Update time, readers.

Dreeny Poppins left us on Wednesday to go back to the real world. While she was here she lived up to the comparison to Mary Poppins in every way--ok, except for the arguing with her own reflection thing. She prepared food and waited on me, washed and folded laundry--it seemed there was ALWAYS a load of laundry going for the week she was here--she vacuumed, mopped, hand-washed every dish, meal planned, grocery shopped and crocheted. But most importantly of all, she was Scarlett's closest companion throughout it all. Scarlett was her alarm clock every morning due to the fact that she slept on Scarlett's trundle bed. She engaged her in educational games and quizzed her on counting, (to 6, so far) colors, animals, and shapes. She took her on at least 1-2 walks each day in the wagon, stroller or just as far as Scarlett's tiny legs could go. She even turned the job of cleaning up toys into a game. See? Mary Poppins. 

She rubbed Scarlett's chest and feet with essential oils to treat her croup cough and re-covered her with her blankets in the middle of the night when nights were cold. She took her to get donuts, to visit the duck pond and to shop around town buying her prizes for being a good girl. I literally never once worried that Scarlett missed me, even though my mom insists she asked about me a lot when I was napping or away in the hospital.

The night my mom left I cried before bed. I was so worried that Scarlett would feel left out while I nursed Cyrus or worse, that she would wake up wondering where Dreeny was. But our first day solo was so wonderful. Texan got up with Scarlett and even took sleeping Cyrus out of our room and held him all morning. I slept until 9. It was bliss. Then each day since he has let me sleep while he changes Scarlett, feeds her and deals with the dogs. Then when he is leaving for work he wakes me up with a half-hour to spare so I can get my coffee and he can do "shift change" where he informs me of everything Scarlett has done, eaten, and put in her diaper so I know where I stand. It actually took until Saturday night for Scarlett to ask about Dreeny. She was in the bath and Texan was supervising when I peeked around the corner to see how it was going and she said, "Mama, where Dreeny go?" I told her Dreeny went to Florida with Dry Dry and she replied, "I go See Dry Dry...NOW?" And that was the extent of it.

 No one knows why she calls Grampy "Dry Dry" but I'm pretty sure that as she gets older she will realize that is weird and change her ways. It seems Dreeny has stuck though as it was the closest she could get to pronouncing Grammy months ago when she invented the word. When we try to get her to say "Grampy" she says, "MY Dry Dry!" Oh well.

This morning was an exciting development in her complete disregard for Cyrus' existence. When I got her out of her bed, Cyrus was still asleep in his bassinet in our room. The first thing she said was, "Go see baby Cy?" Then I led her into our room where she ran over to him and I went into my bathroom...which made her mad. "Oh, no Baby Cy! Take out, Mama!" She was not happy that I left him in there. She spoke very sternly toward me about him "cry-nin" which he totally wasn't. 

Cyrus loves to eat. He has already given us cause for concern and has had more doctors visits than I would like. He had a Jaundice test at 6 days old because at his first visit to our pediatrician here at home he looked a little yellow. I felt clueless because I have never seen a jaundice baby in person. The test was negative. Then 2 days later His umbilical cord came

off partially and smelled like...something horrible. It was weepy and so yucky. Scarlett's had been totally dry and fell off cleanly with no smell, so I took him in to have it checked because when I called the doctor he said it could be infected. Thankfully it wasn't infected and the doctor gave it a good cleaning in the office and showed me how to do it. I love having my pediatrician 3 minutes away and I love how they always get me into the office as soon as I have a concern. Also, I always see my children's doctor and an NP or nurse. He is so caring and patient. I kind of thought my second baby would leave me a little more laid back and more nonchalant like, "I'm sure it's nothing," and then I learned how every baby is so different and Cyrus has stuff going on that Scarlett never did. Maybe by my 5th kid I'll have seen it all. Just kidding. So kidding. 

 

 

Cyrus sleeps all the time, but at night he is still getting up 4 times, mostly between the house of 11 and 3 to nurse for 45-60 minutes each time. Then he usually gives me a good solid 3-4.5 hours before wanting to nurse again. I average 5-6 hours a night but last night I went to bed at 9 and enjoyed 7.5 hours of sleep. I forgot how simple newborns are after living through all the changes infants go to on the road to toddler-hood with Scarlett. I love these days of nurse, change, sleep, repeat. Scarlett may be watching more TV than I like these days since Dreeny left but soon we'll I'll be feeling more active and outdoorsy. I'm trying not to heap on the self-inflicted guilt about that. We play outside once a day before nap. For now that's ok. But today we are going on a walk and Wednesday we are having Scarlett's best friend over to play. She needs peer interaction so badly. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cyrus was gifted two adorable pajama sets from Neiman Marcus by a client of Texan's. They saw the ultrasound picture he had on his desk and sent him a card a beautifully gift-wrapped silver box and card. I took these photos today to send them a thank you card.