Two Kids is HARD!!!

Well, we made it home Saturday with very little difficulty. The only hiccup leaving the hospital had to do with Reagan's decision to resist the last feeding there. She had been doing great all morning, and we wanted to get in one last meal before heading out. Reagan had other ideas and simply would not eat, preferring instead to shriek at the top of her lungs for 30 minutes. It's tough to feel so helpless as your new daughter is in such obvious discomfort. She ultimately settled down (as they always do). After a couple more problematic feedings, we were able to isolate and remedy the problem.

Bringing an unanticipated newborn into a home with an almost-three year-old has proven to be a challenge for the first couple of days. In fact, the delay in posting has to do with the fact that we have been working non-stop getting the house where it needs to be and keeping up with Amanda almost since we walked through the door. Since Reagan's timing was a surprise, we didn't have the place quite ready yet, so we've been scrambling to set up (and clean) things like her pack-and-play, swing, bouncy seat, etc. Plus we had a lot of our own laundry and grocery shopping to do since we basically haven't been home since Tuesday. And all the while, Amanda has been firing question after question after question at us with all the energy and determination that a three-year-old can bring to bear. I got to take her to lunch and to the store to give Susan a bit of a break, but it's tough playing man-to-man on Amanda, and I'm beat.

Making matters easier the first couple of days has been the generosity of friends in providing us with meals. Please know how much we appreciate your kindness. Please also know how much we wonder why no one has brought us beer.

For her part, Reagan herself has been an absolute dream. Aside from the feeding issues discussed above (which we fixed), the only Reagan-related "issue" we have concerns her sense of humor. She has decided it is absolutely hysterical to wait until the precise moment when her old diaper has been removed and the new one is underneath her to let loose her urine (or worse) one more time. She has followed this pattern on probably 75% of the diaper changes, resulting in our using far more diapers than expected. I think we went through close to 20 today alone. Ha ha ha, Reagan . . . it's coming out of your college fund. I guess it's good she's not a boy, or we'd have pee all over the walls, floors, and ourselves.

When she's not wasting diapers or eating, Reagan pretty much sleeps in the pack-and-play or in our arms. She has been awake (with her eyes open) far more since we got home than she was in the hospital, and she's got that great clueless newborn look that says, "Where am I, and how did I get here?" For those keeping track, her eye color appears to be brown, so Susan doesn't have any explaining to do. Reagan seems very content, except when she's hungry, which is just as it should be.

And for those wondering how the first night went, it was basically what we expected. We stayed up for a last feeding at 12:45, then had our sleep interrupted at 3:45 and 7:30 for additional feedings. After the 7:30 feeding, we got to sleep until almost 10:00, which felt great. Amanda may have been up for a while, but she has it in her head that she's not allowed to talk or get out of bed when she wakes up. We're not in an hurry to disabuse her of that idea, either.

Another observation I'd like to jot down before I forget is that having a newborn around has had the unexpected side effect of making Amanda appear absolutely gigantic. She has been our little girl ever since she got here, but now she's freakin' huge!

I'd also be remiss if I didn't discuss how Susan is doing. Put simply, she's fantastic. I don't know how she does it, but her regenerative powers are astonishing; she's like Wolverine. Since we got home, she's taken a little Motrin, but her Percocets remain unused. Maybe we can sell some to cover the cost of the diapers. The only "complication" in Susan's recovery thus far has been her emotional vulnerability to romantic comedies. Today she was brought to tears by both "Notting Hill" and "Failure to Launch." Fortunately, she sees the humor in the situation, so I'm allowed to laugh at her about it. You can, too!

I've added another short album, but I haven't had time to do the captions. Maybe tomorrow. Until then, feel free to submit your own captions in the comments section!