Now that Avery’s been home for a few days, I thought I’d post some (early) thoughts about life with a newborn. As mentioned below, I totally forgot how sleep-deprived one can get from having a baby at home! Though Avery has been pretty mellow thus far (she actually cries less than Zoe did, and I thought she was an easy baby!), she still likes to eat a lot – which means I need to be on call at all hours. Complicating matters, of course, is that Zoe usually gets up around 6 AM, so we don’t have the luxury of sleeping in like we did when she was a baby.

Avery’s first few nights at home were somewhat difficult – she was mostly up, wanting to snack, between 10 PM and 3 AM, and she didn’t seem to like sleeping in her bassinet. (She had no problem, though, napping in it during the day.) Two nights ago, we decided to let her sleep in her little swing – and she had a great night. I guess this will be her bed for a little while!

In terms of temperament and likes/dislikes, I find it somewhat fascinating how she differs from her big sister. (As just mentioned, Avery doesn’t cry as much as Zoe and she tends to fall asleep a few minutes after having milk – something Zoe never did. On the other hand, she’s more of a feed-on-demand baby than Zoe was, and she hasn’t taken to her bed.) Q and I vowed not to constantly compare the baby to Zoe, but it’s kind of hard not to – considering Zoe is the only newborn we’ve become super familiar with! And I think it’s sort of fun to figure out what works with this baby – versus the last one.

All in all, we’re doing well. We’re adjusting to life with Avery and life with little sleep (though I admit to being a bit grumpy at times), and Zoe has been (so far) taking things amazingly well. And during those moments where I do feel a bit overwhelmed or cranky, I try to remind myself: things will get easier! They always do…

-M

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:03 am and is filed under 35.The Poppy Years. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.