Maiden Voyage

 After going 12 days without driving a car, I started back gradually as my first trip (December 24) to CVS and the grocery store was without any kids. On Monday I went to the bank, library (already finished two of the books I checked out), Post Office (mailed a package to Chicago), and grocery store with only Ian. Today was my first solo trip with both kiddos. I was wearing the sling under my coat so that I could carry Ian in that and still have the ability to hold Nadia's hand in the parking lots and also put her in the front of the shopping cart. Our first stop was the doctor's office. I turned in the form my HR department wants my OB to fill out so I can use some sick leave, and a nurse weighed Ian. He gained about 1.5 ounces over the last seven days as he weighed in at 5lb 10 3/4 ounces (with only a dry diaper on). I was afraid we'd have to come back with that small of a gain, but I guess as long as he gained some weight, she was satisfied. Whew. I will keep weighing him at home. Obviously my scale is accurate since it was fluctuating between 5lb 10 1/2 and 5lb 11 oz last night. Hopefully he'll start gaining an average of one ounce a day in the very near future.

Monday night was an awful night for me in terms of how much sleep I got. He was sometimes only sleeping for 15-20 minutes before he was wanting to nurse again. Needless to say I napped during both of Nadia's naps yesterday. Last night went much better. I went to bed at 9pm, and I woke Ian up at midnight. He nursed for almost an hour and then slept for 2 hours. He nursed for almost another hour and probably would have slept at least 2 hours, but Nadia woke up at 5:15, and that woke him up. I napped for 45 minutes during Nadia's morning nap (until Ian woke up). Including that nap, I got seven hours of sleep. WOOHOO! I feel so much better today than I did yesterday although I'd feel even better if I got as much sleep as Paul did last night. He went to bed around midnight and got up at 9:30am. He was up from 5:30-6:00; so he got about nine hours of sleep. I'm trying not to be too jealous. :-) I never got that much sleep when Nadia was this age. I am very grateful that at least some nights he's doing a lot better than she did. Now we just need him to put on some more weight!