Then and now.

With the second child it is hard not to compare them to the first child. As parents, our only experience thus far has been our experience with M2, so how can we not draw comparisons between her infancy and P5's?

I have to say, he is a much easier baby. He sleeps well, he breastfeeds well, and he's pretty easygoing (except for the fact that he loves to cluster feed for hours on end in the evening which makes it hard for me to get anything done). M2 had severe reflux so she was quite a handful. She didn't breastfeed very well and was very sensitive. Coming into this adventure of having a second baby I secretly hoped that things would be easier with him, but I was prepared for another high needs baby. I've been pleasantly surprised by how well things are going. Even our pediatrician noticed how different things are. She commented that I was doing so well this time and that I was a mess in those early months with M2 (she meant this as a compliment, and it's true, I was very anxious, exhausted and stressed out with M2). Because of M2's reflux, we have gotten to know our pediatrician really well because of such frequent doctor visits.

My memory is fuzzy from the early months of M2 when I was always exhausted and struggling to hold it together. That being said, I feel like where we are at with our night time schedule with P5 right now (at barely two weeks old) is about where we were 4 months in with M2. What a blessing it has been that he has been sleeping so well this past week, which has allowed me to sleep more than one would expect with a newborn. I'm still getting up with him twice a night, but throughout the day I feel more rested than I ever did early on with M2. This is really great because I need the energy to keep up with both of their needs.

I was so worried all the time with M2. I worried about whether she was eating enough and I kept meticulous notes those first few months of every time she ate and how much or how long. This time I just can't expend time and energy worrying about these kinds of things. I breastfeed P5 when he is hungry and hope that he is satisfied. When I'm not feeding him, I'm preparing food for M2, playing with her or trying to keep up with the laundry (two kids = lots of laundry). Yesterday at his 2 week check up I was surprised to learn that not only had P5 gotten back up to his birth weight - he had gained another half a pound! He was up to 9 lbs 2 oz. This reassured me that he is definitely getting enough to eat :-)

Another difference we have found is the whole diapering thing...I would say that changing girls is much easier. Girl anatomy is easy to clean/wipe, and they don't have the annoying tendency to pee during every mid-diaper change. Those pee-tee-pee things that are supposed to help with boy diaper changes? Total waste of money. We were lucky that we had very few mid-diaper change accidents with M2. P5...well, he loves to do his business when he feels that fresh open air on his privates. Enough said.