried nursing her, then we changed her diaper. Then I think I nursed her again. I blame belly discomfort. We all survived by taking turns walking outside with her until she got back in the Ergo for the ride home and was happily asleep. The night became marvelous eventually because she must have tired herself out so much during dinner that she only woke up once between 9 pm and 8 am. I won't go around bragging that my 4-week old only wakes up once each night, but I will remember last night fondly. That little miracle and having my parents in town makes me feel that things are looking up.

Here's my recent favorite photo of little Corabean, a.k.a. Towa...

Hanging out on the front porch with Belle

For laughs, here's a funny one from Thursday morning:

I asked Cora to potty train her older sister

 And one last sweet one...

Tummy time on the dining room table. Totally against the rules.