Well, I blinked and two months went by.
Emmie is the sweetest baby. I love her so much that my heart is just constantly aching, and I’m so, so thankful she’s OURS.
Loving her is as easy as breathing. We call her our “baby bird” because she’s so delicate and doesn’t ever want to bother anyone.
She’s the best addition to our family. My transition to “mom of two” has been less than graceful, to say the least, but she is warm and calm. My favorite place to be is anywhere, with her asleep on my chest.
She is heaven, and I love our life right now so much.
It’s not all rainbows and perfectly folded swaddle blankets, though.
Between my roller coaster hormones, Charlotte’s “Queen of the World” persona crumbling beneath her, and sweet Emmie just trying to figure out life outside the womb, there is at least one female having a meltdown at any given time in our household. (I got Tyler golf lessons for our anniversary last month).
I’m caught between feeling like I am drowning and believing with every part of me that my life could not possibly get any better. I guess that’s what being a parent is?
Emmie turned two months old this past weekend, so I wrote a little update about her and how we are doing. I also wanted to share some photos of Emmie’s nursery, which I’m very proud of.
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is going well for the most part. I have had some issues keeping my supply up consistently (happened with Charlotte too), so it’s hard for me to feel like I’m “in the clear” ever. She’s gaining weight slowly but surely, but I still feel like I have to pump twice a day to keep my supply up.
Other than that, I’m enjoying it way more this time around. Emmie has a good latch and my nipples have been totally fine. Even though I am usually walking around the house or dealing with Charlotte while I nurse, I cherish our few but precious quiet moments together throughout the day.
Sleeping
Emmie has been a great sleeper so far! I have talked about this a little bit on my IG stories, but we decided to rent the SNOO for her first few months.
With a toddler at home, we get exactly zero rest during the day. We knew we needed to get this baby’s night time sleep locked down ASAP.
The SNOO basically keeps the baby calm all night. It’s designed to gently keep the baby asleep with light (and completely safe) motion, but it doesn’t stop the baby from waking up when she’s actually hungry.
So, almost from night one, Emmie has only woken up a couple of times per night (or less!). The SNOO helps lull her back to sleep if she’s just stirring but not actually needing to wake all the way up to nurse.
The SNOO costs $118 a month to rent which honestly feels like highway robbery when you think about the hours of sleep we’ve had this time compared to when Charlotte was a newborn.
Tyler and I used to joke and ask each other “How much would you pay to have Char sleep through the night tonight?” And I remember thinking AT LEAST $100, so paying a little over that for a month of good sleep is a no brainer.
Since week 4 or so, she either wakes up just once or not at all outside of her 10pm “dream feed” (Tyler goes in with a bottle to fill up her tank before we go to sleep for the night).
The SNOO is not totally full proof, though, and we’ve definitely had to fine tune our nap strategy. We’ve been relying on what we’ve learned from Taking Cara Babies for that.
During this pregnancy, every single friend of mine told me to check out Taking Cara Babies and her newborn class.
The class pairs well with the SNOO, so we decided to go for it and watched the videos over the course of a few nights the week before Emmie was born.
Tyler and I could not believe how helpful it was. We learned so much about Emmie’s sleep and routine that you’d think she was our very first baby, lol.
I highly, highly recommend the course to anyone getting ready for a baby. Cara’s tips are practical and helpful, and the routine she suggests as a goal for each day is super flexible and not rigid at all.
Handling two under two
Managing both girls has proven to be basically exactly as hard as I thought it would be.
A couple of days ago, I asked my mom, “This is the hardest it’s ever going to be, right?” and She said “YES.” and then added, “Well, actually, once you get to number four you just don’t care about anything anymore.”
From 6:30am to 7pm, I’m just in constant motion, trying to keep everyone happy.
On a logistic level, I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how to take care of them both by myself.
For example, if Emmie is having a hard time going down for a nap which happens every so often, I have to go in and help her get to sleep. While I’m doing that, I feel like I have no choice but to turn on a show for Charlotte. Wearing Emmie in the Solly Wrap for naps is a great option for if we are out and about (and we do that a lot) but it doesn’t work as well at home when Charlotte is all over me.
Emmie is a great baby, but she’s still a baby. She needs constant care, so I can’t give Charlotte my undivided attention like she had become accustomed to.
Fortunately, Tyler is still working from home because of COVID-19, so when he’s not on calls he helps if I’m in a pinch. (I will say that this has definitely been a little hard because I tend to rely on him way too much and then he gets stressed about work. We’re still trying to find a balance).
We are definitely still in a big time adjustment stage and trying to figure this out. At least three times a day I ask (either myself or Tyler), “HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS??”
So, please, if you have the 411, now is not the time to hold back.
Although I spend most of my day panicking for one reason or another, once in a while I’ll have a moment where everything just “clicks,” even for just a couple of minutes, and I get a flash of “Ok, I can do this.”
Day by day, we are getting there. (I think).
Big Sis
Charlotte is both obsessed and indifferent towards Emmie. She calls her either “BEBE BEBE BEBE” in the highest pitch voice you can imagine or a hearty “EHM EHM EHM.” Both are cute and entirely dependent on her mood.
She loves giving her kisses and helping me with her. She panics when Emmie cries and frantically tries to locate the nearest pacifier.
When I sit down to nurse her, she brings me my boppy pillow and a burp cloth. Once in a while when she’s really engaged, she grabs her baby doll and pretends to nurse her, too, lol.
And sometimes she totally ignores her, and that’s okay too.
I love watching their tiny bond grow. My sisters are my very best friends, so it’s a big deal for me to have these two girls to call my own and gently force into a lifelong companionship.
Nursery
I had so much fun decorating Emmie’s nursery.
Charlotte’s room is kind of a “classic” little girl’s nursery with blush, light grey, and lots of greenery. I wanted Emmie’s to be different, so I went more boho which turned out really cute, if I do say so myself.
I stumbled upon this rug on Lulu and Georgia in the spring and knew that I wanted to base the entire nursery off it.
The second thing I found was this crib sheet from Solly Baby–the color I have is “basil” but they are sold out of it right now sadly! I love all of their products so much, though, and the prints from their new fall collection are to die for.
Charlotte has a huge bookcase in her room that used to be my grandmother’s. We keep most of the children’s books in there, but I wanted a spot to keep a few books handy in Emmie’s room, too. I love these shelves from Amazon for displaying/storing books. Next to it, I hung a sketch that my grandmother did back when I was a little girl obsessed with ballet.
She passed away 6 years ago, and I know she would have been enamored with my daughters. I love having something of hers in each of their rooms to remind me of her.
Links:
Spice Lumbar Pillow from Magnolia
Mustard + terracotta pot with ZZ plant
