3 weeks old!!

Wow, I found myself telling someone that Danielle was 2 weeks old (that is what I had been saying for the last few days) and I realized, hey she is 3 weeks old now! The time has flown by, as it usually does when you are counting weeks instead of months :)

Danielle is sleeping okay but Michaela is testing her limits with her new found freedom of the toddler bed; but she is still on my good side as after she came home from Grandma's and Grandpa's she began for the first time calling me anything other than 'Dada' which Dad is as well. I now have my very own name 'Vava' ... I guess she can't make the 'm' sound yet, but it sounds awesome to me anyhow!!

I am uploading a couple pictures of Danielle that I took tonight to mark her 3 week age. Hope you enjoy!

Aargh!!!

So .........we only thought Michaela was doing well transitioning to her toddler bed. Yesterday she spent over an hour crying and getting out of her bed, instead talking and playing at her nap time. Then last night, she took longer than normal to fall asleep (which is not that big of a deal at just over half an hour), but then she woke up around midnight. It was the first time that she asked for Me when she woke up rather than crying, which should have been a clue.

After trying everything I could think of to get Michaela back to sleep, I gave in and grabbed a pillow to sleep on the floor with her. That worked for about half an hour, then she decided to play and crawl over me. I tried what usually works again and sang way too many verses of American Pie with my hand next to her in bed. My body was shot and was shutting down, I gave up and Christine took over around 4:45. Christine was victorious in getting Michaela to sleep, but only after going in 4 times and putting her back in bed. This was Michaela's worse night since the night before Danielle was born.

Change

During Danielle's first two weeks we were either without Michaela or had family visiting to help with Michaela. The past two days Christine has taken care of both kids alone. She has done extremely well with them, amidst all her worries and concerns. She has already found out there will times that both of them are crying, and has tried to keep Michaela's curiousity satisfied by being busy and doing stuff during the day.

The other major change this past week has been Michaela's transition to a toddler bed, which has gone better than expected. Just like she did with the crib Michaela has started to cry while going to sleep. Having no side has been different for her also, but she has only fallen out a couple of times. She has slept through the night more often then not this past week. This of course is very nice for me, as I get Michaela duty during the night with Christine taking care of Danielle. We think that Michaela has taken to the bed more than the crib, as now she has a choice to get out if she wants to. (Realistically we don't know why though.)

Getting Bigger

Danielle had her 2 week well-baby check yesterday and it went very well. She put on almost 1 lb in 9 days...YEAH, Danielle! She is now 7 lbs 7 1/2 oz.

Last night was the worst yet for Danielle, she spent the whole night uncomfortable and making her grunting noises as usual so not much sleep for mom or dad. Thankfully we got to sleep in as this was the last night without Michaela...she is coming home today!! I am so excited and have been missing her terribly.

We took down Michaela's crib last night and put in a toddler bed for her to try when she comes home. I think we are in for quite a few sleepless nights ahead of us and I am quite worried about it but am hopeful this will help her sleep better in the future. Our little baby is becoming a toddler :}

Nightime Noises

Christine and I enjoyed a movie last night with the sound turned up for the first time since Michaela was born. Usually we are doing something during the day and only watch movies at night, which leads us to have the sound down and subtitles on. Last night though we put the audio through the receiver and speakers and watched "21". Danielle slept through most of it, but heck she sleeps through most everything.

Danielle also loves to talk already. She is constantly cooing and grunting. The first week we had almost none of this and it made for nice quiet nights. With Danielle in a bassinet in our bedroom, her sounds are making it harder to sleep soundly through the night.

Today on the way to school I got into my first accident while riding bike into campus. Another biker was listening to music with headphones and staring down rather than looking ahead and did not hear my warning call to him. He was riding down the wrong side of the sidewalk, and never looked until he could see my wheels while staring straight down. His face was in total shock to say the least, and swerved at the last minute avoiding a head on collision. If I would have thought this could have happened I would have slowed down, but instead I was still riding about as fast as my slow legs take me. I avoided the head on with him, but took the grass, hit a rock and took a spill. Not really much worse for the wear after getting the chain unlocked, a few grass stains and scratches and a couple extra minutes on the commute in this morning. To make things worse (well not really, just different) today is the first day of class at UW Madison. This semester I will actually be taking a class (Medical Ethics) as it is a requirement for the traineeship I am now on. Campus is busier, there are more bikers around, and the huge masses of students walking around between class are back.

Missing Michaela

Dan and Linda brought Michaela back to Minnesota for the week on Wednesday. The quieter and peaceful house of only having a newborn at home is nice, but we are missing Michaela. She's only been gone a couple of days but the emotions have already ranged from sadness, guilt, and regret to calmness, joy, and thankfulness.

Malcolm edited the last pictures we took before Danielle was born last night, and we were both reminded of Michaela. She finally decided that it was alright to go down slides by herself again. Malcolm pushed her down the slide by herself much to her dismay and fear.

(For the last four months she had always wanted to go down the slide with Malcolm or myself, even though she had figured out how to scoot herself down a slide alone.) However, after the short and gradual slide in which she remained in complete control, she was happy and proud of what she had done. A few more times down that smaller slide that day and she was primed for what was to come.

Two days later Danielle was born and everyone in Madison got visitors. While visiting, Grandpa Dan took Michaela to the park across the street to the bigger and larger slides. After an initial fear of not wanting to go down the slides again, Michaela decided to conquer them all on her own.

First Bath

Last night Christine gave Danielle a sponge bath. It was the loudest that she has cried since coming back from the hospital and the newborn screen's foot prick. Some of the newborn baby smell got washed away, but it was time. I thought about helping, but instead just took pictures.

We noticed that Danielle's belly button was loose last night before the bath. We were pleasantly surprised this morning to find that it fell during the night, which is a great even as neither Christine nor I care for that smell.

Michaela went to Minnesota with Dan and Linda, splitting the next week between the Kallevig Grandparents and the Gold Grandparents. She will come back to Madison with Grandma Cindy on Wednesday. Christine and I miss her greatly, but already have appreciated the quietness of having only a newborn at home.