Happy 2 months to the secondborn!

Week 127 motherhood: 

• Feb 16:  Wow, the baby had her last feeding at 11:30 p.m., slept a little after midnight, and slept until 4:30 a.m.!!  In fact, I was the one who heard her stirring beside me as I was waking up because my bladder was full and I needed to pee.  First time since she was born that the middle-of-the-night feed was not because she was crying for milk.  It was me who needed to wake up because my breasts were rock hard and engorged. 😅
• She nursed for 9 minutes before she passed tfo. Lol.
• Feb 18:  She’s started to suck her fingers a little bit either for self-soothing or for exploratory purposes.
• Gurgling and babbling more.  More smiles too! 😀
• Feb 22:  The baby is officially more than two months old now!  Time really flies.  She’s been about the same, sleeping well and feeding really well, and we think she is 11 lbs now.  Her two-month-old wellness check is tomorrow so we’ll get the correct measurements by then.
• She doesn’t poop daily..more like every 3 or 4 days.
• We are remembering to bathe her more regularly now.. we aim for twice a week.  Things just get so busy here.
• When I took her two-month-old milestone photo, we put her in a new onesie that is meant for three months old.  She could fit nicely in it!  This baby really is much bigger in size than her older sister.
• I tried breastfeeding her in my arms while sitting at the dining chair at the kitchen for the first time (without the breastfeeding pillow) and she was able to latch and feed okay.  I have to start practising feeding her in a chair without pillows for support.  I need to leave the house eventually lol.  She is big enough to be propped up by my arms but because she’s so heavy, my arms get tired.  It’s like holding a weighted plushie in my arms.  Good thing she nurses for about 10 minutes only in this position.
• Whenever she nurses on the right breast this past week, she tends to dip her head down really low and it’s an awkward position for me because I need to make sure that her head doesn’t fall and she is still latched…
• One interesting thing is that on the actual day she turned two months old, she was practically awake for most of the day… she wasn’t sleepy and only slept on and off after a feed whereas she usually would pass out for about two hours after a feed consistently.  I don’t know what was up with her that day to be unable to sleep.  It’s like she knew she turned another month older and just things were changing for her?  It was a tiring day for me because I kept trying to nurse her to get her to sleep and soothe, but it didn’t work.
• The next day though, she reverted back to her normal self and was sleeping more hours to compensate what she had lost the day prior.  Phew.
• When the baby is more needy this way, I have to tend to her more and thus have less attention for the toddler.  It’s not ideal but we are only human.  The toddler was acting out a lot because of this, unfortunately.
• I know we have given the toddler enough one-on-one attention when she stops hanging around us and actually plays by herself in her play kitchen or play mat area.  Until her cup is filled, she cannot play independently.
• The toddler still refuses to let us brush her properly.  We have transitioned to no more milk at night and only water if she wakes up.  She still has stains on her front teeth…  We will keep trying.
• I have been meaning to go downstairs to the basement to search for the crocodile toy with a big set of teeth to use as a play thing to model teeth brushing.. But just haven’t had time to do this at all.  All my time is spent with the baby physically to nurse her or to nourish myself with meals.
• When I don’t have a medela bottle on my table when I’m nursing, the toddler knows to get a new clean one for me.  It’s so considerate and smart of her.
• She’s been drinking the milk from the haakaa poured straight from it.  It’s only at night recently that I need to fill up a medela bottle.
• We don’t let the toddler use a nippled bottle anymore except for when it’s my breastmilk (so she finishes it and doesn’t leave it on the table like she does with cow’s milk or soy milk in a cup).
• I had my first chiropractor appointment today to see about my pelvis and apparent uneven leg length.  He did an initial assessment on me (slow leg raises, slow tippy toe raises, touching my toes, bending backwards, leaning to the side; measuring my legs, feeling for pain or discomfort on my pelvis and along it, feeling my lower spine) and thankfully I don’t have a huge discrepancy on my legs; it’s less than 1 cm which is normal and common.  However, what he did discover is that my left pelvis is tilted slightly upwards and back which is what is contributing to some tightness and unevenness in how I walk.  He did some adjustments on me (never experienced it before — being cracked) and gave me two stretches to do at home as homework.  It’s a very simple standing calf stretch and a seated crossed-leg stretch.  It’s another reminder that I should be doing more physical exercise and staying active — been too sedentary since the birth 😥😓.
• The baby still says “nai” or “lai” when she’s hungry.  She is so, so vocal and clear about it.  I love how easy she makes it for us to know what she wants.
• Last night, I was on my own and trying to put her for sleep for the night.  I kept cluster feeding her for an hour of and offf in between cries.  At one point, she hit her head on the armchair of the rocking chair when she leaned back.  She let out a huge piercing cry and then was screaming while crying.  It was the loudest thus far I’ve heard from her so far.  It actually made my ears ring.  It was so intense.  (She was fine, by the way.)
• This week, the toddler expressed a deep interest to hold the baby which we were happy to see that she was being endearing and caring towards the baby.  We did let her hold the baby while she was seated on the sofa.  The toddler had such a funny expression on her face and wasn’t really holding her tight but also was amused at the new experience.
• On the other hand, the toddler was curious about the baby and actually grasped a strand of the baby’s head hair and pulled it.  The baby flinched but was okay.  The toddler also slightly hit/touched the back of the baby’s head at another point and the baby let out a startled cry.  We had to scold her for doing that because newborn scalps are so thin and fragile.
• The toddler frequently asks whoever is holding the baby to release the baby by giving her to someone else or to put her in the bouncer chair or on the floor.  There is some sort of sibling jealousy now.
• No more yanking of the nipple when the baby feeds!  Yay!  This unwanted behaviour disappeared as quickly as it appeared.  The baby just lets go quickly and doesn’t pull the nipple anymore — soo glad!
• The toddler hasn’t been playing with her magnetic tiles as often this week or requesting me to read books to her.  Instead, she’s really been enjoying cooking time with grandma or dad.  She likes to stand on her learning tower next to them and help out with mixing or just touching the utensils and materials.  She helps out with pruning of vegetables the most often.
• When she is interested in being read to, she’s been asking grandma or DH to read to her the Chinese mini books.  Grandma has been doing the same thing as DH where she waits for the toddler to respond to a missing word in the sentence.  The toddler is able to remember the text of the story and fills in the blank with the correct word.  It’s like she can memorize the text in the book.
• The toddler is able to put on socks, house slippers, and pants by herself.   She can even put on her shoes and boots by herself but needs help with the final push of her heel.  She can distinguish which shoe is left or right.  Grandma taught her.  So proud to see it ^_^.
• Been having weird dreams.
• The baby can relatch herself properly if briefly unlatched from the breast.  Or when she’s really hungry and I’m attaching the haakaa on the other side, she can lunge for the breast and latch herself by herself.  It’s quite remarkable.