Big girls

A quick story about right now. Jeff is upstairs napping with Maren. She won’t nap alone, so Jeff is with her.  I am downstairs wearing nothing but Jeff’s rain pants and my raincoat, with Linden sleeping in my arms.

Why? Because Linden was having a crying fit that started in the middle of a diaper change, right below the room where Maren was trying to fall asleep. I really wanted Maren to nap today because she has a bad cold and has been up coughing since 4:30am. So I picked up Linden, sans diaper, to try to calm her down, and she peed instantly, soaking my shirt, bra, and pants. Rain gear was the most appropriate replacement clothing I could find downstairs. Linden proceeded to keep screaming, unfortunately, but it seems Maren must have fallen asleep, because she and Jeff are still upstairs. And Linden did finally stop screaming and fall asleep. Parenthood.

I bought Maren a knife set. They are some kind of plastic, so not sharp or dangerous, but designed so that with a little work they will cut a variety of foods. Maren tends to have some issues around being told to eat (she would rather starve than be told what to do), and has since she was an infant. Any perception that someone is taking away her choice or control is more salient than hunger. The hope is that she will be more interested in food if she is involved in preparing it. So far so good:

Maren also insisted on putting in her own hair clips yesterday. 

Meanwhile, Linden is eating well and growing rapidly. She is 78th percentile for weight, and 98th for both length and head circumference. She cries a lot more than Maren did at this age, and we have had some concerns about her comfort while nursing, maybe reflux or problems related to her laryngomalacia. But we are definitely not worried about whether she is eating well and growing well.

Crying in her new sunglasses:

Maren and Linden are similar in some ways, but are definitely two different people!

One month, deck furniture, pyjama day

Linden turned one month old this week. In true form for a second child, we didn’t take her one-month picture until the day after she turned one month. With Maren we were always on the day.

Oh well. At least we took a photo :-)

Also this week we got new furniture for our deck – a table and chairs so we can enjoy our backyard a bit more.

Once everything is assembled I plan to be out there every day with Linden as long as the weather permits. Today is shaping up to be a lovely sunny day so you can bet I will be spending time outside!

Last but not least, Friday was pyjama day for Maren at daycare. She was super excited.

Life with two littles is busy but we have been having fun!

Sister love 💕

Maren is an amazing big sister. She has occasionally been sad about wanting us to play with her or pay attention when we can’t, but overall has been surprisingly positive. Surprising to me anyway - I imagined far more tantrums and negativity, but all has been pretty great. She constantly gives Linden hugs and kisses, and says how much she loves her baby sister. It is incredibly sweet. Getting photos is not so easy, but here are a couple of attempts from this week:

Noisy breathing projectile pooper; super helper big sister

We have been having a pretty good transition to life with Linden. First, some notes about our first few days:

Labor and birth went well. I may give details of the birth story at some point, but for now it is enough to say that things were fairly relaxed and there were no big problems.

When we were transferred from the labor and birth unit to the mother baby unit, the nurses immediately noticed a potential problem with Linden’s breathing. It was noisy, and her cry was weak and laboured. She was transferred right away to the special care nursery, and from there went to the NICU. She spent about 36 hours under observation, and came away with a diagnosis of stridor (which just means noisy breathing), likely caused by laryngomalacia, or “floppy larynx,” which in most cases doesn’t cause serious problems. I will let you look up the details of laryngomalacia on your own if you want, but the short story is that Linden is gaining weight well, doesn’t seem to have trouble getting enough oxygen, and will most likely not need any treatment. She will probably grow out of her condition by 18 months of age.

Functionally what this means currently is that she is a noisy little beast, which is charming most of the time but bothers Maren when she can’t hear the book we are reading, and bothers me and Jeff when we are trying to sleep. Also adorable except when it is happening is her propensity to poop in the middle of a diaper change. Several times she has pooped explosively while her diaper is off, launching her poop as far as several feet. Other than this she is a very mellow baby so far.

My mom has been here to help since the night before Linden was born. She is leaving Tuesday morning, and hopefully we will manage okay without the extra help. Maren has been a super helper, and has started wanting to help with making dinner. She is really taking to the role of big sister, and of big kid in general. It’s been amazing to see how much she loves her little sister ❤️

Big Sistersaurus

On Friday March 1 at 11:02 a.m. Maren became a big sister. We welcomed Linden Theia Klest Loucks to our family. She weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 14 oz.

Life has been a bit busy since then, but I will post more soon!