2011

Well, I probably don't have much time to write right now, but short is better than nothing, right?

Roman is 6 weeks old, and doing great. We weighed him on our kitchen scale (in a popcorn bowl) and he weighs 7lbs 10oz - almost 3lbs up from his birth weight! He's starting to show signs of a routine during the day, which is nice for me. And he's been pretty consistent at night too - which is NOT nice for me. He has one 3-4hr chunk first thing, which I usually miss because I don't fall asleep quickly. And the rest of the night is every 1.5 hours. It's torture! But as long as he goes back to sleep right after eating, I can handle it I guess. He likes to be held during the day, which makes things difficult obviously. But the girls still love him, and Arianna begs to hold him all the time!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. My parents, Dan's parents, my sister, my brother, and my sister-in-law were all here for several days at the same time - it was chaotic! My parents stayed at a hotel, but we still had all our meals together and we barely fit around our huge table. It was a blast though, and the girls loved all the attention. I think it was getting to Arianna though. She seems to be more sensitive to her environment and reacts VERY negatively over time. She's currently been on a poop strike for a while now. She went 2 weeks without pooping, and is actively holding it in all the time. I've tried glycerin suppositories, but she's too stubborn for them! She was kinda irritable when everyone was here, and it was frustrating. The day they all left though, she finally pooped, and turned into a completely different person! I had forgotten how cute and funny and sweet she could be. I'm probably going to call her pediatrician and see what we can do about it. It's not like I can control her diet - she's so stinking stubborn!

Marissa had a blast at Christmas. I feel like it's hard to write much about her, but she's so sweet and smart and helpful. The girls got so many wonderful presents, and Arianna just kept asking for "More? More? More?" She's finally catching up with her words, and is just beginning the stage of repeating anything you ask to her to say - which can be just hilarious! She says "baya" for banana, soup, "dee-dee" for thank you, up, off, EAT (her favorite), pizza, "dee" for candy/treat, and "dee-dee" for cookie (I guess context is helpful, or we'd never know if she was saying cookie or thank you. Lol.), "Issa" for Marissa, "Ro-ro baby" for Baby Roman and "Baby Ro-ro" for Roman Baby (she's a little mixed up!), and other words I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Dan and I are barely hanging in there - we're both so exhausted! It's been a lot harder adjusting to 3 kids than it was to 2. It's especially hard for me to get anything done during the day, which means we try to do everything in the evenings. I've had SO MUCH laundry to catch up on (towels and sheets from all the company, plus new clothes to wash, plus everyday laundry, plus a third child's laundry!)! It's also been difficult to figure out what to do with all the new toys from Christmas. We really only have one good storage option for toys, so they end up all strewn about. Arianna's really good at putting toys away though, thankfully. We moved the play kitchen up to Marissa's room, and the girls have LOVED it being more accessible (it used to be in the basement). For some odd reason, Arianna carries around a few play forks and spoons ALL THE TIME. She freaks out if you try to take them away from her (like if she's about to poke an eye out, or I need to put her shirt on), so there are forks and spoons in every room of our house!

Well, she just woke up, so I guess I'm done! Time to nurse her in bed with me (so she extends her nap - she never sleeps long enough), and probably nurse Roman at the same time too. Yes, she's still nursing and is basically obsessed with it, so no weaning any time soon! "They" say to nurse til 2 years old anyways. I'm getting a little tired of it, but only because it's so hard to nurse 2 at the same time, and I'm pretty much STARVING all the time!