In which I turn this into an album

It was never my intention to turn this blog into a picture album but it is becoming one pretty fast. I promise that once I go back to work I will turn it back into some sort of journal, though I have yet to figure out what kind.

Anyway, a small update is due so here it goes. Everything is still going great with Manel. He is a very quiet baby, though he now spends several hours awake and alert. He is starting to sleep through the night every now and then, which is heaven. I am still exclusively breastfeeding him and I plan on doing so until I return to work.
I have been spending most my days with my sister, and preparing for the Baptism and R's birthday. Yesterday my sister and I got our gym memberships so we should start going next week. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Manel has started to smile! Here's the proof, though it came out really bad.















And here is a picture of the babies together

One more

Just because I can't get enough of my kids

More pictures, at last

These pictures are 3 weeks apart. Can you believe how much weight this baby has put on already? He's eating and sleeping very well and we are one happy family.

Is it January already?

I can't believe it's almost December and Manel turned one month old yesterday. How come time is going by so much faster this time?
Anyway, December is going to be one hell of a month around here, let me tell you. On the 10th Manel is being baptized, then on the 17th Diogo is being baptized, on the 18th we have R's birthday party at home and on the 19th her birthday party at school. And of course the weekend after that it's Christmas.
By the time January arrives I will be wishing I was back to work... but no, that's when Zé Maria is having his surgery! I have a feeling one day I will look back on this maternity leave and realize it was the busiest time of my life. At least Manel is still sleeping well so I guess God is on my side.

On sibling rivalry

Some of you have been asking me how Rosarinho is reacting to her new baby brother. I must say that, for my own surprise, she seems to be doing extraordinarily well.
She loves him to pieces, she likes to cuddle with him, to kiss him, she wants to help with his bath, she wants to comb his hair and change his diaper. She is also quite possessive towards him. If my mom calls him "my baby" she immediately says he's her baby, or our baby. She calls him "my Manelinho" and refuses to go anywhere without him, except to school because I explained he is to young to go to school.
Last night I asked her if she wanted me to bring Manel to her birthday party at school or if she wanted me to leave him at home and she looked at me as if I was crazy and said she wanted me to bring him, of course.

This, however, doesn't mean she isn't jealous of the time we spend with him sometimes. When we're both here there's no problem but when Zé Maria has to work late or has soccer game, she wants me to tuck her in and tell her a story and lie down with her a bit at bedtime. And when I tell her Manel needs me she cries a bit and asks me to put him in his bassinet. But she's never angry at him, and I try to keep her routines as much as possible and I can say things are going much better than expected in this department. Lets see how it goes when he starts stealing her toys...

BTW, tonight Manel slept 7 hours straight. I am one happy mommy!

Bad blogger

I know I have been a bad blogger lately, and I promisse to try and post more often from now on. I could try to blame it on Manel but the fact is he's a saint and I've just been both busy and lazy.
I've been spending most of my time with my sister making all the aranjements for the boys' baptisms. M's is going to be on the 10th of December and D's on the 17th. Then yesterday we had a dinner party at a friend's house, and today we're having a friend over for lunch, and tomorrow I'll have some of my girlfriends over for tea. So, as you can see, our crazy life is back to normal.

M is really a great baby. He's always happy to be in his bouncy seat, he hardly ever cries, he eats pretty much when I decide it's time to, which is about every 3 and 1/2 hours during the day, and he always makes a 6 hour strecth at night. He's so different from R it's hard to believe they're siblings. R wanted to be held all the time, she was always hungry and she would wake up every 2 hours to eat, day and night. I'm still having a hard time believing this is for real and I keep waiting for him to change.

So this is pretty much what I have to tell you. Life with a newborn is not very exciting from the outside I guess. I'll post more pictures soon.

Two babies

My sister had her baby last Thursday, the 27th of October. I've been spending most of my time at her house, first because I enjoy the company, and second because she hasn't found the corage to leave the house with the baby alone yet. Once I get to her house, we put both babies in my car and we go somewhere, but she will not go out alone with him.

Other than that, she's doing extraordinarily well, and I'm forever grateful that I get to spend my maternity leave with her, instead of alone.
I'm also doing well, I've been having less and less "blue" moments and Manel is a wonderful baby. I'm starting to plan his baptism, which will be on the 10th of December. More on that later.

Here are a couple of pictures of the two babies together: