One week!

Miss Elise is one week old today. Wow. It's been a wonderful week - I (as well as Nora) will really miss having Chris home when he goes back to work next week. Luckily, I'll have my mom and then my dad here for extended stays and Chris's mom around to help, so it will still be a couple weeks before I'm truly home alone w/ the two munchkins. I can't really imagine it.

Elise is a joy. She sleeps a lot, but not nearly as much as Nora did. So far, she has a few awake/alert stages each day that last anywhere from one to three hours during which she mostly wants to nurse. Unfortunately, she's a bit of a spitter upper so all that cluster nursing generally leads to many costume changes and clean ups. Hopefully as she gets bigger and as my milk supply evens out (it's haywire right now, with both girls nursing and the inevitable immediate postpartum over supply) she'll be able to keep the good stuff down. Until then, we're going to have to invest in some more bibs.

She's also been a good night sleeper, so far. She had a few nights of longer 5 to 6 hour sleep stretches, but she seems to have settled into a two to three wakings every two to three hour schedule. Fine by me. Nora doesn't seem at all confused about why Elise can nurse at night when she has to wait until the morning - hopefully that will last.

Nora has been great. She's definitely testing her limits a bit, but has been very gentle with Elise and very patient when she wants something from me and needs to wait a bit for it. She's such a sweetheart. I've had a handful of hormonal cries just looking at Nora and realizing that she's not my little baby anymore (tearing up right now just typing it).

I should post this before one of the angels wakes up. :)

So, some pictures:

Nora, reading...with crazy post-nap hair:


Such a good big sister:



Uncle Deets came to visit Monday and Tuesday - Nora was very excited.


Elise was also excited, but she has a better game face so it's hard to tell.


So tiny...


Elise has dimples, just like her big sis!



Funny hat...


Touchdown!


Sleeping with one eye open. You can never be too careful...



Girl's got style...


Elise, with Aunt Jen...


Nora, all geared up to go out in the cold...so cute.


Grandpa Rex, Uncle Bull and Heather are visiting this weekend - hopefully we'll post pictures soon!