Amy J. Bennett

I have to take the little one to the dr this afternoon. She’s woken up with yucky green stuff in her eyes. I’m guessing she’s got the pink eye that Emma had. I don’t know if I want to go because I’m not sure if I really want her on antibiotics which I’m sure they’ll stick her on. Plus, those eye drops are a pain to do. Emma was really good with them the first 2 days but then went downhill from there. And trying to wipe her nose is like breaking her arm. She hates it. She’ll run and if I manage to get her she puts her hands over her face and turns it away. It’s a real pain. But I can’t have green snot wiped everywhere! Scott and I have both caught what Emma had too. Scott can hardly talk today. I was like that yesterday but seem better today.

I bought the paint for the living room yesterday. I am SO excited to get it done. The new pictures I bought are going to look good with them and I can’t wait until Mom gets time to make our curtains. That won’t be until like next Summer but it’s nice to know I’ll have everything else ready for them.

Work is getting a bit frustrating only because I’m not getting as much done with Lexi as I did with Emma. I know it will get easier as she gets older but I hate not feeling as productive as I used to be. I may have to start working evenings to make sure I get my hours in. Like Scott says, I have it made having such a nice job that I can work from home so I better make the best of it. I am so wiped out in the evenings though. It’s going to take some major commitment to sit down for an hour or two straight to get work done in the evenings after Emma has gone to sleep.

Lexi is two months old today. I can’t believe it has been that long. She smiles several times a day now. She has the cutest smile. I love when she does it. She can hold her head up pretty well. No grabbing of objects, turning over or anything like that.

Well, work calls and so does Lexi. In fact, so does Emma. gotta go.

Christmas turned out really well. The jump-o-lene we got Emma was huge. She loved it but we had to deflate it and put it in the garage. It took up our whole living room. Emma got a little bike and big easel from Scott’s parents and a table and chair set and bookcase from mine. Plus clothes and such. Scott bought me an Epson digital picture printer that has the scanner and copier in it too. The quality still isn’t quite what it is at a professional place, but it does well for grandparent pictures and such. The meal I fixed at Christmas was way very yummy. We had ham (Honeybaked Ham), sweet potatoes and squash casserole.

Since starting back to work I have almost no time to do anything. I am barely getting hours in. I think I’m going to have to start going in the office once a week to make sure I stay on top of things. It would be nice to get a break every once in a while anyway. I just hate having to pump at work!

New Years night went by without a glance. We were in bed by 10:30. Lexi woke up at 12:08 but of course that was too late to see the ball drop. I read on the bulletin board at babycenter that some babies are already sleeping through the night! I couldn’t believe it. Lexi is still up 3 times a night. I can not wait until I can get a full night’s sleep again. I know it will be a few more months, but gosh, I am ready!

MIL and FIL came and got Emma for the afternoon. I felt bad because she said to Emma, are you ready to go? I thought they were coming over to just spend time here. Then I felt bad because I wasn’t going over to their house since I don’t really have anywhere to go. I was going to say I was coming over but then I thought of all the stuff I can get done this afternoon with her gone. Like this! But, I should move on. I have lots of straightening up to do and our checkbook hasn’t been balanced in two or three weeks!

There is something different with your second child. You just do things differently. Number one difference between how I handle Emma and Lexi is nursing. Now I have to preface this with saying Lexi is an all around better nurser than Emma. But with Emma I was such a clock watcher. 20 minutes on each breast and if it hadn’t been 3 or 4 hours since she ate, I would freak out thinking she wasn’t getting enough to eat (which looking back and how we nursed with that nipple shield, she probably didn’t get enough) or I was doing something wrong. With Lexi, if she’s fussy, I try to feed her to make sure she’s not hungry. I could care less if she just ate an hour ago. Maybe my milk supply is down and she is trying to nurse a lot to build it up. The amount of stress I feel with nursing with Lexi compared to Emma are worlds apart. Number two thing I do different is sleep. Miss Lexi sleeps on her tummy. I know! I’m horrible! But she sleeps so well like that. As in, last Thurs and Fri she slept 4 hours for her afternoon nap! Emma has never done that in her entire life I don’t think. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that was the reason but still! Also, I will put Lexi down when she is still awake. And guess what, when she’s tired, she goes to sleep! No rocking, no singing! Number three difference…I get out of the house a lot more! I was so scared I would have to feed Emma somewhere other than the house that I would never go anywhere. With Lexi, we just put her in and go, go go! If she’s hungry, I find somewhere to feed her! Wow, how simple is that? That goes back to Emma not nursing well and taking 45 minutes though! Lexi can be done within 10-20 minutes. Now do I think Lexi is a better baby? No, I think I’m a better mommy. Maybe not better, but just more experienced. It’s just amazing how different I feel this time around. Not that I love her more or even like her more, I just feel much more secure in what to do with her.

Today Scott is not working and him and Emma went to run errands. I’m working ( can’t you tell) and Lexi just went down for a nap. We’re going to D&D’s tonight for our Christmas dinner. Emma is so excited to go. Scott built the girls a picnic table. I hope they like it. I think it will be great for the spring and summer. I know it worked so well for Emma’s birthday party for all the girls.

I can not wait until Christmas! Scott has bought me some big gift that I don’t know about. My guess is either a camera or printer but I can’t read his clues to tell which it might be. I can’t even imagine what it might be if it’s not that.

Emma got sick Thursday before last with the stomach bug. The day started by her telling me at 5:30am that she just threw up in her crib. Always a good start to a day. She finally stopped throwing up about 3 or 4 hours later but with the start of the next day, was pretty much her old self. I, however, got sick on Saturday morning and spent most of the day on my back. Thank goodness Scott was off last weekend.

Did I mention I took both of the girls to the dr for their check up? Emma was on 12/1 and she was 27 lbs and 35 1/2″ tall. The dr said she looked great and seemed very smart. The dr. even looked back at her records and it said at her 6 month check up that she was a very bright baby. She had a flu shot that she didn’t even realize she got. The nurse was so fast neither Scott nor I could believe it. She also got her finger pricked to check her cholesterol and she made a bigger deal out of that. She held her hand up afterwards and acted like it was broken or something. Lexi had her check up on 12/7. She was 9 lbs and 21″ long. She doesn’t have any shots until her 2 month check up. Lexi is already 6 1/2 weeks!

Lexi is still a great baby. The gas thing finally kicked in with full force and some days are spent with Mylicon by our sides. She still sleeps a lot of the day. A typical day would start at about 6:30 or 7. She barely eats and goes back to sleep within 30 minutes but she’s usually up by 9 to eat again. Then she goes back to sleep about 10 or 10:30 until lunch time. She’s usually up for a good hour then and then takes another nap about 1. She will either sleep the whole afternoon or she might be up at 3 for an afternoon snack and then back down. She doesn’t get up until about 5 or 6 and then is up for a good while in the evening until she takes a nap until about 9 or so to eat again. She then will go down for the night about 11. Last night she slept until 3:30 which I think was her longest stretch yet. Then, she might be up one more time at about 5:30am for another feeding before the day starts again.

She has smiled twice that I recall. Of course I didn’t write down what exact day!! It will go on the calendar as sometime this past week. Of course, that is, when she gets a calendar. Yes, she’s a second child. I swore I wouldn’t be like this!

Emma has fallen in love with the LeapPad ABC DVD. She calls it her froggie movie and wants to watch it all the time. She says ABCDFG. And sometimes says OPST. Her numbers sometimes go 12356. Or, 238910. At least she gets the concept sort of. She surprises all the time with things that she says. My mom loves when she says Bless you after someone sneezes.

I started back to work Wednesday. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I would have liked. I’m not sure if this Scott watching Emma thing is going to work. I may have to go into the office when he is off at least one day. Scott’s grandmother agreed to watch Emma on days he works. We had talked to another lady from our church about doing it but then we found out MawMaw lost her full-time child she watched and we feel much better about the close proximity of MawMaw’s house and giving her our money rather than someone we barely know. Plus, the last time I picked up Emma from MawMaw’s house,she said, “MawMaw’s house..fun”. So, I guess Emma likes being there.

Whomever created Baby Bjorn is a godsend. I had MIL come get Emma this morning and take her for the day. We were all up at 6am this morning and I knew the “zombie” stage was going to set in if I didn’t get in a nap today. This afternoon I weighed Lexi to see if she was big enough to fit in it yet. Our scale measured her at 8.5 lbs so I put her in it. She was asleep within 5 or 10 minutes. She didn’t make a squeak while I walked around with her in it. I’ll definitely be using that more often, especially when Emma is around.

Just call me super-mom. It’s Scott’s first day back to work and I got ready, washed the dishes, washed two loads of clothes, changed the sheets, swept the kitchen, the baby is sleeping and Emma’s is happily watching Rolie Polie Olie. Yes, the morning is going well so far. Someone has been praying for us. This has gone even more smoothly than when Scott has been home. I know I need to knock on wood and hope that tomorrow isn’t a disaster but at least we’re off to a good start.

Tomorrow is Scott’s first day back to work. Big breath. I am already in need of a big nap and now Scott will be out the door at 5:30am in the morning. I should be a zombie by Sunday evening.

Lexi was up every hour last night which is very unusual for her. Not sure what that was about.

Emma had her 2 year old visit on Wednesday. She is 35 1/2″ and 27 lbs. Above average height, low on weight. Mom says that’s exactly what she always heard at the dr about me. He said she was very bright and even looked back at her 6 month comments and it read she was a bright baby. Emma said excuse me, Mommy today and for some reason that was really funny to me. We haven’t worked on saying that but I do say that to her when I want her out of my way and she did the same to me. Smart girl!

Emma finally started calling me Mommy again instead of Amy. It’s been a few months now. Tuesday a week ago she called me Momma once and then Wednesday once again. Each day she called me Mommy a couple more times a day. Today she’s only called me Amy one or two times. And a lot of times she will correct herself. Finally. I really was starting to get tired of it. She’s my little girl for goodness sakes!

We decorated for Christmas Tuesday. Scott did the outside and I did the tree. It was a pain but it is worth it. I’m really enjoying seeing the tree lit up every night.

I’ve been into cooking the past few days. I cooked Bobby Flay’s cuban burgers again which my family raved over just like his did when I made them last time. I made a casserole from Emeril’s site yesterday and also made a pumpkin pie. Tonight I am making Emeril’s roasted garlic dipping sauce. I’ve been craving it for a few months but it’s not the easiest recipe so I’ve been waiting for a good time.

I think I’m going back to work part-part-time in two weeks. I couldn’t handle the thought of having no check around Christmas since it was going to be unpaid time.

Emma turned 2 on Saturday. My little girl!! We had a birthday party with her little friends and family here at the house. I set up our picnic table in our kitchen with a little tea party. It was quite a hit. They all liked their little tea cups. It was just the right size for them. They could pick them up by the handle with just their finger and thumb and sip it like little ladies. It was the cutest! I made cupcakes and ham delights and we bought an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins which was delish! The big hits from her presents are the police Little Tikes car that Mom and Dad got her and her Little People farm we got her. Saturday she barely got out of that car. She even sat in there to drink her milk. Emma has been talking up a storm lately. It’s getting to the point where I don’t think she’s ever quiet unless she’s very intent on what she’s playing with. We still haven’t gotten very far with potty training. Every few days she might go. I’ve put her on there at her request a few times and she just sits there. She now squats and says she is peeing but when I try to get her to the bathroom, she’s not for it at all. I’m not worried about it at all but it would be nice to only have to buy one set of diapers. I simply can not imagine having two potty trained children. I know the day is coming quicker than I can imagine but it is beyond me right now.

Lexi has started the gassiness like Emma had. I think we’ve poured a half a bottle of gas drops down her the past few days. I ate spaghetti on Friday night which I remember red sauce affecting Emma the same way. Darn! It’s my favorite!

I’m really starting to stress about Scott going back to work. He really is a lot of help. This house will be a disaster and I will be a zombie!