THE PERRY'S: The First Week

Well, we have made it through week one with two children under the age of two. Things for the most part have gone very well. However, there have been a few stressful moments. Aleigha is a very good big sister. She loves her brother...the first word out of her mouth every morning is "Brenton." She loves him to pieces...however, sometimes, I'm afraid she's going to put him into pieces b/c she loves him so much. For the most part she is very gentle with him, but she likes to give hugs that consist of her lying right on top of him. She also likes to hold (or should I say "squeeze") his hands. She does not show any bit of jealousy towards him though. She does throw some temper tantrums...usually over food. She is not eating as much as she used to because she has wanted to nurse. I did not have Aleigha completely weened from nursing when Brenton was born. She would nurse once a day...but would go anywhere from 24-72 hours without nursing. It was something she did for comfort. Now that Brenton nurses, she insists (and I am not kidding when I say insists) on nursing as well. I want her to know that she is still special and has a special bond with mommy. Fortunately when you nurse, your body produces milk on a demand basis. Therefor, I am making more then plenty of milk for the both of them. In fact, I think I have enough milk for 2 more babies. I don't mind nursing Aleigha, what is hard on me though, is the fact that she wants to nurse at the SAME time that Brenton nurses....let me tell you...it's not the easiest thing in the world, but it is possible. I have been getting a little more strict with her though and have been telling her that she can't nurse unless she eats her big girl food first. This has helped a little with the eating. As for potty training, she has regressed a little. She has been completely accident free for almost a month. However, now she has been having about one pee accident every other day. Which is completely understandable with such a big change. She is very good about letting us know. She will tell us she as had an "accent," and then she usually will go and get a new pair of pants and put them on. The only other thing she has regressed on a little, is waking up in the middle of the night and coming into bed with us. She's also teething, so that could be adding to the problem. Nothing is very extreme...I think most everything will correct itself within a few weeks...once we are in a pretty regular routine. Which, speaking of routines, I've never been one in favor of them. I feel that they are more for the parents then for the children because if a routine has to be broken...then it is really hard on the child. So, unless you have a very regular life, then I think it's not worth having a routine. Now, with that being said, now having two children at such young ages...I think I need some routine in our lives...(for my own sanity). Hopefully I can manage this and if does have to be broken, it won't be too hard on either child.
As for progression with Aleigha: Her speaking skills are incredible. She continues to add new words every day. She has extremely good manners. She says "please," "thank you," "welcome," "excuse me," "bless you," and "sorry" all at appropriate times. She speaks in sentences several times a day. It's really cute to hear her say things like, "I want a sandwich." or "I don't like it." Also, Aleigha has an incredible memory. She's also really good at making connections....such as, a few weeks ago we went to one of Johnny's (Chris' brother) track meet, and it started to rain. Now every time it rains, she says "rain...Johnny....run." Like I said earlier, Aleigha is such a good big sister. Every time he cries, she will start to sing him a lullaby. She will also say things like..."shhh....it's kay, i got you." She has become our little "diaper sniffer." She'll smell anything you tell her too, so we have used it to our advantage to have her smell Brenton's butt. If it's dirty, she'll tell us "diaper."...most of the time, she's right. And when she's not, it's still really cute and funny to see. It's amazing how big she looks all of a sudden. One day she was my little baby, the next day, she's soo big. I try to get some one on one time with Aleigha everyday. One time I asked her if she wanted to play with me. She said "yes." And when I asked her what she wanted to play, she responded with "Brenton." Yesterday, Aleigha and I got out for a couple of hours while Chris watched Brenton. We went to the park and the library. She definatly needed and enjoyed her time with just me. We had a very good time together.
As for progression with Brenton: His birth weight dropped from 7 lbs 9 oz to 7 lbs 1 oz and on Sunday it was up to 7 lbs 3 oz. He will be weighed again on Friday to make sure his weight continues to go up. On the first night Brenton was born, he started to lift his head. He continues to do this everyday, and it is obvious that his neck is getting stronger and stronger. He can lift it and move it from one side to the other before it drops again. We give him about 5 mins of tummy time once or twice a day to help make his neck strong. On June 4th we saw his first smile (wether gas or not...it's still a smile)...and now he smiles often. On June 7th, he turned from his back to his side. He doesn't do this often, but any time (which is about every night), when i check on him in his bassinet, he has moved from his back to his side all on his own. I suppose he likes to sleep on his side. He is a very happy baby except when he needs something...fed, changed, hungry, or being changed. I'd have to say that being changed it what he hates the most. For the first week, he slept most of the time. Starting today, he has been awake for much longer periods of time. It's a lot of fun to see him look all around to explore his environment. I often wonder what he thinks about Aleigha...lol.
As for Chris: He returned to work a few days after Brenton was born. He has been a great help with everything. On Sunday before church, he got both kids dressed...although he put both of their outfits on backwards...I truely appreciated what he did. He often gets Aleigha breakfast so I can feed Brenton without the persistent insisting from Aleigha that she needs to nurse as well. He makes sure he gives his one-on-one attention to Aleigha as well everday. He is very excited to have a little boy as well now. I know they will do a lot of father-son activities. He's already talking about how he wants to coach his sport teams. He is a great dad and a wonderful husband. I am so lucky to be married to him.
As for me: I am doing pretty good. I have not had to take any pain medicine after the first three or four days (I had to take it for almost 3 weeks w/ Aleigha). I am very happy to not be pregnant anymore. But I'm even happier to be able to hold my little boy and my little girl in my arms. I love being a mom...it is the greatest gift that God has given me. Right now, I'm feeling pretty good about myself because I feel that I have my house under control (which I was really worried about with having two young children). I've learned it's a lot easier to keep on top of things if you do it right away. Now we wash our dishes with every meal rather than just once a day or every other day. I try to keep everything put away as we use them. I do the laundry every couple of days rather than every couple of weeks. I've been teaching Aleigha (and Chris for that matter) to put their things away as well. They've been catching on pretty quickly...lol.
Anyways, life is good right now. And I am very very thankful for having such a great life with such a great family.
I want to apologize for such a long post. I use this blogspot to not only keep family and friends updated with our family, but also as a journal. Therefore, I add a lot of details that I might not necessarily post but that I want to keep recorded of.
I have posted several pictures and a couple of videos of the first week of Brenton's life. I hope you all enjoy.

Our precious son right after birth

Brenton with Grandpa John

Peaceful in the swing....Aleigha thought he needed some toys to play with

Brenton's first sponge bath at home

Getting all clean

Quite content after his bath

My sleepy baby...his lips are just like Aleigha's when they sleep
....they get all big and pouty

He's a pretty peaceful sleepier during the day...
during the night is a different story

Aleigha playing in her food

She painted her WHOLE body with spaghetti

Letting me know she's all done

Stripping her clothes so she can take a shower

My pretty baby...after she took a shower

She's beautiful

His favorite place to be...next to mommy's arms of course

Mommy and Brenton...one week old

Aleigha's way of playing with the tummy time mat

Silly Aleigha

Pure love in Aleigha's eyes

Aleigha consoling her brother??...or Aleigha the reason for his troubles??
She is such an amazing big sister, however, she likes to show too
much love sometimes.