10 days and growing

With the first baby, everything is a culture shock - the lack of sleep and the sheer neediness of a newborn is something for which no one can truly prepare you. So far, our second-born has been a pretty easy baby. Fiona is just so quiet and pretty easy to figure out when she's upset. She rarely flinches at the noise level in the house and is usually in a state of quiet alertness when she's awake. It's hard to tell if she really is easier or if Danny was exceptionally difficult or if Jim and I are just more experienced. It's likely all three.

Fiona is 10 days old and has hit her first growth spurt. She wants to nurse all the time, and somehow this doesn't seem as difficult to accommodate as I had imagined (probably because my husband is home this week). This morning, I pumped out 2 whole ounces of milk (yeah, that's a lot) and she took her first bottle. Jim reports that she had much the same reaction that Danny did when he was her age. Fiona looked up at him with a funny little grin as if to acknowledge the different conveyance for the usual fare. She happily - and quickly - sucked down the milk and was back on me within a half hour.

So far, we've not used her name much around the house. Danny calls her Baby Ona. We just call her baby or baby girl or, my favorite, princess oblivious. Yesterday at the park, a neighbor asked what her name was and I had to think about it for a split second.

Danny has been adjusting pretty well. Today was one of the better days with him. I think a little extra attention from us has really helped. We've been doing special activities with him. Jim hooked up the child seat to his bicycle and took him for a ride around the neighborhood yesterday and today. Danny was just delighted. This morning, he and I went out together to the local rec center for Tot Time in the gym. He really needed some one on one time with me. Jim got to spend the morning with the baby, I mean, FIONA.

I added some new photos to the February album. Enjoy!

February 2009