The past month has been one of the busiest and most challenging as Ryan and I worked to adapt our lives with the new addition to our family. Not only did we have to re-adjust ourselves to a new sleep schedule, we also had to somehow make time and energy for our active toddler, Lucas. There was practically no real start and end to each day, just short breaks here and there if we got lucky with both babies asleep at the same time. But with all that said, I think overall we were still pretty lucky. The delivery was smooth and recovery was fast (really fast!) Ryan's mom was in town to help with Lucas during my hospitalization and 2 weeks after so we could focus on Saria and afford to "power off" every now and then. And most important of all, Lucas was a sweet big brother with no sign of jealousy at all and Saria was a relatively easy baby. Phew! Can't really ask for more to be honest.
It's amazing to see how much Saria has grown over the past month. At 4 weeks now, she eats anywhere between 3-4 oz of milk every 2-3 hours, and sleeps soundly the rest of the time. She has big eyes, a cute little mouth, and a dimple on her left cheek. She looks different by the day and her neck seems stronger each time I hold her. Now, I just can't wait for her to be around 3 months old so I can tell who she resembles more.
As for Lucas, he's 16 months old and has become more communicative and interactive. He babbles a lot and attempts to repeat words after us. His favorite words these days are "Apple", "Bubble", "Daddy", "Wo Wo" (i.e. dog). He points at what he wants, shakes his head to say "No" and follows instructions such as "clean up", "put your friends into the tub" as we go through our daily routines. He smiles when he sees other kids in the playground and loves to approach and play with them. At home when he sees Saria, he reaches out to touch and kiss her. Frankly, I wonder if he knows Saria is his baby sister but his action and sweet-looking face definitely show that he enjoys being a big brother. Ryan and I have noticed very early on that Lucas is an observant child. After coming home from the playground today, I was really hungry and wanted to grab some quick munchies. Knowing how Lucas would throw a fit seeing me snacking on something he couldn't eat, I decided to hide the bag of "Hello Panda" snack in the pocket of my hoodie. As I fished for a piece of snack from the plastic bag, Lucas quickly heard the noise and ran over. I pulled out a handkerchief and asked "Did you want this one?" He shook his head and pointed at my hoodie. I took out the keys and asked "This one?" He shook his head again and got a little more frustrated. Finally, he looked away briefly when nanny May distracted him with a toy. I took the chance to shuffle another munchie into my mouth. But just when I started chewing, he turned to me and quickly babbled some words pointing at my mouth! Haha, sorry Lucas. When you get older, mama will let you try out those munchies for sure.
