Candle by candle: Lana

Little Lana is eight weeks tomorrow! Wow - that went by fast. Even though it didn't really feel like it during all those nights that we walked in circles in our driveway (and girlfriend doesn't just want strolling, she wants you walking fast), the last two months have gone by quickly. She's definitely getting less fussy, which is a huge help for Robert and I. We're able to put her down earlier at night, with less exhausting fussiness, and we're starting to feel less like zombies.

But, in writing that paragraph above, it's clear that I'm still not all here. I need more sleep and a little more down time before life starts to feel totally normal again. But, we're close. :)

Lana is nursing well - about 7 or 8 times a day. She's a really fast eater; totally different from Julia, who would take 45 minutes or more to finish a meal. I timed Lana a few times because I was curious, and it was between 4 and 10 minutes a feeding. Not per side, but total feeding time. She's thriving so it's not an issue, but just makes it clear how different babies can be!

(And yes, I'm tandem nursing Lana and Julia. A separate post on that to come down the road (but don't hold your breath). It's going fine. There are pros and cons but bottom line is I'm not sure I want to nurse Julia much longer.... but honestly, I'm not sure how to get her to stop at this point. I'm going to revisit in a few months when Julia's a little more emotionally even and Lana's in a routine. I don't want to rock the boat right now and it's overall going just fine.)

She's just started sleeping a bit better too. She goes down around 8 or 8:30, sleeps her long stretch (usually waking to eat around 4, but varying as much as two hours in either direction, and sometimes again in the early morning hours if her first feeding was on the early side), and is up for the day around 8:00 in the morning. She's not on any sort of nap schedule yet, but she's doing well with them. I'm working on getting her to take as many of them as possible in her crib, but barring that, I try to have her flat on her back, motionless, and in a quiet place. Of course there are the naps in her carseat but I'm just doing the best I can.

She's social-smiling a lot with me, and even trying out her voice. I can tell that she's trying to gain control of her arms but I don't think she's yet made the connection that those are her hands.

She's pretty cute. Here are some photos from a very impromptu photo shoot today. (I want to edit them but if I waited for that to post them, it'd never happen, so it's on my list of things to do some year.)

Half smile.

Looking "pleasant" is about the best I can hope to capture on camera.

The whole shebang.

Staring at the fan.

I may or may not have decided to do this shoot because she had a cute cloth diaper on.

Just like Julia, I whip out the camera and she immediately stares at it instead of smiling at me. Doesn't bode well for future years of Christmas card photos...