Where Does the Time Go?!

I cannot believe Elizabeth is 6 weeks old today. Where does the time go? We are slowly adjusting to life with two little ones. It sure makes running errands a lot more tiring and time-intensive though. Elizabeth is growing like crazy. She's already 9 lbs 10 oz. We found out at her six week check up this week that she's in the 90th percentile for length and 50th for her weight. Looks like she's maybe going to be a tall girl...unlike her big sister who's holding steady in the 50th percentile for height and 10th percentile for her weight.


















Look at that beautiful head of hair. It looks so cute and curly right after her bath.




























Well, lots has happened since my last post. I don't feel like I've been able to skip a beat since giving birth. The only Sunday I missed playing the piano in church was the week-end I was in the hospital. The week after I got home I had a funeral and a wedding to play at, and this week has been insane trying to get all the special Easter services planned and practiced for.

John's parents were here for a visit to meet Elizabeth, and we celebrated Clara's second birthday while they were here and had Elizabeth dedicated as well. It was a shock when they left. Grandma Evans was up every morning with Clara, allowing me to get some extra rest with the baby. It was wonderful! Thanks, you guys, for coming and helping out. Everybody has been such a great help. Mom and Carl have been so good to watch Clara and have us over for meals. Aunt Dawn and Baba Tina brought us baskets and boxes of home-cooked food. Our church family has showered Elizabeth with gifts and cards and more food. We feel very thankful and blessed beyond measure to be surrounded with such support and love.


Grandma Evans with the girls.









Elizabeth (on the day she was dedicated) with her great-grandma Hazel.














Clara is starting to warm up to her little sister. Her world really has been turned upside down, but at least she's gentle with Elizabeth and doesn't seem as jealous as she first did. She really minded John holding Elizabeth when we first came home from the hospital.




























Sleep deprivation is another challenge for John and I right now. Elizabeth isn't doing too bad, but she finds it hard to settle alone in her cradle (even though it's right next to my side of the bed). I think it's going to be a lot more difficult transitioning her into her own room. She much prefers to be snuggled between us in our bed...unfortunately. She's sleeping for about a 5 hour stretch in the night before waking to feed so we are getting some uninterrupted sleep. And if I'm lucky enough to settle both of the girls at the same time in the afternoon, I try to take a nap myself then too. Speaking of sleep troubles, the day of Elizabeth's dedication we were hit with a terrible storm and got stranded in Charlottetown at my parent's place. We put Clara to bed in her crib at their house as usual, but she had to share her room with Grandma and Grandpa Evans. Well, around 1:00am, Clara woke up crying and would not go back to sleep. She was so worked up, she could barely breathe properly. By that time, the roads were okay and the storm had subsided so we decided to pack up and drive home. Of course Clara went right to sleep when we got her into her own room at home, but John and I were up until nearly 5:00am trying to get Elizabeth back to sleep. Thankfully John's parents got up with Clara the next morning, and John and I slept until 10am...only problem being, Clara's second birthday party was scheduled for 11am and the house still needed to be cleaned and decorated and food prepared, etc... We pulled it off though, and Clara had a very special day. I think it was good for her to be the centre of attention for awhile.


















Clara wasn't so sure about the candles on her cake. I think the flames scared her. She could see all those yummy jelly beans and easter eggs, but couldn't get to them through the fire. Once the candles were gone, she dug in!!














Although feeding Elizabeth has been easier in some ways than it was with Clara, we have run into a problem with thrush. It's been downright miserable actually. It's so painful sometimes to get her latched on that I spend the first few minutes of nursing her reciting the Lord's Prayer to keep myself from crying out in pain. The only oral medication that I can take for it and still breastfeed I ended up having a reaction to. A couple of hours after taking the first pill my face went as red as a lobster and got all hot and itchy like a bad sunburn. That was over a week ago, and my face is still peeling from it and feels very dry. So needless to say I discontinued that medication and am reduced to fighting this thing with herbal remedies, fanatical cleaning and laundering, and diet modifications. It's really very difficult to cut out sugar, dairy, and white flour from one's diet...could be a good weight loss regime for all this pregnancy weight though I suppose. Right now we are trying this Gentian Violet treatment that stains the baby's lips purple. She looks rather comical...sort of like the Joker from Batman. John calls her goth baby...with that black hair sticking straight up and those purple lips, all we need to do is paint her nails black and she'd fit the part perfectly.














Well, that's about all I have time to type for now. Elizabeth is crying to be fed again. I'll try to post something again soon.


Clara has discovered how much more fun it is to eat grapes right off the stem.









...playing dress-up with her flashy rain hat and winter mittens.