What a Week!

It has been one crazy long week. Little Melanie turned 1 week old on Wednesday. Looking back, it is amazing how much we packed into that one little week! There is no way that I could have done all that we did if she was our first child. But, being that she is our second child, things have come much easier this time around.

Let me recap: We left the hospital 6 1/2 hours after her very speedy delivery. When we had Ben, he was born on a Friday night and we didn't leave the hospital until Sunday morning. We forgot to bring a pacifier to the hospital and the nurses wouldn't give us one. Come Sunday morning, we were begging to be discharged. This time around, we knew we only wanted to stay one night. When Melanie came so fast (and I felt so good afterward), we realized it would be possible for us to leave the same day. I am so happy that we did this. Even though I didn't sleep much that first night (Melanie wanted to nurse every hour on the hour), it was nice to only be woken up by her. In the hospital, the nurses would have been in and out checking on me and such. Plus, it was just nice to be in my own bed....and to be with my husband, son and mother-in-law.

Thursday was a day where we just sat around and relaxed. My mother-in-law Ann took Ben to the pool. We had a really nice meal together and watched lots of TV. Ben held Melanie about 10 times throughout the day.....and it was just nice. Melanie has taken to nursing. Plus, I remember with Ben, I was always wanting him to nurse at a certain time/hour. With Melanie, if she acts hungry, I feed her. And, guess what? That made things SO much easier. :) I am tempted to say that Melanie is an easy baby, but honestly, we are just more capable parents this go around. Having a newborn around has been really great. She is not super fussy.....and only makes her presence known when it is time to eat.

Oh- sleeping. Thursday night she woke up every hour on the hour as well. Both nights, I was getting up every hour, sitting in a chair to nurse and then trying to lay her back down in her pack-n-play or bouncy seat. Clearly, this wasn't working. But, I didn't really know what to do.....probably because I was a bit sleep deprived.

On Friday, we decided to go to the lagoon. It was an overcast day and Ben really needed to get out of the flat. There I was, with a 3 day old, sitting at a man-made beach, sipping my cappuccino while nursing (in public) my baby girl . Who is this person and what did she do with worry-about-everything Adrienne?? If you saw me, you would not have recognized me. :) Life.Is. Good.

Friday night, after a nice talk with Ann about what suggestions she had about sleeping, I decided to co-sleep with Melanie. I swaddled her good and tight (Thanks, Westfall's for the awesome swaddle). When she woke up to eat, I nursed her lying down. And, wouldn't you know....she slept two three-hour stretches! Hallelujah! Oh....and it also helped that my milk came in this day. So, little girl's tummy was good and full this go around.

I tried not to assume that Saturday night would be the same....but it has been the same every night since. Now that she is swaddled and sleeping with me, she wakes up every 2-3 hours to feed. Some nights even a bit longer. This is SO doable! Love this gal!

Oh...another thing that has made sleeping/the night shift easier is that I go to bed around 10pm. Then, Caleb hangs out with her until 11:30pm or 12am. I get a good 1-2 hour "power nap" without her in the bed with me. This is so great and really helps me get through the night. Again, I have no complaints right now. I love this little lady and I am so happy that I am getting a pretty good night's sleep considering that I could be getting absolutely no sleep at all. :)

Saturday was another rainy and gross day. We decided to go Christmas shopping. Ann had some things that she wanted to bring back to the States and we were planning to celebrate Christmas on Sunday night. So, we needed pick up a few last minute things for that celebration. There I was, 4 days after giving birth....walking all over the place at the mall. It was so nice to be out and about.

On Sunday, we all went to church. I really like this church. We sang some Christmas songs and worshiped there. The hormones kicked it up a notch and I got all teary-eyed thinking about how truly blessed I am. After church, we went out for fish and chips. YUM! That afternoon, we made Christmas cookies.....and that night, we celebrated Christmas. I have pictures of all this that I will post soon.

On Monday, it was a beautiful day. It was made even more beautiful when Melanie's birth certificate arrived first thing int he morning! We needed to get some documents notarized, so we did that in the morning. While Caleb went to the notary, Ann, Ben and I met up with Kelly and her three kids and went to the lagoon. It was sunny, but we sat under an umbrella and I got about 2 hours of uninterrupted conversation with Ann and Kelly. Talk about a GOOD day. :) I love talking with friends!! All throughout that day, I was stressing about my trip to Sydney the next day. Also, I was sad that Ann was leaving....but I wouldn't let myself cry....when I cry, I get migraines. So, it was a bittersweet day. That night, Ann took us out for dinner. Where did we go, you might ask?? We went back to that fabulous burger place (where we went when we found out we were going to have a girl). Then, we got gelatos (a creamy version of ice cream). These little gelato shops are all over the place here.

On Tuesday, Melanie and I walked through the airport doors at approximately 4:20am. We headed to Sydney and didn't return until 9:20pm that same night. Talk about a long day. I will post more on that later (with pictures).

And, the next day was Wednesday. Melanie turned one week old that day at 10:50am. I mostly sat around and recovered. My poor stretched out abs did NOT like all that walking around Sydney. I needed to just sit. So....that was our crazy busy week!

Now we are a family of 4 and no longer have Caleb's mom around to help with Ben and Melanie and dishes and dinners and such. Wednesday was hard because I was just so darn tired and Melanie just wanted to be held a lot (probably because I literally held her the entire time I was in Sydney). But, today (Thursday here) was really nice. I think we are getting the hang of this "family of 4" thing. Ben has been really good. Today, Caleb took him on a train ride and skyrail ride.....a day for just "the boys" (again, more pictures to come). Melanie and I went grocery shopping.

That is a recap of WHY I haven't been able to blog much. I plan to change that. So, here's to all the future blog posts that are to come....