Pearl’s Two Month Update

Little Pearly-Whirl is officially TWO MONTHS OLD! So it’s time for a little update to see how she is getting on! I wrote these updates for Violet so I wanted to keep the same memories for Pearl too. Since Pearl came along I’ve realised how lovely it is to read back over Violet’s updates from when she was the same age to see how similar or different they are and to relive the memories. I’d forgotten so many of the little details, so now treasure these kind of posts more than ever!

Pearl is now 8 weeks old and is the sweetest little thing. I absolutely love this phase with babies, where they change from a helpless scrunched up, little newborns to a proper little people – becoming so alert, wide eyed and awake! It’s lovely to see those gorgeous eyes opening and her personality starting to form.

Sorry to say it but Pearl is the dream baby. I feel like as a second time Mum with a slightly more ‘challenging’ first born (with colic, difficulty breastfeeding, traumatic birth etc!) I’m allowed to say that! She is the calmest little girl in the world and honestly, she had to be to fit in with our busy family home and her crazy big sister. She rarely cries and is so happy just fitting into whatever we are doing for the day. She is so different to Violet at this age – she had terrible colic and would just cry and cry and cry. I feel SO grateful that hasn’t happened to us again as I just don’t know how we’d cope with two, plus bout of colic too! I really feel like we’ve had such a lucky escape – colic is just miserable for all concerned.

FEEDING

Our feeding journey is going really well now. We had a bumpy start to breastfeeding as Pearl had mild jaundice and got dehydrated before my milk properly kicked in. Not to mention I was so sore and bleeding on both sides from the endless cluster feeding – it was painful and a real slog to get established but we persevered and now it’s going really well. I’m so glad we did as she just LOVES her milk and breastfeeding is so comforting to her too. She doesn’t really cope well with a bottle although she will take it at a push – she will fuss and get quite windy. I do try to express every day just to keep up the habit of a few bottles a week to keep her practicing. I get worried she’ll end up a bottle-refuser! I am building up quite a breastmilk stash in the freezer too which is always handy and gives me a bit of freedom too.

SLEEPING

Overall, Pearl’s sleep is okay. We have good nights and bad, although I think the longest she’s ever slept in a block is 4 hours so far. Luckily, she is able to self-settle in her cot easily, which I’m SO pleased about as Violet needed to be rocked to sleep for HOURS – this lasted months or maybe even the whole of her first year. I’ve tried to hard not to create any habits like rocking her or holding her to sleep as I’ve realised as a second time Mum how important the self-settling skill is, so let’s hope this continues.

She does however feed much more often than Violet ever did, waking up every 3 hours and often being really unsettled from 3am-7am – waking up multiple times to be fed hourly from 3am onwards. It’s a bit of a killer, but at least this time as she’s breastfed I just pick her up out of the Snuzpod next to me for a quick feed and we both stay toasty warm in bed whilst we are feeding, without having to get up in the cold to make bottles etc! Hoping she might start to sleep for longer blocks soon, so keeping my fingers crossed for that one.

DEVELOPMENT

Pearl has changed SO much in the last couple of weeks. Suddenly she is so much more alert, she holds her head up well and stays awake for much longer. She is also smiling lots and showing an interest in toys too. I’ve seen her trying to bat toys on her playmat, she also follows you with her eyes and takes lots of interest in whats going on in the room. She has such a calm presence, it is like she’s just sitting back taking everything in.

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

Overall, I’ve been trying my best to get out of the house more this time than I did with Violet at this age. I was so nervous to leave the house with Violet but this time I’m throwing myself into it head first. It’s double-trouble trying to get out the house with two little ones but the more I do it, the more comfortable I feel. We’ve dealt with car poonamis, tandem screamfests and breastfeeds in laybys – so far so I think I’m armed to deal with anything now. I try not to worry about what others think and organise our outings with military precision and that is working so far.

Pearl and I started Baby Massage classes, which we have really been enjoying. It’s such a relaxing environment and is fabulous for bonding. It’s lovely to do something that is just for us, as most of time I’m dividing my time and attention between both girls. Other than that she is happily carted about to Violet’s birthday parties, soft plays and dog walks for the time being. As long as we take the baby carrier and she  is close to us, she’s happy just looking at the world around her – she can get quite unsettled in the pram.

To celebrate Pearl’s birth we went out for Afternoon Tea at our favourite restaurant in Brighton, Terre a Terre. Pearl was brilliantly calm and settled for the entire meal, we even got to enjoy a glass of prosecco, which was a nice break from our daily parenting lives!

Pearl has got her first set of jabs this week – of course I’m DREADING that, but feeling better than when Violet had hers as I know what to expect. I’m sure I’ll still cry though – it’s just heartbreaking! But we’ll have the Calpol (and gin for me) at the ready.

BEING A LITTLE SISTER

Violet and Pearl are becoming SO close. Violet asks to hold Pearl and with some support we let her hold her, which is just too cute. I can’t wait until they can play together properly! The other day I was putting them both in the car and Violet thought we were leaving Pearl behind and shouted ‘No, No, No!’ (pointing at Pearl in her car seat). She then tried to drag Pearl with us in her car seat. It’s so lovely to see Violet getting close to her sister, rather than there being any jealousy. I wonder if she’ll be the same when they have to share toys!

MONTH TWO: 

Feeding: Breastfeeding is going strong!

Weight: Not sure as she’s not been weighed for ages, but she’s growing SO FAST and is a complete chunk so I know there are no issues there.

Sleeping:  She is still waking every 3 hours for a feed, usually she’ll feed at 1am then 3am and be really unsettled from 3am- 7am, often feeding hourly during this time.

Skills: Being so much more alert, batting toys, looking towards people and lights, showing interest in the world, slowly finding her hands and feet

Favourite things: Eating, walking about in the Baby Bjorn Mini carrier, baby massage and playing on her Finding Nemo Play Gym

Hated things: Being in the pram, having wind and getting too tired