After Lucas was born, we spent a week more in Dallas before heading to Stillwater, OK to my sister's. Then we skipped back to Edmond to stay with Joni and Terry before heading to my grandfather's in Arkansas. After spending a few days with them we completed the trip to Nashville! It was a whirlwind time trying to pack, unpack, pack....nurse, feed bottles, and see everyone we wanted to see. We had a health scare also to deal with - Lucas's newborn screening test came back abnormal and we had to leave my Granddad's early to take him to the ER in Little Rock where they did additional blood tests and assured us that these tests have a high false positive rate. Of course the results came back within normal ranges and we were told to follow up once we got to Nashville just to be sure. In the end everything was fine, but we were scared out of our minds and exhausted from all the rushing.
It has been nice to finally be back in my own space and not living out of a suitcase! When we got back, however, the house was a mess! It was so dirty and dusty but luckily my sister in law had come to clean the day before. Still it was messy. And we had mice. Again. There weren't any when we left...but the people "taking care of" the house never cleaned I guess, so that was definitely not a fun realization. We killed THREE!
We also had to delay unpacking somewhat because we had so much junk to get rid of. I think we cleared 5 boxes of stuff to throw or give away! Then we had to buy a few things - a water dispenser, a bouncy chair for the baby, and just recently a new fan! Marcos found a good deal on a portable AC/fan that holds 7 gallons of water and has an ice chamber; so the fan blows cold air like an AC. It's pretty nice, and blows cold even without the ice! He also bought Leyla a swimming pool since she LOVES water and it's so hot anyway.
The other issue was whether or not to hire a maid. I have been so stressed trying to clean, take care of Leyla, take care of the baby, cook, and have some time for myself in there somewhere! It has been especially difficult with Lucas not wanting to nurse. We have had issues from the beginning and I have been trying desperately for about 3 weeks now to wean him from the bottles and get him back to exclusively breastfeeding. He is doing a lot better latching on correctly and my milk supply seems to have increased somewhat, but we are still not all the way there! He is down from 25 ounces of formula a day to 12 ounces, and is seemingly still gaining weight and doing fine so we will keep on trucking. :)
Anyway, we finally found someone to come twice a week and clean. So far she is great! She comes and starts right in and leaves everything clean when she leaves. She does a very thorough job and it takes the stress off of me for the rest of the week - I can do dishes and light sweeping, knowing that deep cleaning is done. Before I pretty much always lightly cleaned what was visible, but the dust and the corners never got cleaned...and that drives you crazy but there was just no time to deep clean!
Trying to nurse, pump, and feed bottles - and cook, and clean, and answer Leyla's every request, and rest, was NOT working!! Plus no rest and all the stress wasn't helping my milk production. I was doing so much to increase my supply and felt like it was taking way too long and not doing anything - so I've realized that stress and rest really do affect it. Just in this last week I have really noticed a difference so I am a lot more hopeful and positive about it now.
Lucas is 10 weeks old now and weighs around 12 pounds (he's a chunker!!). Leyla is doing better but still not speaking any Spanish. I think she is understanding a little more now though and at least participating (in Church) and having fun. She plays in the water all day long and changes clothes 3 times a day, almost always choosing a "beautiful" dress. She has really liked having her mantequilla and beans back!
