Liza Grace is officially here and we couldn’t be more smitten. She arrived 3 weeks early and has been the best, easiest baby so far. She has spent the past month mostly sleeping and has just now started to be more alert! With all the craziness going on in the world right now, we are more thankful than ever that she decided to come early. I am focusing on this special time with my girls and am grateful that they have no clue what’s going on.
I was super nervous about how I would handle two under two and it has been so much easier than I imagined. Charlotte is absolutely in love with Liza and it is the sweetest thing I have ever seen. She gives her lots of kisses and is learning to be extra gentle! She hasn’t been very jealous and loves to snuggle up next to us while I nurse Liza. It’s also been really sweet to see how much Lee and Charlotte have bonded since I have to spend more time taking care of baby sister.
We had been on a waitlist to put Charlotte in a 3x per week pre-school and found out they had an opening that would give her three weeks to adjust before Liza arrived. That plan went out the window since Liza came early. We weren’t sure if it was way too much change to have a new sister and start school all in one week, but Charlotte handled it so well. She barely cried at drop off and seems to really love school so far! It helped me so much for her to be at school so I could have time to really focus on Liza Grace. She only went for two weeks before all of this crazy Coronavirus hit so we have had lots of time spent together at home.
For me, the second baby has been SO much easier. You know what you’re doing/what to expect, breastfeeding is easier, your milk comes in way faster, recovery was way easier this time too. I went back and read my blog post from a month after I had Charlotte (click here if you want to read it!) and felt embarrassed at how hard I thought it all was!!! But at the time it was truly how I was feeling. The biggest shock with your first baby is that your life no longer revolves around you and your needs. For the first time in your life, someone else’s needs come 100% before your own and that is a tough adjustment! The second time around, the baby seems SO easy and it’s the toddler that’s hard to keep up with!
As far as a schedule goes, I haven’t really worried about it the first month. I am a huge fan of the book Mom’s on Call and while they recommend starting a schedule at 2 weeks old, I have been giving it time and telling myself I have extra time since she came early!! 🙂 Nursing has been so much easier and better with Liza. She eats every 3 hours and only nurses for about 30 minutes. She has given me a couple of 5 hour stretches at night, but most nights is still waking up every 3 hours. With Charlotte, I was nursing literally 8 hours a day at first. With Liza, I am only nursing 4-5 hours per day which makes a huge difference! I’m not sure why Liza seems to be better at nursing but I am SO thankful! I use the app Baby Connect to keep up with how much she is eating and highly recommend this app!!
It’s already hard to imagine life without little Liza! As we are officially on lock down in Tyler, I am hoping I will be able to blog more. Wishing you all the best during this crazy time and thanking God more than ever for my family and our health.
xoxo,
Laura
PS: Special shoutout to my mom who has helped me so much the past month, I couldn’t do it without her!! 💗
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