100 hours

One sure-fire way to tell you're the mother of a new baby is to ask yourself how much sleep you're getting. If your answer comes in the form of cumulative instead of consecutive hours of sleep, you've probably got a newborn. While talking to friend this week about how she and her six-week-old were doing, I celebrated with her as she talked of the four hours of sleep she got the night her husband offered to get up to feed the baby in the middle of the night. At no other time in our lives than this period of new motherhood will four hours of sleep ever sound so rewarding.

I really can't complain too much though. Caleb continues to be a pretty laid back baby (with the exception of our weekly photo session...but then again, who really likes being stripped down to a diaper when it's snowing outside?). His good sleep habits are continuing, and although by my best guess I figure I've still only gotten about 100 hours of sleep since he was born, I feel surprisingly well rested. I'm guessing this is due mostly to the fact that my nighttime sleep comes in two medium-sized chunks on either end of a 3 a.m. feeding. It's hard to complain about a baby who only wakes up once a night. Let's hope this trend continues! He's still growing like a weed, and hit two milestones this weekend when he outgrew his newborn-sized diapers and finally lost his umbilical cord (which resulted in the appearance of a very cute belly button).

I'm finally back to feeling almost completely normal (though I must admit, having two under two makes you redefine normal on an hourly basis). I've enjoyed getting out of the house with the two kids, and am loving the Cadillac of strollers that makes this so much easier. Special thanks to the grandparents who made this pricey piece of baby equipment possible. It is proving to be worth its weight in gold!

As we kick off week four with our little guy, it's hard to believe he's been in our lives for 21 days! Depending on when you ask, and depending on the decibel level of combined toddler/infant screaming in the background, I alternate between feeling like he just arrived and like he's been around for months. Time flies when you're having fun, but when you're trying to make lunch with a hungry toddler circling your ankles and a newborn trying to communicate that he has a poopy diaper through a series of high-pitched wails, time tends to slow to a crawl. Those moments are few and far between, though, and the ones I treasure are the times when Abby gives her new brother kisses goodnight, or when she wants to crawl up next to him in my lap and read a book together. Oh, and that time from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. when the house is quiet and all the kids are asleep...I think I probably treasure that time the most.