This Week - Monday- Maggie's Second Month!

As you would expect, Maggie's second month has been much less eventful than the first. Most of the month was characterized by a lot of fluctuation in her "schedule." Only in the last few days have things started settling in. The biggest issue has been sleeping at night. I'm going to do a whole separate post on that tomorrow. Otherwise, the highlights are:

- Much more awake and alert during the day. If you sit her up she will often smile, coo, and sometimes even make laughing like sounds at you. It is completely addictive and beyond adorable. Something about those dimples, I think. It is also fun to test how far she can see. Brent will slowly zoom in towards her until her face lights up when she "sees" it is him. She will also sit contentedly in her swing or in her gym for increasing periods. This is very helpful when I'm home alone with both kids.

- Maggie is starting to be a bit of a Mama's girl. This means much more work for me as her "magic" person. (Essentially this means the one that calms her most easily... although it is sort of more than that). Brent feels slightly relieved as being B's magic person is a lot of work. That said, it is pretty sweet for all of us.

- The car seat situation is somewhat improved. Most of the time she is fine. When she's not, it usually is only 10-15 minutes and then she gives in. The lullaby CD helps, sometimes. Some days though all bets remain off. B has, of late, been known to say during these prolonged crying spells in the car... "Umm, Mama, baby sister's crying." It is mildly humorous when we're all going nuts from the crying. He seems concerned that maybe we haven't noticed and really shouldn't we be doing something? We're building up a few tricks, but they are not too dependable.

- M's neck strength continues to improve and she enjoys peering around at her world.

- Still on a quest for her thumb. She continues to work on getting her thumb or fingers in her mouth with consistency. Her use of the pacifier is probably only slowing this, but it is nice when she is falling asleep.

- She is eating a bit more. I'd say around 5oz at most feedings. Then again, just isn't quite as consistent as her brother was with this. Often eats about half her milk, then dozes off and will drink the other half 45 minutes later.

- We continue to use the sling and carrier a lot. I've begun to notice that this is not common in OK, but it is the perfect solution for our current situation and we're sticking with it.

- She had some new experiences this month including her first big train ride (she slept through it), first sea lion show (can't really see that far), first trip to Norman (cried pretty much the whole time both ways, but loved all the snuggles!), she met lots of new people and generally is very good about being passed around.

- She and B seem to be getting along well. He continues to hold her often, kisses her before bed, and often pats her head and talks to her. Frequently, he'll repeat whatever soothing things I say to her when she is crying. It is so sweet!

- Looking forward - I say this hesitantly, as really I know better, but I think Miss M is taking the first movements towards rolling. We've caught her on her side a few times in her crib. Mostly, I think she is reaching for her thumb or binker, but is learning all the same. She did roll once at a month as B did, but that was more lucky positioning than anything else. We'll see how she progresses, but I suspect she won't really be rolling for awhile:)

- I, tentatively, think we're finding more of a routine with her and are getting a little better at figuring out what she wants and how she communicates. Slowly but surely.

Sleepwise, it was a very tough month for me, but luckily that is finally improved. Meanwhile, as I tell her many times a day, she is our sweet, pretty little Magpie.
--------------------------------------------------
This Week Journaling
Monday at a Glance - this was a VERY odd Monday for us so not much about this schedule mirrors a normal week. Brent was off work part of the day which adds to the weirdness, but this is our week this week.

M woke up at 1:30 and stayed up to party with Daddy until 3am. Woke up with Mama at 5:30, but was back down by 6 and proceeded to slept past 8:30! (NO, this is in no way normal...)

B arguably woke up around 7:45--- we ignored him until about 8:15-- might have been a mistake as poo had escaped his diaper and was all over lots of things.....TMI?

8:15-9:15 - WW weigh-in, clean-up w/B, laundry, "day-time" clothes, breakfast of cereal, milk and toast for the boys, packing the backpack and B's lunch for MDO (cheese sandwich w/ Mayo, drinkable yogurt, raisins, and applesauce). Brent took B to MDO for the first time!
9:30-11am - Brent goes to Target for a few things. Due to some confusion this trip takes WAY longer than planed. M and I get ready for the day, snuggle, chat, she kicks and I do more laundry and dishes.
11-1pm - Brent is home, we change the sheets on all the beds, do laundry, more dishes, feed M, do some internet surfing, have lunch together (leftover pasta and an apple) and then he heads to work.
1-2:15 - M and I hang out, I take a quick work call (Pre-Board), M sleeps a little, I work through e-mail, twitter, facebook, etc...). Then we head out to pick up B.
2:30-3:30 - Pick-up B, admire his artwork, play, feed M and put her down, briefly. B watches a little bit of a movie, I fold clothes and put things away. He tells me all about monsters and proceeds to scare me:)
3:30-5:30pm - Brent comes home. B and I make cookies, but B quickly loses interest. Instead he plays Wii with Brent and M. I start thinking about dinner. Change out the dishes, put last load of clothes in the dryer and finish the cookies. I make chicken strips for dinner along with apples, milk and french fries for the guys.
5:30-7:30pm - baths for the kids and I. Some internet time as I upload photos and B plays on PBS Kids Play and then types some on my computer. M is a bit fussy. Books - Mars Needs Moms and some Cars books. A bit more blocks, some room clean-up and the wind-up to B's bedtime. When B is in bed, Brent heads back to dorm night while I try to convince M that it is night time.
7:30-10:30 - Brent is at work. I catch up on blogging, photo uploading, and reading. It takes several tries to put M down, but she is generally good. Then to bed for me and Brent joins me when he arrives. What a busy day!

Final tally: 4 loads of laundry, 1.5 loads of dishes, probably 8ish bottles. I've been thinking about this strategy. I know at the basic level that she's right, but it is really kind of exhausting while also working with very little ones and trying to keep everything in balance. Sometimes if, say, M is crying I just can't really do the dishes right then.... Oh well, we just keep trying, right?