We’re starting to get a hang of Allison’s way of doing things. Christine and I settled into bed at 10PM (an hour after we got Katherine to bed) fully expecting Allison to continue her sleep and feed cycles of roughly every 2 hours. As the night pressed on, it was clear that Allison wasn’t going to follow this routine. She was power feeding and working through some major gas bubbles. Allison would feed, Steve/Christine would burp her and Allison would sleep for 10 minutes and the cycle would repeat. This went on until about 12:30A. Then a miracle happened. Christine fed Allison and dad burped her and she fell into a deep sleep that lasted until 7A the next morning. Christine had to wake her up. Hopefully, this will be the routine. Between the gas bubbles and the power feeding with no sleep, Christine and I were starting to get a bit worried about our ability to sleep for the next couple of weeks.
Katherine got up at 6:00A this morning and wanted her apple juice and to sleep with daddy. Allison was sleeping/feeding with mommy so dad took Katherine to the spare bed room and slept until 7:30A.
Allison and mom have figured out the art of feeding. Allison has this cute behavior of opening just her left eye when she’s sleepy or breast feeding to check out the world. She will nurse for a while and then fall asleep. Christine will ask “are you done?” Allison will peer at us using her left eye (or not) then start feeding again. The cycle continues until she passes out and we wrap her up in her blanket.
Allison is also a good sleeper. She has to be because Katherine sings her ABC’s at the top of her lungs to “wake up the baby” despite mom and dad’s attempts to have her use her inside voice. It’s all about testing boundaries. Fun to watch the interactions but adds a whole new dimension to parenting.
With all of her eating, Allison is starting to fill out – although she is still only 6 lbs! Her face is getting rounder, and she looks increasingly like Katherine when she was born.
Patty arrived at 8A and helped Katherine get ready for Gymnastics. We’re all going to meet up at the pediatrician at around noon for Allison’s checkup and Katherine 2 year Hep booster shot -Katherine doesn’t know this yet ๐ This afternoon, Allison gets a checkup and hearing test at the Overlake Women’s center. Grandma Dottie is coming over for dinner to visit and fix us dinner, yum.
Overall, Christine and I cannot complain. Allison is sleeping well and we have some time and energy to spend quality time with Katherine and document Allison’s first days. Katherine is adjusting as well as expected to having a baby sister. The novelty of having “the baby” is still there but Katherine is acting up more to attract our attention. When mom is feeding Allison, I’m trying to give Katherine some attention.
I also wanted to thank Grandma Chang for helping take care of Katherine while we were in the hospital. It’s great to have family around who can help us and pass on the family values to Katherine.
I’ll update with news and pictures later this evening.