Emmy - One Month

This last month has been a total blur. I know one reason is for the first 2 weeks of it, I was high on percocet and ibuprofen. The second reason is that I've had both grandmas and the Mart-eye here full time and a part time nanny twice a week. They've taken a huge burden off of me so I've actually been sleeping so the days haven't seemed so long. The other part is that having three kids is like racing around with your head cut off - even when you have a village of people to help out.

So she has the refulx, dysphagia and food allergies. We caught it early and it's made a huge difference in many ways. Oh, and she's not a power puker! She is a silent refluxer. I've rather enjoyed not having the steam cleaner out all of the time. That's been nice. And, she's not a spitter either. Bonus.

She is, however, a colicy baby. From about 7-11 every night it's been straight crying. And not just by me. This kid can wail. She is hoarse from crying so much. Up until yesterday, she was also the kind of baby that would not stand to be put down. She wanted to be held all. the. time. However, her feeding schedule is great. The minute she came out, we woke her up every 3 - 3.5 hours to eat and just kept doing that. She has kept that pretty well and has even slept as many as 6 hours straight at night. She did have her nights and days mixed up for a few weeks. That was horrible, but now she's settling into her routine pretty well. She sleeps sound after a little wake time until her next feed, too. All in all, she's been great that way.

She was so miserable during the nights, I thought we had maybe missed something reflux or allergy wise. She also has difficulty eating during the early evening and dream feed times. Then, I rememberd Addie's little issue with poop. As in she couldn't go because of the formula she was on. Emmy's on the same formula. It's not constipation. Rather, the elemental formula leaves so little in the gut that the kids have a hard time getting anything to come out. The remedy? Suppositories. And lots of them. (Again, only one at a time. Geez. You think my kids are pez dispensers or something?) Every feed when we change her diaper, she gets one. It really makes a difference in her comfort level. Last week, I took her to the chiropractor, too. Who takes a baby to the chiropractor? This desperate mama, that's who. Two nights later, no more crying and she slept for 6 hours straight.

It's so interesting to see how different these three girls are! She is so fair and has red-blond hair. Both Lexi and Addie had olive skin tones and dark brown hair when they were born. Little Emmy is about as white and pink as a person can get. And blue, blue eyes. Not only is her hair color totally different from the other two, but she has tons of it. And it grows straight up. I've tried putting gel in it to give it some direction, but it definitely has a mind of it's own.   

Her sisters absolutely adore her. Lexi loves to help and is very good with her. I was a little concerned about Addie because she is so young, but she has been wonderful. She is careful and very protective. She stands guard over Emily when we go out. In fact, a rather stout boy about 7 or 8 was trying to look at Emmy and Addie got between them and gave him the good ole stink eye. It was pretty funny to see this little 18 month old ready to fist fight a big boy to keep her little sister safe. 

It's always an adjustment to add a new person to the family. For us, going from two to three has been way easier than one to two. I'm sure having the constant help has made a big difference. The worst part for me was recovering from the c-section. I couldn't help with kids and felt like a total loser. I wondered why I had a third kid when I couldn't even care for the two I had. Now that I'm on the other side of the recovery, I don't feel overwhelmed by the kids (ask me in a month or two if I feel the same). The work load feels the same to me. The sheer amount of time it takes to care for a new baby is tough and things get a little out of control when I'm feeding Emmy and the other two have run of the house. At least now I have some perspective, though, and know within a few months things will be much more manageable. 

I'm excited to see what kind of person Emmy will be and how she'll interact with her sisters. I love seeing how unique these little spirits are and how they each have such distinct personalities. I'm sure as she grows older and becomes more independent, we'll get to have lots of fun as a family.