Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun

So now that we've got just about two weeks under our belt, I figure now is just as good a time as any to come here and post a little update on life with 2 kids.  I never thought I'd say this, but...

It's amazing.

Gerry is a dream baby.  Seriously.  Our first 3 nights were rough (two in the hospital and one at my mom and dad's), and he wanted to nurse every hour on the hour from about 11pm until 6am.  THEN he decided that it'd be cool to sleep pretty much all day.  But something magical happened our first night at home.  Gerry fell asleep at 9:30pm...and didn't wake up until 5 the next morning.  Scott and I both bolted out of bed and ran around frantically checking his breathing and making sure that he hadn't somehow smothered overnight.  But he was totally fine, if annoyed that we'd woken him up.

And he's been this way ever since.  We get 5-6 hour stretches of sleep every night and when he's awake he is the calmest, most "chill" baby I've ever met.  He just stares at his surroundings and hangs out.  TOTALLY different baby than Bailey.  I love her to pieces but she was a freakin' nightmare of a baby.  Didn't sleep more than two hours at a time until she was almost a year old and did nothing but cry when she was awake.  She was truly frightening, and I was pretty much expecting a repeat with this one.  But it's like God decided to throw us a bone this time around and I couldn't be happier.  I realize that I'm probably jinxing myself and that there's still plenty of time for Gerry to turn a corner and become a demon-baby...but I'm hoping that doesn't happen.

This is pretty much what he does all day

Now that his umbilical stump fell off, we decided to give Gerry his first bath the other night.  I can't get the video to upload at the moment, but suffice it to say there was a lot of screaming.  He's not a huge fan of being unclothed and definitely prefers to be snuggled up and/or swaddled so getting him naked and submerging him in water was like his worst nightmare.  But he survived!

My sweet little man

Bailey has been so, so amazing with him and she's SUCH a good big sister.  Before Gerry was born, Scott and I had talked about what Bailey was going to be like with him.  Would she hate him?  Would she ignore him?  Would she resent this little person who took away some attention from her?  I can't tell you how many days I spent stressing out over how to make her feel loved and like she was still Mommy and Daddy's "favorite girl".  Turns out all my fears were for nothing because she has been fantastic. 

When Gerry fusses, she stops what she's doing and immediately runs to him, ready to give him a bink.  She'll just randomly walk over to him and give him kisses.  She's always asking to hold "Baby Gerry".  She wants to help give him a bottle, and she looks out for him when the daycare kids are here.  Yesterday, the kids were being kind of loud and she swooped in and said, "Shhhh!  You gotta be quiet, my baby brother is sleeping!"  And she's been really good about things if/when I'm busy with the baby, whether it be feeding or changing him, pumping, giving him a bath, etc.  So, so, sooooo much better than we were expecting.  I fall in love a little bit more every time I see her with him, and I can't believe I spent so much time worrying about how we'd do with another little one in the house.  I need to get more pictures of the two of them together.  In the meantime, though, here are a few pictures of Bailey from the wedding she went to when Gerry was born.  I can't get over how beautiful and "grown up" she looks!

Her flower girl dress was just adorable!

Putting on her perfume

 I need to mention here how awesome Scott has been, too.  When Bailey was born...I'm just gonna put this out there...he was not much help at all.  He had NO idea what to do with a baby and so he just kind of went about his day like she wasn't there.  That's not to say that he didn't do something if I asked him to...it just never occurred to him to take the initiative when it came to feeding, changing, clothing or general baby care.  I was stuck in the haze of PPD for what seemed like forever and it just felt like I was doing it all alone, from the minute I went into labor until she was almost a year old.  This time, though, Scott is a seasoned pro at the dad thing and knew what to do and expect.  And I can say with 100% honestly and sincerity that he has been absolutely wonderful.  He never let go of my hand while I was in labor and while I was pushing and screeching like a madwoman with no epidural (mostly because I had a death grip on his hand and refused to let go), and he's been phenomenal since we got home.  He gets up with the baby and me in the middle of the night (usually, it's closer to 4 or 5am when Gerry wakes up, but still), he changes diapers almost better than I do, and he hangs out with Gerry and Bailey as often as he can between his work and sports schedules.  I feel like he and I are a team this time around, and that's something I didn't have when Bailey was a baby. It's made the transition from one to two kids easier and made us more of a team, and I think we're all happier for it.  Scott is a wonderful dad, and it makes me so happy to see Bailey's eyes light up when he comes home from work or to watch him holding and talking to Gerry.  I am one happy lady these days!

The  transition back to daycare after only a week's maternity leave has been fairly easy (thank God Gerry is such an easygoing baby), although I definitely could have done with a few extra weeks off.  But that's a post for another time.  For now, I leave you with Gerry's very first smile.  Also, it could just be gas...who knows, really?