5 weeks

Our little Elise weighed in at 10 lbs at her Dr.'s appt this past Thursday (2 days before 5 weeks)! She nurses round the clock, so I guess it's not such a surprise, but I still couldn't quite believe she'd gained that much weight that fast. She's also started smiling more often (especially on the changing table) and making adorable cooing and gaga noises. Too cute.

We had a good week. More later. For now, here are some cute pictures!

Nora, on the left, and Elise, on the right, both at 4 weeks - they measured the same size (20.5 inches), but I think we may have inadvertently given Elise an extra 1/2 inch or so. These pictures say a lot about their personalities - when experiencing something new Nora tends to be shy and look away while Elise lets everyone know how she's feeling!


And, some adorable faces of Elise, from this afternoon. What a cutie!












And, a picture of Nora at the same age b/c it's too hard not to compare them!

4 weeks

Well, I've been writing the 3 week post for the past week and now it's time for the 4 week post. We've been busy...having fun, changing diapers, dealing with melt downs, getting to know our new daughter and the new sides of our not so new daughter, and trying to enjoy and appreciate as much of it as we can.

Needless to say, it's been much more challenging w/out live-in help, but I feel like we're getting into the swing of things. Elise doesn't yet have any kind of predictable schedule, which is hard, and she cries a lot more than Nora did, which is harder, but Nora has definitely been the more challenging of the two. She's been MUCH more sensitive lately, which is equal parts annoying and heartbreaking and has been testing her limits much more than usual, which is mostly just annoying (although completely understandable). We've completely given up on potty training and actually decided to not even mention the potty for a week or so to give her back control over one thing. We've also stopped saying "you need to ____" after we noticed her repeating "I don't need to...I don't need to" when she was upset. Poor thing. As difficult as this has been for her, however, she doesn't ever take it out on Elise - every morning she says "I need to see baby Elise" and tells her she loves her; she holds her little hand to cheer her up during diaper changes; she talks about how cute/pretty Elise is; and she's (almost) always very gentle. I try to tell her every day how proud I am of her and that I know it's hard sometimes. These little ladies are very lucky to have such wonderful sisters.

So much to say, so little time...I'll just jump right to the pictures.

Cute little 4 week old girl...


Strong strong neck...


With Gma and Gpa B...


She's getting chunkier by the day!


Pretty girl...


Nora got all fancied up...


Nora's been very good at playing by herself while Elise nurses. She even makes her dolls and stuffed animals talk back and forth to each other. So cute.


The key to our days is getting Nora to nap and, so far, a walk in the stroller is the least stressful way to do that (even if it's cold and slushy out). The results from our first weekday walk...success!



On Saturday we spent the morning at the Zoo - Elise slept through most of it...


Nora loved the monkeys...


...especially this mama giving her baby mums. Zoos can be so fun, but so sad.


Watching a sleeping otter...


And, having some lunch before heading home Elise woke up and was mesmerized by the ceiling...


Sleepy Bongorno family...



Later that afternoon Elise finally got to meet her Great Gma!

3 weeks

Once again, this past week has flown by while Nora and Elise continue to amaze us and make us laugh (and yawn).

Nora's highlights:

• I think she's gained about a pound (up to 27ish lbs) since the reintroduction of breastmilk into her diet.
• We recently discovered the true extent to which she's memorized her favorite books by allowing her to complete sentences while we're reading - she's a pro.
• She says "like just ___" instead of "just like ___"...really cute
• She completes about 60% of her sentences with "all around the town!" whether it's appropriate to the story or not, such as: "I want peanut butter sandwiches for lunch all around the town!"...it's 10x more adorable when paired w/ her excited voice and expressive arms.
• She LOVES puppets! If we can't get her to do something (ie, feeding her food, picking out her clothes, cleaning up messes, you name it!) there's about an 80% chance that one of her puppets can convince her. It's a handy trick!
• If left to her own devices, I think she would watch the movie "Happy Feet" all day every day for the next year or so.
  

Elise's highlights:

• We've dubbed her the "baby velociraptor" b/c of the hilarious noise she makes when sleepy stretching - it sounds exactly like the velociraptors from Jurassic Park...
  
• According to our scale she's a little over 8 lbs!
• She still spits up more than Nora did, but has the occasional one outfit day here and there.
  
• She's a good nighttime sleeper - she's been getting up one to three times most nights and usually just nurses and goes right back to sleep.
• Daytime sleeping is still up in the air - she's been known to sleep most of the day, being up in the evening, but she likes to mix it up sometimes by staying awake all day (w/ some catnaps) and falling asleep right before Chris gets home. I, obviously, prefer the former, but when did my opinion ever matter?
  
• She grew out of her first outfit! Big girl.

All in all, we're doing well although I must admit that parenting 2 kiddos is a little more difficult than I'd expected! Plenty of love to go around, but I wish I had more arms and another lap!

Day 19 of "The Girls"

It's been a wild 2 1/2 weeks so far. Elise is getting more alert during waking time and has settled into somewhat of a loose schedule (awake in the morning, sleepy all afternoon, awake in the evening, and nighttime is anyone's guess) this past week. She's adorable and Nora continues to be amazing. She's a wonderful helper and has been very patient and adaptable. When Elise cries she often goes to her and holds her hand and tells her "it's ok, we're all here". So cute. Elise is getting chunkier by the day and her eyes are slowly becoming a lighter shade of beautiful blue. She's also been gracing us with at least a couple heartmelting smiles each day - who knows if they're gas or "real smiles", but they sure do make me smile for real!

My dad is here this week, so next week will be my first full week alone with "the girls"! Yikes. I'm actually somewhat looking forward to it - we're going to have to figure it all out sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner, right?

Sisters...


Nora, making sure we do it right and Elise giving a hint of a smile...


Silly faces from the dollhouse...



Wha?!


Sleepytime...


Nora in "the outhouse"...she sits in there for a LONG time telling stories and singing...


Can you tell which is which?