The Same, Only Different

Elliana has been here for four days now, and so far things are going really well. Keira (who I've tried to refer to mostly as Cubby on here so far, for the sake of semi-anonymity, but that would just get way too confusing now that there are two of them!) is usually pretty oblivious to her new sister, but will come over and give her the occasional kiss. She LOVES to help by bringing over the pacifier or a diaper, though, and I thought she might explode with pride when we let her help hold the bottle the other night. (Ellie got a little dehydrated waiting for my milk to come in and we had to give her a couple of ounces of formula to tide her over.)

When I went in Keira's room to get her up on Monday morning, carrying Elliana, Keira said, "What's that?" I said, "This is that tiny little baby that was in my belly. Remember when you came to see her at the hospital?" She stood up in her crib and said, "Can you pick me up so I can teach her how to walk?"

And later that day, as she watched me nurse the baby, she said, "You have to put that baby down so I can have some milk, too, Mama." I had to explain that this milk would taste yucky to a big girl like her!

Last night, I asked Keira, "What do you think of this new baby?" and she replied matter-of-factly, "I think that's awesome."

Here's Keira talking about her new sister...and ladybugs:


It's funny: in some ways, Elliana is so much like Keira was as a baby. She does the same funny little things while nursing (the scrunched-up vampire face when she's latching on...the tiny fists balled up by her eyes while she drinks...the slow-motion pull-and-sigh when she's done) and, I think, looks a lot like Keira did when she was born. Judge for yourself:

Keira:

Ellie:

In other ways, though, this time around has been a completely different experience from Minute One. While Keira nursed or cried 24/7 as a baby, Ellie is pretty content, which means I can actually take showers, spend time with Keira, and get a few things done while Bear enjoys some snuggle time with the little one for an hour or two, with no problem at all. Ah, the sense of freedom! Ellie is a decent sleeper and will sleep up to 3 hours at a time before I wake her up to feed her, but she does want to be held or sleep next to me and isn't a fan of the bassinet yet. We'll keep working on it, but for now, I'll do what it takes to catch some sleep!

Here are a few more pics: