Today was a tough one. The newbie started crying and the big girl started sympathy crying so I started rethinking my unofficial "no hard alcohol in the house" policy. Then the baby fell asleep and I decided to pee which obviously meant the big girl had to get frustrated with building her marble run and she screamed - waking the baby.

The buzzer rang - it was the big girl's friend asking if she could come out and play. Well, she might be a big girl in her mind but she isn't yet 5 so I told her to stay by the playground. I went to the window to check on her and I saw her running back to the apartment crying. Her friend took off, probably expecting her to follow but I told her to stay at the playground. Props to my girl - she didn't follow. I made hot cocoa and commisserated but not before her wailing woke... that's right. The baby. *sigh*

The big girl is asleep and the baby has been handed off to daddy so I am drinking a glass of wine. Tomorrow will be better. 

The Other Shoe Drops

Big Girl S was adjusting a little too well to being a big sister. She still loves helping bathe and diaper Baby E but she has some obvious hostility toward him now that he has been here a month and I haven't sent him back. Poor girl. She wants to play with him too but he can't really play yet. The transition would probably be a little easier if babies emerged ready to play soccer.

Baby E also has some reflux so after every feeding I have to hold him upright to help his poor tummy and throat for at least 20 minutes. This means I am holding him a lot and not holding her. :( I am trying to do special thing with her every day. We took a day trip to Lucerne and had a blast (stay tuned for photos) and tomorrow we are going to a book swap at Starbucks.

Baby E is trying to alert me to his presence. Gotta go.

Baby E - Hold Me!

The last few weeks have been simultaneously very busy and not busy the way a household with a new baby generally is. I forgot how time consuming newborns are. Every couple of hours E needs to be fed and he has some reflux so after that I hold him upright so he doesn't spit up all of the milk. He does eat less often at night than S did but he makes up for it in the evening time when he nurses all the time.

We still like going out and about. Yesterday we went to a Fasnacht celebration for kids in a nearby village and S had a blast. I put E in the Moby wrap I bought from Peppermint when I was in Texas. Let me tell you, he loves that thing! I put him in and he sleeps for a good couple of hours. Wraps can be kind of intimidating but I found a video on Youtube on how to tie the wrap and after a couple of tries, I got it down.

Let me tell you, I have somewhere around 7 baby carriers (none of them are Baby Bjorns) and I bought a stroller when E was 2 weeks. There is a reason I spent more on all my baby carriers than on my stroller even though Zurich is the land of expensive Bugaboos, and that is because baby carriers get more use IME. Baby E has been in his stroller twice and he screamed his head off both times. Put him in the wrap or ring sling and I have a quiet, sleeping baby. It is like magic.

Baby E is here!

He was born on January 19th in quick fashion, just like his big sis. I had my 3 days postpartum care in the hospital and am now recovering at home. I will post more later but the baby is sleeping which means I should be too.

Oh, stats:

weight: 4.12 kg (9lbs 1 oz)
height: 52 cm
hair color: brown

Due next Wednesday and too tired to post

Bounce is due somewhere between now and 2.5 weeks from now but theoretically he is due next Wednesday. Just like a good proto-baby, he is stealing all of my energy and cheer so I haven't felt like posting. Hopefully he will be born soon and I won't have to serve him with an eviction notice. Maybe I'll just bribe him with chocolate. :)

But here is a photo of the statue in front of Zurich Hauptbahnhof (HB). It looks like the statue is puking ice.

The Home Stretch

Also known as the last month before birth. The baby is just getting bigger and bigger and not surprisingly, so am I. With my daughter, the last month was somewhat painful as all the indignities of childbirth are being practiced. Bounce is behaving somewhat the same, down to the fact he keeps his hand by his face.

I am so ready to be done. Well, not really. The crib we will probably never use is still in a box. Our mattress is on the floor because we don't have a bed frame yet. We don't have a dresser and since we live in Europe, land of no closets, all of our clothes are still in bags/suitcases.

Still, it would be nice to not be pregnant anymore. Then I could bend over and pick stuff off the floor.

We will be getting a bed frame soon, as soon as the people who are giving us one gets back from holiday. Ditto on the dresser. We just need to wait. Not my best skill.

It's a boy!!!

We went for the 20 week sonogram today and saw boy parts! Baby Bounce is really going to be a baby brother. S insists that he will only be allowed to wear blue and white because the other colors (orange, green, pink, etc.) are all girl colors. I don't think it is a coincidence that she hates blue and white.

Poor girlie isn't getting her little sister. :(