It's a Love Affair

Leila is five weeks old now and beginning to wake up from her newborn slumber. She's so sweet and cuddly and, well, "huggly". I think I can spend all day cradling her in my arms and smelling her sweet newborn scent.

She knows who I am. When she's awake, she looks at me with tender eyes. And now, when I look at her with that silly grin on my face, she smiles back with an incredibly sweet, gummy smile. I'm head over heals in love.

One month old

Leila celebrated her one month birthday yesterday. Simi said we need to celebrate her birthday. He suggested going to "one of the special birthday party places", because "they're a lot more fun than having a party at home."

At Leila's one month check-up today, she weighed 10 lbs. 12 oz. That's exactly a three pound weight gain in one month. Good eating Leila!

Oh, and she's still the perfect baby.

Speaking of Heat Defects...

The Winter Olympics are now upon us and we get to watch the Olympic athletes doing their thing in Italy in search of the ultimate SMO (shiny medal object). It surprised me to learn that Shaun White, the red-headed American who won the gold medal in snowboarding, had two heart surgeries before he was a year old to repair a congenital heart defect.

Looks like his heart is fixed.

Way to go Shaun! Congratulations on your achievements.

Hindsight

It's been over four months now since Simi's open heart surgery. He's fine now. We've moved on, happy to be on this side of the surgery.

And not a day goes by when I don't think about the surgery in hindsight. We did the right thing. We went to the right hospital; got the right doctor. Simi had the best repair; the best possible recovery. And he's now better than new. We can breathe a sigh of relief. And we can move on.

And every day I give thanks for that outcome.

Adjusting

Every time we try to anticipate our child's/children's reactions to something, they always surprise us. They just never seem to react in the way we guess they will. Adjusting to Leila's arrival is no exception. Both Raj and I expected Asher to have some serious issues by seeing Leila in his mum's arms and we expected Simi to have no issues at all. Instead, Asher took in the newcomer with open arms and Simi is the one with the adjustment issues.

Yes, it's true: Simi, our sweet, good-natured, easy-going, loving boy has started acting out. He has started to be aggressive to Asher and has been whiny and defiant to us.

Admittedly, Simi's behavior, combined with my sleep-deprived state, has brought out some unsavory parenting skills in me. I'm short-tempered (even worse than normal for me!) and it just makes everyone miserable. I need a change in parenting style to help Simi (and all of us!) adjust better.

The Middle Child

Asher is now the middle child. Just three short weeks ago, he was the baby of the family. Now, he's in the middle. The 'forgotten' one.

It's easy to see how a person is affected by where they are in their familial birth order. Poor Asher, who once received a ton of attention, is now sandwiched between Simi, who makes absolutely certain he gets as much attention as possible, and Leila, who gets all the attention she needs. Asher just tags along after Simi, following in his wake like a little tugboat in the wake of a giant cruise ship.

Truthfully, Asher doesn't seem to mind - at least not right now. Asher idolizes his big brother and happily tags along after Simi. And hopefully Asher will start getting more of his own attention in the near future.

Lounging Leila

For the first month after Simi was born, his adorable little body stayed in the same position he was in while in utero: his arms were bunched up near his face and his legs were drawn up to his belly. Asher, too, was the exact same way. Little by little they uncurled their limbs and stretched out.

Leila, on the other hand, loves the lounging position. Yes, her adorable hands are crunched up to her face, but her legs are stretched out like she's laying on a chaise lounge by poolside. She was born lounging.

Two Week Mark

Leila had her two week doctor visit the other day. She gained exactly a pound in nine days. That's a lot.

I mentioned to the doctor that Leila is the perfect baby. Leila responded by keeping me awake from 11 PM to 4:30 AM that night. What a little teaser! That'll learn me for making such statements...