Week One

Penelope is one week old today :) Things are going pretty well. (Though this is only my second day home alone with both kids) We are so blessed to have so much help from people around us. The members in our ward have signed up to make us dinner for the next two weeks so we don't have to worry about making any. That is a HUGE help. Plus, dinner is a surprise every night! It's secretly one of my favorite perks of having Penny ;) We get to try something new every night! I'm so tempted to ask everyone for their recipes. Also, our friend Marne offered to come take Owen to the park with her daughter Aubrey yesterday. Owen had such a good time, and I was able to get some homework done while Penelope napped. It makes such a difference when Owen is able to get out and run around. He is a very physical boy, and if he doesn't get some of that energy out, there is just no living with him.

Penelope is doing well. She is the cutest little girl on the planet if you ask me :) And she is very sweet. For the most part her little life is governed by food. She's always hungry. The rest of the time she's asleep. There are a few hours a day though when she is both awake and satisfied. She likes to just look around in awe. I wonder what she thinks of this new world around her. The breast feeding is going better this time than it did with Owen. Penny is far more patient about things. Unfortunately my milk supply is still very limited. When we took her to see the pediatrician on Monday she had lost more weight. She weighed 7 1/2 lbs. And she had only been having one wet diaper a day. The doctor told us we need to supplement her with formula. I was worried that it would make breast feeding a negative experience for her. Owen hated breast feeding once he knew what it felt like to be full of formula. But Penelope is doing both happily. She sleeps better, she has tons of wet diapers, and she seems more content generally. We go back for a weight check tomorrow afternoon. Cross your fingers for some weight gain!

Owen is doing pretty well with the whole baby sister thing. He loves to hold her. He comes up to me while I have her and shouts, "hold it??" I've told him that Penelope is not an "it", but it's pretty amusing to hear. He's a very helpful big brother. He likes to throw away her diapers, and he'll put her bottle in the sink too. It's hard for him to understand though that she is small and that he needs to be gentle. He tried to play catch with her yesterday and chucked a ball at her head. Luckily I was holding her at the time and caught it. Also, I'll find little toys next to her in her swing. Owen gave her a truck while I was doing the dishes yesterday morning. He really wants her to play with him. He has also been a little emotional since Penny came home. He throws more fits for no reason, he's weepy at times, and very demanding. But I'm sure he'll get over it. I expected him to need a little extra love.

On a totally separate subject... we have gas! They finally came and hooked up our stove again! We can cook! I've lost count of how many weeks it's been, but it was a long time. Hooray for gas!

Well, I'm off. Penelope is asleep. This is my Owen time :)