Life with two and Arden's updates

These beautiful "big sister/little sister" shirts are from Anne Willette.

Not really capturing Arden's sweet smiles in these pics...we really take awful pictures!

Reality has sunk in. Ah Ma and Auntie Michelle have come and gone, so I'm on my own for the most part. I have to say that going from one child to two is very difficult. There were some days where I felt like I would lose my mind. I would say the most difficult time would be in the evening hours, when I would attempt to make dinner, feed Ava, bathe Ava and put her to bed while trying to keep Arden happy. Lately David hasn't been coming home until 9 or 10pm, either from dinner with clients/colleagues, or studying for his Series 7 exam. I think I'm dealing with all of this a little better now because I've gotten more comfortable with letting Arden cry a little bit as I take care of business. Sad but true. I do feel guilty though. I never let Ava cry when she was a baby, but it's nearly impossible for me to pay as much attention to Arden as I would like. I feel like both of my children are getting shortchanged because at one point one of the two (or maybe both!) will be ignored.

Arden is still sleeping most of the day, once she gets comfortable. Arden will sometimes take forever to fall asleep. She hates to be swaddled but her jerky reflexes keep her from sleeping when she is not swaddled. I'm sure she would love to be held the whole time but as we've already established, she doesn't get that luxury. She is just the gassiest, gruntiest thing ever and will sometimes grunt for a long time, especially in the middle of the night. I've given up on using the co-sleeper , so I've got little Miss Grunty squirming around and grunting next to me. For a while I thought she was so gassy, spitting up a lot and had neon green poop because of something I was eating. I've cut back on dairy but I don't know if it makes a difference. Luckily the neon green poop has gone away for now.

She is now almost 7 weeks old. At her 4 week checkup, she was 10 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches. Ava was 22 inches too but two pounds lighter! So obviously Arden is a chunkylicious thing. I don't have many pictures of her from when she was 2 1/2 weeks old to now. That's because she got the most severe case of baby acne I've ever seen in my life! I'm not exaggerating, people. Her skin has cleared up quite a bit but now we've got some crazy cradle cap going on. She is beautiful and so sweet but I can't wait for her crustiness to be over with! She has been smiling a lot, so I need to get a decent pic of that.

Ava has adjusted to life with little sis very well. However, if I say to Arden "It's your mama!" Ava will say, "No, it's my mama!" We had a few episodes of Ava yelling some weird syllable like "Baa!" into Arden's face but I put a stop to that. Ava also had to learn that she had to gently pet Arden like a dog if she wanted to touch her, since Ava was a little rough with her before.
Sometimes Ava will say "I'm a baby! Change my diaper!" I'm not sure if she wants extra attention or she just likes playing pretend. Speaking of diapers, Ava is still doing fairly well without them but I've learned the hard way that she needs to wear them during her naps and at night. I used to just throw away her poopy underwears but realized that wasn't being very economical and would soon run into a undies deficit.

Auntie Michelle came last month to help out and visit! We shared some treats at Central Park

Auntie Michelle and Ava at the American Museum of Natural History. Arden and I went too. Arden was so lucky to see all this at 3 1/2 weeks old!