The past three weeks

The past three weeks have been very overwhelming. It is definitely an adjustment to having a new baby in the house. When you have a two year old and a new baby, life is very demanding.

Morgan is doing wonderfully. Complete opposite of Alyssa (remember, I compare...LOL). With Alyssa, she would scream at the three hour mark to be fed and she would down four to six ounces at this point in her life. Morgan, on the other hand rarely screams to be fed. It is nice to actually be able to warm the bottle without the neighbors thinking that I am beating my kid.

Morgan will sleep anywhere from 3 to 5 hour stretches. Last night she slept from 1:30 ish to about 6:45. Even then, she probably would have taken the binky and slept a bit longer, but I felt that she needed to eat since it had been 5 hours.

Alyssa has been taking her time adjusting. When Morgan first came home, it was hard!! Alyssa was very clingy to me and very whiney. She would cry over everything (with real tears). There were times she didn't want me handling the baby and if Morgan was crying, so would Alyssa (while pushing me away crying "baby", "baby"). Bedtimes and naptimes have become more difficult too. When we would mention naptime or bedtime, Alyssa would take my (or Gary's) hand, walk us upstairs, brush her teeth, read our books and go to bed. Sometimes she would chit-chat with her animal friends in her crib before going to sleep, but she never cried. Lately she has been crying herself to sleep. She will go upstairs OK (because she wants to read books or play with her toys), but then when we put her in the crib, she is throwing fits. They are getting a little better, but she will still usually cry. It breaks my heart, but I know I can't cave in to her, or she will think I will do that all of the time.

Alyssa wants me all of the time. I can't leave without her throwing a fit and I have to be the one to put her to bed everynight. She will climb on me while I am feeding Morgan and make sure that I am giving her attention too.

She does love her though (I think)... She wants to point out her eyes, nose, mouth, ears and hair. She wants to kiss her all the time ("diss"...LOL). She likes to hold her bottle when I am feeding her. It is really cute to see Alyssa interact with Morgan. She won't call her anything but "baby" though. We tried "Morgan" and "sister" and she still calls her baby.

It IS getting better though. The first week was really tough. Especially since I was going through my "baby blues" period where I cried every five minutes. So, with me being an emotional basketcase and Alyssa acting out, I thought I was crazy for having another baby. Since my crying spells are fewer in between now, I can handle this. It is hard, but I am getting a better routine for myself and that really helps me.

Morgan is an absolute dream. She really is a good baby and we are so blessed to have two wonderful daughters. I had such a hard time picturing our family being a family of four and now I can't picture it without Morgan.