You guys! I haven’t written in a bit because… things are good!!!! So I was storing up some updates, instead of urgently needing an outlet for frustrations.

That’s not to say everything is perfect, because HELLO! Two kids? yea, not perfect. But we’re feeling pretty groovy!

The best news of recent days is that Ellen has stopped projectile vomiting. A friend with a baby who has reflux mentioned that her doctor suggested taking probiotics, since those are good for digestion and may be passed through breastmilk. Well, folks, I’d say they’re for sure passed through breastmilk because Ellen has not vomited one single time since I started taking them on Monday! She went from puking at least once or twice a day to just normal baby spit-up. And along with the vomit, my anxiety has disappeared.

I was pretty worried about the puke. Not knowing when it would happen made it so hard for me to want to go anywhere with Ellen. It also made the idea of leaving her to sleep in her room on her own terrifying. I was constantly ready to catch buckets of vomit, and now I don’t have to worry so much! I’m sure it will still happen occasionally, because it just does with babies. But I can totally deal with occasionally!

Now that I’m not scared that Ellen will drown in vomit in her sleep, I’m starting to feel ready to sleep separate from her. I think probably within the next week or so I’ll move back to our bed and leave Ellen in her crib. Kyle is really looking forward to that move. He has been pretty down, I think from feeling lonely from sleeping alone at night. In a really blue moment, he even suggested that all four of us sleep together in the big bed (we quickly ruled that out as a solution – it’s just not for us). It’s very sweet that Kyle misses me, but I’m so grateful that he hasn’t rushed me or made me feel responsible for his loneliness. He’s just letting me go through my process. What a guy!

In the meantime, some of Kyle’s night time loneliness is solved through Lewis’s nighttime wakings. Yes, you read that right! Lewis seems to be having a bit of a sleep regression. He went to the dentist last week (came home with rave reviews about his healthy mouth!) and we found out that his molars are actually finally on their way! So perhaps his mouth is bothering him, but really I think the regression has to do with Ellen.

For starters, I think he hears her grunting and squeaking through their shared wall. She doesn’t really cry, but she is definitely noisy. Secondly, kiddo has been acting more like a baby lately, asking for help with things he can do on his own, wanting to be carried everywhere, etc., which seems like a reaction to Ellen’s arrival. And perhaps waking up at night and crying for Daddy is another way he has found to get “babied”.

Whatever the explanation, Kyle ends up snuggling in Lewis’s bed several times a night, and sometimes even pulls Lewis into our bed. So he isn’t really alone all night!

Sleep is sort of ruling the house lately, between the newborn and the troubled toddler. I do have to say that Ellen is showing some signs of sorting her sleep out. We’ve had some pretty rough nights, but the past two nights were improved. Last night, in particular, was great. I didn’t get nearly enough sleep, but I got the most I’ve gotten since Ellen was born because she fell back asleep after every feeding. Instead of staying awake for hours on end in the wee hours of the morning and cluster feeding every half hour, she woke up, got a diaper, ate, and fell back asleep.

AND! AND! Get this – she wasn’t noisy when she slept! She was only noisy when she woke up. Very noisy. But that’s okay because then I knew she needed me and check check check! Take care of baby and get some more zzz’s.

I’m hoping to splurge on a fitbit to track my sleep. Should be good for a laugh in these newborn months! Ha!

Ellen continues to grow like a weed. I had to sort through her 6 month size clothes to make sure we had what we need for the upcoming season (we do!), because she is almost out of her 3 month size clothes already – WAY ahead of schedule, considering she is turning 1 month old this Saturday. She is also growing out of her size 1 diapers already. I have to return our most recent shipment of size 1 diapers in favor of size 2 because I realized that I am basically jamming her into the size 1’s we currently have. No way we get through 6 more packs of this size with her growing as quickly as she does! It’s madness! I swear!

And the final fun update is about my weight. Slightly embarrassing, but also thrilling – I’m back under 200 lbs! Still 30 lbs to go to my pre-Ellen weight. 40 to my pre-Lewis weight. But considering where I was at the end of my Ellen pregnancy, I’m pretty darn pleased with myself after only 1 month with no exercise. Go me! I’m very confident I’ll get down to a weight where I feel comfortable and confident before Ellen’s first birthday – especially if she continues to eat this much!!!