Maya's first couple of weeks

So Maya's now 2 weeks and a day old.

Maya as you would expect from any newborn SHOULD sleep a lot all the time... But she doesn't. She does sleep very well just not a lot during the day. Fortunately for us she sleeps BEAUTIFULLY at night, waking 3 hourly almost like clockwork (touch wood!!) at moment to feed and fall back asleep. We've even had a 4 hour sleep between feed which is very encouraging! I'm co-sleeping with her at the moment and because of this I'm getting anywhere between 6 to 9 hours broken sleep a night, which leaves me quite refreshed most days. A couple of days after birth, Maya worked out the whole day and night all on her own.

What we've learnt about living with Maya so far... Well, she doesnt behave like your typical newborn. She has strong arms and legs and has been able to roll on her side since birth. I watched her do this after a feed while still in hospital when she was half a day old. At 3 days old she nearly wriggled herself off the couch. 2 days ago Duncan decided to give her some time on her tummy and to all our surprise, my Mum, Dunc and I watched as she tucked on knee under herself and inched forward. I'm by no means claiming that Maya is crawling but she can get up on her knees. Her vision is still fuzzy but she certainly know's her Mum's voice and her brother's. Did I mention how beautiful she is? She poops a lot and has showered me (and the wall) with yellow breastfed baby poop. She also chucks a little after a feed which I'm not used to as I never experienced this with Matthew. Speaking of feeds, she's another efficient feeder and as a little breastfeeding team we can get this done with a nappy change included in under 30 mins ;)... Oh yes, with all that mummy milk, she's getting chunky. She is demand fed, which means she gets boob whenever she wants it and during the day she wants it lots.

Here is a preview of some of Maya's stunning professional photo shots;

One of my favourites!

Life with a newborn and a toddler certainly has it's challenges, luckily for me I've not yet been tested. By this I mean, I've not been left to do the school drop/pickups, mealtimes, bath time and bedtime solo yet. Duncan took 3 weeks leave to spend time with us and my Mum arrived from Sydney a few days ago to help for the next 3 weeks so I'm pretty much covered until mid October. Then I'm sure I will be maintaining blog silence for a bit ...

Out of the 4 of us, Matthew has been hardest hit by the change in family dynamics, being extra difficult and pushing the boundaries whenever he feels the need. 'No' and 'I dont want it' is heard multiple times during the day. He has also been showing his frustration at school, by being rougher and whiny than usual. On a positive note, he is always very gentle and careful with Maya. He did get jealous of Maya breastfeeding once and tried to stop her. I'm not certain whether it was the act of feeding which upset him or not being able to have access to Mum whenever he feels like it. As with all of the little hurdles we've experienced with Matthew, like his biting which he no longer does, I'm sure it will pass. However negotiating the emotional mine field of a 2 year old is new and very foreign to us, and both Duncan and I are doing the best we can to tread through this part of our parenting journey.