Playing Catch Up

I'm just going to say it.  It's hard having two kids.  To those of you who have already moved on to number 3, and let's not forget the few of you with number 4 on the way,  I don't know how you do it.  God Bless You.

I always wanted five kids.  I grew up in a large family.  I'm the youngest of four.  I always thought large was the way to go.  That's laughable now.  Two is enough.  Please don't read this as me complaining.  I love the two that I have.  I wouldn't trade them for anything.   However, that girl who insisted to her husband that they would HAVE to compromise at three because two just wouldn't be enough, that girl had no idea what she was talking about.

Moving on....

My last post was recapping Grace's first month, or, I guess, Grace's first week with us.  That was two months ago.  Here's what you've missed.

Month 2...  The smiles picked up big time during month two, and you started "talking" to us some.  I  need to have your baby book next to me as I type this because months 2 and 3 are running together.  We purchased the Mamaroo during month 2.  I know that.  It saved my sanity.  Grace, you do not like to be put down.  You do not like to be put down in your chair.  You do not like to be put down on your play mat.  I was going crazy trying to get things done, give Shiloh attention, and not have you screaming your head off for half the day.  Then my sister recommended the Mamaroo.  It changed our lives.  I didn't bring your daddy in on the decision to purchase my sanity (that's what I like to call it) because it was a little pricey, and you had yet to like any previous baby gear that was purchased for you.  I'll never forget the day he arrived home from work after I had set it up.  You were sleeping in it, and had been for about an hour (amazing!).  He walked in, walked over to you,  stood for a moment looking at you peaceful and asleep in the mamaroo.  He looked at me, and said, "It looks pricey."  He then turned and walked away, never to speak of its monetary value again.  I've said it many times, and I'll continue to say it, it was worth EVERY penny.

2 Months Old

Moving on to Month 3...

Month three was a good one.  We spent most of it in Pennsylvania with extra hands to hold you my family.  You were in heaven because you were held most every minute of every day.  You continue to smile and "talk" to us.  Actually, you've because quite the talker.  When you are in a good mood, if we smile and talk to you,  you will go on and on with your "oohs", "aahhs" and "agoos".  It's quite entertaining, and adorable.  My favorite thing about month 3 though, is the favoritism you are so obviously showing Shiloh and myself.  When you hear my voice, your eyes immediately find me.  And if I'm walking through the room, your eyes follow me the entire time.  Shiloh did not do this as a baby.  I love this about you.  You are always so happy to see me, and unless you are just cranky and tired, I can always get a smile out of you.  You LOVE Shiloh.  She doesn't even have to talk to you to get a smile out of you.  When you see her, your face lights up.  If she's talking to you and showing you a toy, your eyes never leave her face.  The toy might has well not even be there.  I love it.  And she is really coming around to you, too.  Now that she can easily get a reaction from you (smiles, coos), she talks to you and plays with you all the time.  She's really growing into her role has your big sister.  She's gonna be a good one. 
To sum up month 3, I would say, we've figured out what being a family of four is for us.  We're all getting comfortable in our new roles.  Richard and I as parents to two little girls, Shiloh as a big sister, and you making your place in our family.  It feels good.

3 Months Old

3 Months Old

In other news, our dancer is now a gymnast.  Shiloh started gymnastics this past Monday.  She loves it, and, at this point, she does not miss dance one bit.

She also started soccer.  She loves soccer, but she does not love the idea of someone taking the ball away from her.  I suppose I should have given her a heads up that that's what soccer is.  She was quite upset the first time she had the ball in a scrimmage and another little girl took it away from her.  You live and learn, I guess.

One Month Already!

Little Miss Grace, as Shiloh has informed me I must call her (Shiloh is Miss Shiloh, so Grace MUST have "little" in front of her name), turned one month old on Wednesday. Wednesday also marked her first week with us, and we went to the zoo! 
The trip to the zoo went great.  We arrived around 10:00 and stayed until shortly after 2:00.  Grace slept through all of the animals and was only awake while the kids played at the zoo's playground.  It was a good day.  I'm really glad I decided to take the girls.  I was a little nervous ahead of time, but it was good for Shiloh to be able to get out of the house and do something fun with her friends. 

Moving on to Grace herself.  It has been 9 days since we brought her home from Columbus.  She is such a great baby.  She sleeps great at night, only waking up to eat.  Every once in a while she'll stay up for an hour after one of her night bottles, but for the most part she goes right back out after eating.  Since her 1 month birthday (June 6th), she has decided that it's time to start staying awake more during the day.  These last couple of days she has been awake most of the morning and evening.  The evening is her only real fussy time.  I'm wondering if she has an extremely mild case of acid reflux that only makes an appearance in the evenings.  She tends to be extremely fussy after her last two bottles of the day, and she arches her back a good bit after those feedings.  It's not too hard to calm her down though, so it's not too bad.

Graces current new accomplishments are smiling and she's also starting to coo at us.  The cooing doesn't happen often yet.  She usually does it when laying on her play mat, but every once in a while we hear a little sound coming from her.  

Shiloh still loves her babysitter.  She has decided that her job is to ensure that the pack n play changing station (where most of Grace's diapers are changed) is always stocked full of diapers and wipes for me.  She also loves holding Grace, and playing with her while Grace sits in her bouncy chair, or lays on her play mat. 

One Month Old!

Shiloh wanted one more picture.  Grace did not.

One of my favorites

I almost forgot...  At her one month checkup, she weighed 11 lbs 1 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long.  She is almost a full pound heavier than Shiloh was at this age :)  Also, I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but she was 9 lbs 7 oz and 21 inches at birth.

Guess What!?

There's a sleeping baby named Grace on my chest right now.  And let me tell you, it's heaven.

Dance Recital

Last weekend was Shiloh's third dance recital!  I feel like such an old mom saying that. :)

She was amazing, of course.  But, seriously, this girl worked so hard and memorized every step to their dance.  I was SO proud of her.  She's growing up so fast.  Too fast.

Update

A quick update for anyone interested.  This past Friday we spoke with Kim's dad and he informed us that we would have a final decision from Kim within 2-5 days.  Well, today is day five.  Kim and her dad have both told us that she is leaning more towards placing, but I know she is still very much so struggling with the decision.  I'm still not certain we'll hear from her today.  I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't.  I guess we'll see.

Wordless Wednesday: I Thought I'd Share One Of My Favorites

Some Good News

One of the reasons Kim decided to postpone the adoption is the putative father registry.  The bio dad had been making negative comments about the potential adoption, and apparently mentioned the putative father registry to Kim while she was in the hospital.  After he mentioned that, she decided that she wanted to wait until we received the final word regarding the registry before making her final decision.  Today we received the results from the registry.  He is not on it.  Now, it is all up to Kim.  We should know her final decision Sunday, at the latest.

It feels better knowing that, one way or another, this is almost over.  We were so sure that this was going to happen.  We'd all been here before, and knew what to expect.  Either way, after Sunday, we will be able to start our new journey as a family of four, or start the process of fully grieving and moving on.

On a non-adoption related subject.  The first few days after returning from the hospital we were able to throw ourselves into getting Shiloh's "new" room together.  I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.  We basically emptied out her old furniture and brought her new stuff in.  I'm sure that doesn't sound like much of a project, but we also sorted her gazillion stuffed animals and all of her junk toys into donate, keep and throw away piles.  That was the hardest part.  We have two commercial sized garbage bags full of stuffed animals to donate, and another bag in the closet full of stuffed animals we couldn't part with, but don't want displayed in her room.  Here are some pictures of the final product.

Her bed before the bed skirt arrived.  Quilt, pillows and sham were made by my mom.  As well as the valences.

Her comfy corner.  I need to make/purchase more pillows.

Shiloh's bed with the bed skirt.