Every day I look at Kaylee and I just can’t get over how much she looks like Zoë as a baby. So much so that I forget at times that she’s a different person, with a different personality.
She has her own little quirks and needs that are very different from Zoë. While Zoë was a very chill baby and would just hang out in her bouncy seat or on the Boppy pillow, Kaylee wants a lot more contact.
If she’s awake, she wants to be held. And until Tuesday night, she wanted to be nursing. What changed? We finally got her to take a Binkie. I was beginning to think that she’d never take one and I’d be her personal pacifier. Now I get a break and she gets to soothe herself a little bit.
She will usually sit in her bouncy seat for 5-10 minutes before she wants to be held again. Maybe now she’ll sit there for a little while longer.
Hopefully it will also help her sleep a little better at night. Zoë started sleeping 6 hours at only a week old. I’m lucky to get 3 hours with Kaylee. When she wakes up, we go out in the living room and I often end up falling asleep on the couch with her.
That would be fine except when Zoë wakes up and I’m not in bed next to her she freaks out. I mean screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs for Mommy to the point where our neighbors probably think we’re hurting her. It takes a while to get her to chill out after she realizes that Mommy’s just in the living room.
Needless to say, we’re exhausted.
Two really is so much more than one. I’d heard that said before, but I don’t think you can truly understand it unless you’ve gone through it. Nothing can prepare you for what’s in store for you when you have your second child, especially when the first is still so young.
We’ve had some interesting surprises as well. I thought that Zoë would have a hard time with Mommy paying so much attention to the baby. She definitely has some jealousy, but it’s much stronger with Daddy. She does not like it when Daddy holds Kaylee. Not one bit.
She could be playing just fine on her own, but as soon as I hand Kaylee off to Brian, Zoë instantly wants to sit in his lap too. It’s funny and sweet at the same time.
I thought she’d have a problem with me breastfeeding the baby, but she actually just likes to sit next to me and watch. Or she’ll bring one of her favorite books over for us to look at – Big Board Book of Colors, ABCs and Numbers or My Big Animal Book.
I highly recommend these books if you’re trying to nurse an infant and entertain a toddler at the same time. They’re great because they have lots of pictures so you don’t have to read much. Zoë actually likes to look at all of the pictures and tell me what they are. They’ve been great for adding words to her vocabulary.
Zoë really is very sweet with Kaylee though. She loves to lie down next to her and play with her hands and give her kisses. As challenging as it is right now to have two girls so close in age, I know a year from now, I will be happy they are so close in age.
Life with Two Under Two: Temper Tantrums, Sleep Deprivation and Sweet Kisses