Mackenzie is one month old – in the picture above she is in one of her favorite spots (her newest favorite) – the swing! Although I am not sure any spot is as beloved as the boppy, another favorite spot is the bouncy seat.
At the doctor’s office on her one month birthday she weighed in at 9 lbs. 10 oz (50%) and 21″ (25%), so I guess you could say she is eating just fine. She is pretty much in a regular schedule now, eating every 3-4 hours, and she occasionally goes 5 hours at night between feedings (though she also occasionally only goes 1-2 hours at night between feedings). She has a bit of baby acne on her face, neck and shoulders, but I am told that will go away in a couple more weeks. It thankfully does not seem to bother her at all.
Her hair is still dark and her eyes are still difficult to identify – when she was born they were blue, but really a dark grey-blue. Now, as you can see here, they are a very interesting grey color.
I don’t think they will end up blue, but Tia and I think they just might end up hazel. It is hard to say right now. Given that Brianna had dark hair until she was 4+ months old, there is also no guarantee on the hair either.
Her cord stump fell off a little before she turned 3 weeks old. I am highly entertained by her newly revealed belly button – it looks like a hurricane symbol so clearly she is the newest Caniac in town (and you thought I was kidding…)!
I have to say, so far she is a bit easier than B was at this age. So far she does not appear to have the reflux or colic that ailed Brianna at this age. The only times she REALLY screams is when she is REALLY hungry. She does have her fussy periods, which are generally mid morning (rarely) and/or mid evening (usually), but they are thankfully brief. You can almost always calm her by putting her in this position (preferably with your shoulder poking into her tummy).
Brianna, unlike her Daddy, loves to help M get a bath. Daddy’s reluctance has a lot to do with M’s reaction to the bath (not at all demonstrated by this picture, which was pretty much the only time she was calm the entire bath).
Right now Tia is visiting and is a big help with both girls! I love how M is looking so intently at B’s hair…I half expected her to reach out and grab it!
Everyone is slowly adjusting to our new lives, and we couldn’t be happier!
O.k., so this will be more of a hodge-podge than a “themed” post, but such is life with a newborn and a toddler! We have been so fortunate to have lots of help these past few weeks. Mimi arrived a few days before Mackenzie was born, and left on Valentine’s Day.
Mimi with M – one day old.
M with Mimi on Valentine’s Day
I’m gonna say this is a smile. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…
Big sister with her baby sister!
After Mimi left, we went to B’s school for her Valentine’s Day party with her buddies. Cupcake anyone?
My little Valentine.
While Mimi was here (and for a few days after she left), Tatie Kat was a HUGE help doing pretty much all the errand running, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. We were her guinea pigs and we did not mind a bit. I could have sworn I got a picture of Tatie Kat with M, bu apparently not. No doubt Tatie Kat’s “love” of the camera made sure she did not point out my oversight!
A couple days after Mimi left, Grandma and Grandpa arrived. I still need to get a picture of M with Grandma (and more pics in general), but here is one with Grandpa.
Last night it snowed (just a dusting) so B was thrilled to go outside and play in whatever show she could get her hands on. Here is my sneaky picture (so hard to get her to let me take pictures of her anymore).
We scraped the snow off of Grandpa’s car to make a mini snowman (Mommy Mrs. Nesvit Stewart) – here putting the finishing touches on.
Even B let me take a picture of her with Bullseye and Mommy Mrs. Nesvit Stewart.
And finally, here are a couple of more recent pictures of M.
My little thinker!
Just like her big sister, Mackenzie arrived a few days early. Unlike her big sister, however, she did not make me endure 24 hours of labor, and she did not wake me up in the middle of the night! Instead, Mackenzie was kind enough to wait until a little before 7 AM before letting me know she wanted out, and I was only in labor for a little over 8 hours (with only 12 minutes of pushing). I am so glad I took my doctor’s advice and didn’t dilly dally in getting to the hospital – that enabled me to have an epidural for the last 3-4 hours of my labor. YAY! At birth she had a perfectly round little head full of dark hair. We shall see if it stays dark or turns lighter like Brianna’s did. For now, I will probably put these posts both on the “Baby 2” page and the “Brianna” page, at least until we figure out how we want to catalog these things.
As predicted, she exceeded the 8 lb. mark…
Big sister Brianna was super excited to meet her, but not much interested in holding her (still hasn’t, though I suspect she will soon).
One day old:
When Brianna came the next day (one day old), she and Mackenzie exchanged gifts – matching orange Bla Bla monkeys! She was very excited about her new Bla Bla monkey AND about the smaller Bla Bla monkey she gave Mackenzie. We let her play with both for a few days, but then told her we needed to put Mackenzie’s aside so it would be ready (and in good shape) when Mackenzie is ready for it.
On day two, they made us leave the hospital (I could have used another day or two…). Here we are getting ready to go. Mackenzie has dark hair, just like Brianna did at birth.
Had to add the matching hat!
Home at last.
At four days old we set out for the first time to see her pediatrician. It was exhausting, so she took several long naps in her favorite spot – on her tummy on the boppy.
We made it through the first week with lots of help from Mimi and Tatie Kat (we have been fed quite well as Tatie Kat’s guinea pigs!). We have only had one truly bad night, and Mimi helped quite a bit with that one giving me a reprieve for a couple hours. At one week:
So, we are a little behind – what can we say? Here are the final two ultrasounds for Baby 2.
At 28 weeks:
At 36 weeks:
Both of these ultrasounds indicated that Baby 2 will be over 8 lbs at birth. (Apparently it is quite typical for each subsequent child to be larger than the previous child. Can’t say I was thrilled by that news!)
