trick or treat!!!

Portrait at 13 days

I did it! I somehow managed to get all three of the other members of the house to sleep at once. Granted, Molly had to do some quick growing up, skip the nightly cuddle, and live with an abreviated "last book" since Clara decided that Molly's bedtime was a good time to settle in for a long nursing. And Clara is only sleeping because I'm still holding her & bouncing her from time to time (my left arm is verrrrry tired). And I had to trick Zach into sleeping. And I'm still awake. But, considering that I've been unable to imagine that I would ever be able to handle both girls on my own, I'm pretty darn proud of myself & figured I'd share!

And now I'll see if I can do the impossible: get me to sleep, too!

both girls at 9 days old

courtesy of Opa (AKA Dieter)

Molly, too

and, in case you thought we'd forgotten about big sister Molly - she's been busy as ever, keeping things in line. She's getting more and more comfortable with Clara, but still needs her alone time with Daddy (and, every once in a while Mama).

Daddy-time!

In celebration of surviving the first week with Zach back at work, here's some pictures from Zach & Clara's first weeks together. The pictures were taken when Clara was: 2 days old, 2 days old, 13 days old, and 6 days old.

Portrait at 9 days

Portrait at 6 days

In case you haven't noticed the portraits aren't in chronological order, but such is life these days.

so here's my question to all the parents out there: how do you know if your infant is colicky, high needs, or just being an infant? Clara spent the first two days screaming, then totally chilled out. Zach and I marveled at how quiet she had become & counted our blessings. Was it the milk coming in? Was she just adjusting?

This lasted until this past weekend when she hit 2 weeks of age. Since then she hasn't quite gone back to the constant screaming of the first two days, but she has select periods of intense, well, screaming. About 3 hours in the evening (the witching hour(s)?), and another few hours scattered throughout the day. And on my curent level of sleep I can't quite remember how it was with Molly at this point. Is this colic? Is it a food alergy? Is this how 2 week olds are?

I found myself reading baby books today to remind myself of the special time Clara and I are at right now. That helped a lot. And then she screamed. And we went for a walk, which also helped a lot. And right now she's soundly sleeping on my lap, sweet and amazing. And delicious.