Mama of Two!

Hey y'all! Its been a while eh! Let me update you with whats been going on in the Hodgson home since the last time I posted.

So, last time I blogged, I was still pregnant, ready to pop. A few days later, Andrew and I welcomed another little princess, Poppy Ruth, into our lives. We couldn't have been more thrilled.

The transition from one child to two has been very smooth for us. Maybe thats because Poppy is a MUCH different baby then Coral (making her seem like a breeze to take care of).

 I had a much different labor with Poppy. My water didn't break this time, I just slowly laboured all day long at home (and at the park...yes we decided to do a maternity photo shoot just hours before giving birth...talk about procrastination). We got to the hospital, got my epidural (at 10 cm...had I known that I was already fully dilated I wouldn't have gotten it), and then just seven minutes before midnight on October 5th, our Poppy girl was born.

Recovery was also much easier this time around. With Coral I was out of it for WEEKS. With Poppy, we left the hospital just two hours after having her (practically skipping with excitement), took her on her first official outing not even 24 hours after having her, and haven't slowed down since.

Again, Poppy is a MUCH different baby then Coral. Remember she had colic? I still shutter thinking about those long four months of constantly holding a screaming baby, not having time for a quick shower, or eating, staying up till 2 in the morning then getting up every single hour in the night to feed her because she was to busy with crying during the day to eat. Ahhh! Heres the great news though, Poppy hardly ever cries. Yes, she will let out a good scream if her needs aren't being met, but for the most part she is SO content.

Coral has also adjusted really well into her new roll as a big sister. In fact I would prefer if she didn't take her role quite so seriously. She wants to help out with everything. Bath time, changing, you name it. She always wants to be around Poppy. Which is wonderful, except she smothers her. No really, she literally smothers her. When she talks to Poppy, she has to have her face pressed right up against hers. She likes to squeeze her (one time Andrew literally had a tug of war with Coral over Poppy). But, this being our second time around, we have learnt that babies, while tiny, can actually handle quite a bit.

And now lets talk about sleep. Sweet, glorious sleep. Oh how I LOVE my sleep. Poppy definitely had her days and nights mixed up for a while there. It sucked, but was totally to be expected with a newborn. Truthfully, I could handle the sleepless nights, it was keeping up with my toddler the next day that I struggled with (her favourite game is tag....understand what Im sayin). Eventually though, she stopped wanting to eat at night, except one feeding that would occur anywhere from 4:30 am-5:30 am. Not so bad, except she was still getting up at 2am to hang out. She wasn't interested in eating, just wanted to stay awake and chill with me. Not cool Poppy girl, not cool at all. So, I took the advice from my good pal Rachel (she's a mama of four, so she knows what shes talking about) and decided to let Poppy cry it out at night. Crying it out wasn't a new thing for me, I did it with Coral too...she was just a lot older when I did it with her. But since Poppy was only eating once in the night, and it was so close to morning, I knew she could handle it. So, the first night, I fed her at 10pm, burped and changed her, kissed her goodnight and didn't get her until 6am. I felt awful doing it, but when I got her in the morning she was all smiles and giggles, so I knew I didn't traumatize her. Now I still put her down at 10pm, but don't get her till 7am (which she is always still sleeping and I have to wake her up to feed her).

And so thats that. I have a very happy, content little baby that sleeps through the night. And me? Well I haven't felt this good in a LONG time. I think part of the reason why I felt so good so quick after I had Poppy is because I felt SOO awful my whole pregnancy with her. I am fully enjoying not feeling sick all day and night, not having heart burn constantly, and not being totally uncomfortable all the time :) Life is good and we feel beyond blessed.