The first two weeks....

The first two weeks have been pretty amazing, I must say! Funny the things that you forget, though, about having a newborn in your house. Although I have to say that between each baby being different, as well as our circumstances, it's really hard to determine if life is just different, or if we truly have forgotten some of the best and most challenging moments of having a newborn.

Nursing...is going extremely well! I have been blessed again with a daughter who latches easily, and was a natural at nursing. I know so many friends who have experienced challenges with nursing and I feel so, so, so lucky that we haven't encountered any problems. Well, other than the fact that I produce enough milk for 3 kids, it seems, so poor Ruby has to take some breaths in between nursing otherwise the girl spits up everything she just ate cause mama's 'letdown' is fierce! But if that's the worst of my problems, I'll take it :)

Sleep....well, all things considered, I feel blessed. Ruby sleeps (for the most part) 2-3 hours, then nurses, then usually goes back to sleep fairly easily. There have been a few rough nights where she wants to nurse for what seems like 1-2 hours straight (yes, straight!) and other moments where she will nurse and then be wide awake and not want to return to sleep as easily. But for the most part, I'm up 3-4 times a night, and we're sleeping from 11pm-9ish am. So I consider that a B+ (and I know if she was on formula, she'd sleep even longer but this is the trade-off with breastfeeding).

We gave Ruby her first bath once her cord stump fell off (and yes, I saved it, much to my mother's displeasure! She calls it 'a scab'. Ha!), and just like Ginger, she didn't enjoy bathtime! Let's just say she didn't chill in her baby bath with a smile on her face :) Ginger grew to love her baths fairly quickly, which I'm hoping will be the case with Ruby. However, once she was in her jammies and was able to cuddle she was in heaven.

Ginger just LOVES her baby sister. She is very proud to tell others about 'baby Ruby', and is always very eager to let me know when she is crying, fussing, etc. Ginger usually shrieks and says "mama, baby Ruby, baby Ruby!" as if I don't notice that she's crying. It's pretty cute. She is VERY hands on, so we have to be watchful that she doesn't go overboard. The other day she took a blanket, thinking she was going to wipe some spit-up off of her lip, and practically smothered the poor girl in blanket! She does struggle a little bit with not getting 100% of the attention, usually by either having a little melt-down, or using her 'outside voice' when i ask her to speak softly. She continues to go to daycare 3-4 days a week, mostly for her benefit in terms of keeping her in routine and on schedule, but also to allow me to experience a similar bonding experience with Ruby that I had with Ginger. And it's working out fantastic, as I'm able to pick her up early from daycare but also have time to nap when Ruby naps, etc.

Ruby has had 2 rather difficult photoshoots at this point, and I've determined that she may have a strong-willed personality if her temperment at the shoots reflects her future. Both times, she was peaceful, nursed, and sleeping until she was placed in front of the camera. Then she woke, expressed her displeasure when posed, got the hiccups, wanted to cluster nurse, yep- she did it all. After the first session our photographer offered to reshoot the following week, which was sweet but after round 2 of the same behavior I think it's safe to say that we'll wait before taking her in for another studio session! Once we get into our new house, our friend Kymberli will be coming over for another photoshoot- hopefully when Ruby is in her own element she'll be more agreeable!

Speaking of which- yes, I said "new house"! We are so excited to be in escrow on a new house just a few miles away that can easily be considered our dream come true. It offers 4 bedrooms, plus a bonus playroom, family room, formal living room, dining room, breakfast nook, and jacuzzi tub in my master! (That was a must for me, as our current house has only one teeny tiny bathtub that I never, ever fit into) The house also has a pool (with diving board!), is on 1/2 acre, has 8 different fruit trees, an amazing rosh bush garden, and a full sized basketball court that will serve as the future pad for a 3-4 car garage at the back of the property for Paul. PLUS, and most most most importantly, the house is in a great neighborhood, which offers a fantastic elementary school for Ginger and Ruby to attend. We knew if we stayed in our current home, we would have been forced to place the girls into private school as the elementary school has mediocre (at best) test scores so this really is a dream for me. We close escrow on 1/7/2011 and hope to move into the new house sometime the following week. So exciting!

Overall, there are some crazy challenging moments where Paul and I have looked at one another with the "what did we get ourselves into" look, but otherwise baby Ruby has integrated pretty well into our little unit! I just cannot WAIT to continue watching Ruby grow up and start to recognize Ginger, play with her, immulate her, etc. But I'm learning to take each day at a time and enjoy these moments, and not try to rush past any phase in order to get to the next one. Especially now, having seen how Ginger's baby days just RUSHED past us, it seems, I'm really trying to honor Ruby by just enjoying the moments. It's been wonderful!