We're Home

Our family is all home together now, and it feels wonderful. Ian is still as helpful as ever when Annaliese is crying, and when she's awake, he wants to play with her, but his attitude is starting to show, too- his need to show his independence and have the attention on himself instead of Annaliese.

Annaliese is such a different baby than Ian. Ian took to breastfeeding without any problems straight out of the womb. The lactation consultant and I were on a first-name basis at the hospital with Annaliese. She has what they termed a "disorganized suck" but we're working on it and it's getting better. Thank goodness Ian was such a good eater, because had this happened with him, I probably would have given up, as it was pretty discouraging in the beginning. But because of Ian, I know what it can be, and so we're working on it. She's come a long way in three days, though, and I'm sure we'll just keep getting better.

She's very different from her big brother in another way, too- she sleeps! She sleeps without any assistance from us, just closes her eyes and drifts off. With Ian, we had to put him in our bathroom with the fan running in his bouncer chair, or in front of the microwave with the vent running, and when he was awake, he was crying. Annaliese only cries when she's hungry. Again, though, I'm glad Ian was that way as our first born instead of having a baby with Annaliese's temperament, because we wouldn't know what the heck to do if we had had a mellow baby first and a colicky one second. We didn't know any different with Ian, that it could be easier than what it was, so we are only now with Annaliese realizing how crazy those beginning days with Ian were.

Our life in pictures these last two days (I couldn't narrow them down, so there's a lot):