Daddy Tree: Tiny Footsteps

I don't recall nights like this with Willow, but maybe I can blame "dadnesia" (a blissful forgetfulness of the wee weeks of our oldest's life). Cherish and I are splitting overnight feeding and diaper-changing duties with Lily. Cherish will get the "first shift," for example, which is the hours of 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., and I'll get the "second shift," which is from 3 to 7 a.m. These shifts provide each of us a good opportunity to sleep five or six hours straight. The idea is if Lily eats at 11 p.m., 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., I'll get to sleep from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., and Cherish will get to snooze from 2 to 8 or 9 a.m. Lily hardly follows the plan, though. This morning, my shift started promptly at 3:11 a.m. I made the bottle and fed Lily. I also changed her diaper. That's bad enough, getting barely four hours of straight sleep. But Lily didn't want to go back to sleep, so I soothed her and rocked her and held her for two hours, until about...

Lily measured in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces, just three ounces shy of her birth weight. She was 20 3/4 inches long. Both measured about in the 75th percentile (but she is WAY behind where our giant Willow was at two weeks, in the 95th percentile). The doctor was happy with Lily's growth and her color (she had a touch of jaundice in the hospital). The doctor also humored us when we exasperatedly asked for help getting sleep at night. "Congratulations, you have a normal baby," she chuckled. You see, Willow wasn't a normal baby, and she spoiled us with her sleeping several hours straight every night. "Willow was a freak," our nurse told us. Well, Lily is not a freak, though she seems to eat freakishly at times. Last night, for example, Lily chugged bottles at 12:15, 1:45, 4:15 and 6:15 a.m. And diaper changes and rock-a-byes accompanied all those. Yawn.

Lily loves her big sister, Willow. We think. Experts say when a newborn smiles, she really isn't smiling, she just has gas. That might apply to Lily's responses to her big sister. She lights up when Willow comes around. But maybe Lily is just having gas every time Willow happens by. I sometimes get a pain in my side when Willow comes near me (groan, toddler). We know Willow loves her little sister. Our oldest loves to help in any way she can with the baby, and she loves to touch her and hug her and kiss her. Lily is the best doll in the world in Willow's eyes. And, if it isn't the gas, Lily's eyes widen when the bigger kid is around, though that might be alarm at what's coming next, whether it be a forceful push of the pacifier in the mouth or an accidental sitting upon. Whether it be adoration or gas, I have a hunch: One day in the near future, Lily will idolize absolutely her big sister.