Olly Is One Month Old

Olly Is One Month Old

That sure went fast — Oliver is already one month old!

Olly gained a whopping three pounds and 2.5 inches in the past month! According to his pediatrician, two pounds is average, so he’s doing great, especially since he was so skinny when he first came home, only in the 16th percentile for weight. I love his chubby cheeks!! Now he’s 9 pounds, 14 ounces, which puts him in the 40th percentile, and 22.5 inches tall or 83rd percentile. I don’t know why we have such tall kids!

Andy went back to work on Tuesday after having more than four amazing weeks off, so this week has definitely been a struggle as we try to get used to a new normal, especially in the sleep deprivation department. Olly tends to sleep two to three hours at a time, which is awesome during the day but sucks a lot at night, so Andy and I take turns getting up to feed him. Some nights he eats for 15 minutes and falls back asleep, but other nights he’s wide awake for hours and will only stop crying when he’s being held and bounced in just the right way… ugh. I love that Andy and I share the burden, but obviously it means both of us are utterly exhausted and it’s difficult to function. Yesterday Andy locked his keys in his car at work and I had to go drop off a spare!

Despite the lack of sleep, so far my days with the two kids — Joanna who just turned 20 months on Monday, and Olly, as well as our attention-hungry goldendoodle Ruby (she’ll be three in a few weeks!) — are going better than I expected. I’ve managed to feed everyone approximately when they need to be fed, I’ve showered every day, worn real pants and put on makeup, the kids are bathed, I’ve vacuumed, and most of the laundry is done, even if it’s not necessarily folded! … I’m pretty sure I’m running on nothing but adrenaline and sugar at this point, so I feel awesome every time I manage to finish something! I’m also very bad at taking the time to relax since there’s ALWAYS something that seems more important to do, so that’s a challenge for me… which I’m totally failing at, because I’m currently writing this at 5 a.m. instead of sleeping while I can. Whoops.

Joey has been handling her new big sister job so well. There have definitely been temper tantrums, and I totally don’t blame her, but for the most part she’s doing awesome. She seems to genuinely like having him around. She gives him his pacifier and often climbs up to sit next to him when he’s on on the couch. In the morning she runs up to him to say hi. Her favorite games now involve “feeding” her dolls her sippy cup and buckling them into the baby swing. It’s so so so cute and we are so proud of her. One of our biggest worries was that Olly’s crying in the night would wake Joey up and we’d have two crying babies, but so far she’s been sleeping right through it!

Before Andy went back to work, we had a fun month. Not only were we able to tackle a lot of home projects and make a dent in our to-do list (though it never seems like you get as much done as you hope to!), we also went on a bunch of fun family adventures to places like the botanical gardens. Plus tons of trips to Target for new diapers! I’ve only so far taken both kids out by myself one time, to Home Goods and Michael’s — you know, the really important things, ha.

What we know from experience is everything is temporary. Sleep will come. A routine will come. Figuring out how to grocery shop with two kids will come. And most of all, everything is worth it because look at that little face!!