We've had a busy couple days. I think it's time to recap them. I don't want to lose these memories and they are already starting to blur! Thursday was our first full day at home. Annika woke up at 7am and Kris was thoughtful enough to get up and take her downstairs instead of bringing her into bed with us like we usually do. You see, James had been up eating all night long. All. Night. Long. And each time he would drift off, at the breast of course, I would put him down and four minutes later he would wake up and want to eat again. Four minutes. Each time. It was like he had an internal clock. I was pretty tired and getting frustrated. Kris felt badly for me but there wasn't much he could do to help either. So, I slept in until 9am and got enough sleep to feel human and get up for the day. James continued to eat all day Thursday too. I think he was trying to get my milk to come in, which it did on Thursday. And then once it did, he wanted every drop he could get. I was drinking water like a fish hoping that would help too. Thursday night Grandpa and Marcia and Auntie Krystle came over to visit too. Marcia really wanted to meet (and cuddle!) baby James. It was a nice visit and James quit eating long enough for a nice, long cuddle with Marcia too. And Annika got some good play time in with Grandpa.

Thursday night Kris and I decided it was time to introduce the pacifier. I just didn't think I could take more of the marathon nursing. James had been eating almost non stop for 24 hours by now and I was getting more sore with each feeding. So, I would feed him and then we would soothe him with the pacifier (and some bouncing, rocking, holding tight and close) for a while. He was usually content for a couple hours at a time with this which gave me some time to rest between feedings finally. Thursday night was much better. He even slept for 2-3 hours at a time during the night so when it was time to feed him again, I wasn't so tired myself.

Friday morning though, I was concerned about the number of diapers James was (or wasn't, more correctly) making. In the previous 24 hours, he had only 2 wet and 2 dirty diapers. And on the wet ones, there was some orange staining. I called the pediatrician's office and while waiting for them to call me back, an OB home health nurse called us. This is a service that the hospital and my insurance provides - one free home health nurse visit a few days after birth to check on both mom and baby. I told her about my concern and she agreed that it didn't sound normal. James should be making more diapers by then. And she called the orange stuff "brick house urine." So, she set up an appointment for that day for a home health nurse to come over and check on us. At noon on Friday James had a very wet diaper, with just a little orange in it. Boy, was I relieved. When the nurse came over that afternoon, she said the orange stuff was a sign of dehydration. Since my milk had come in, she said the orange stuff should start going away and he should start making more wet diapers now. (Which it has and he is, thankfully.) She did an evaluation of both of us and asked me lots of questions and pronounced both of us healthy and fit. Whew! We spent the rest of the day just enjoying our new family of four.

Last night we had another pretty good night. James slept for 3.5 hours at one point! It's Annika who was the little pill last night! She was up 3 or 4 times and all she wanted was Mommy or Daddy to lay down with her in her bed or to stay in her room with her. It's hard to get angry with her when all she's asking for is some attention. And yet in the middle of the night all you want to do is sleep too! I think Annika's taking this transition pretty well though. She absolutely adores her brother and asks to hold him multiple timer per day. And she gives him lots of kisses too. And if she can't see him or doesn't know where he is, she asks right away and goes looking. She's going to be a great big sister. No, she's been acting out in other ways. Mostly it's just her not listening to what Mommy and Daddy say. She's been getting more time outs than usual. I'm sure it's a combination of less individual attention and just being a normal 2 year old. I have tried to make sure she gets some one on one time with both Daddy and Mommy today so we'll see how tonight goes for her. She has already been up asking to sleep in Mommy's bed. I think she thinks that James sleeps in bed with us. I've reassured her that Baby James sleeps in his bassinet next to Mommy's bed. She might be jealous of that.

She has been cracking us up lately too though. Last night Kris asked Annika if she wanted to take a bath and she replied with "No, I don't think so. Maybe tomorrow." And today while Gramme was visiting, she had us in stitches a couple times, but do you think I can remember right now what she said? No! I can't remember anything but the word "really." Argh! Let me assure you it was hilarious. And there was lots of laughing today too. And chasing. And chin tickles. I think she had a good day.

Gramme was able to come visit us today. Annika adored the one on one time with Gramme, down on the floor coloring (With markers! How lucky for Annika!) in her new jumbo Backyardigans coloring book. And Gramme got lots of cuddle time in with a sleeping James too. It was a very nice visit.

And now it's time to finish up on the compuer, finish filling out some paperwork for tomorrow's New Member Sunday at church and head off to bed.