Friday, September 9, 2016

The First Month

Well, 
I survived the first month since being a mother of two. I am not going to lie, it was difficult! 
It still is. 
Being outnumbered is the hardest of it all. 
I don't have enough hands, I don't have enough sleep, and I don't always have enough patience.  
I finally was able to wash my kitchen floor today. That was a milestone. Its been a month. I'm embarrassed to say how long its been, but it is true. I am able to sweep everyday, but wash was out of the question. My house is still a work in progress. The carpets are vacuumed but forget about it being dusted. I have clean clothes in 5 laundry baskets just sitting in my bedroom waiting to be put away, and two baskets waiting to be washed.  I keep trying to keep in mind this saying but I am not going to lie, I feel better when I have a clean home. 
\
Charlie has been having issues sleeping. Of course he is a baby and is suppose to not sleep through the night. I just don't remember Emma being so fussy about it. I try to put him to sleep a little later in the night hoping that he will stay asleep so I have a little time to rest. He usually wakes up around 12, another at 2, ant then around 4 and he is wide awake after that! I usually take him down stairs so I don't wake Mike while I try to put him back to sleep. Once I finally do get him back to sleep about 2 hours later, that is the time when Emma usually wakes up. 
I sigh, and try to find some energy somewhere. 
I really need to start drinking coffee.
Yes, I am one of the 5% of the world that thinks coffee is gross. 

Now I feel terrible about saying this, and I of course love her to death already, but I am not sure why Mike and I thought it was a good idea to get a high energy rescue puppy 2 weeks before Charlie was due to be born. She is a work in progress...and I am going to put that work in, but she is crazy! She is so sweet and great with Emma, but she needs a lot of attention so I do feel like she is another one of the kids. She is constantly in my face, on my lap or there is a ball at my feet with hot breath and a wet nose touching me. Not to mention, she is a licker. I have never had a dog that liked to lick so I never knew how annoying it is. I try to remember she is giving kisses but com-on! Enough! 

I'm not sure if anyone else has a problem finding babysitters but that is one thing that I absolutely suck at. My parents never had a babysitter for my sister and I so I never really had experience with one. I have no idea where to even start. I have asked a few friends who they use but most of them have family near by and they usually watch the kids. Babysitters are scary to me. I am putting my kids life in their hands. That's the way I look at it. Mike and I have a nonexistent "relationship" at the moment. He goes to work, comes home, I have dinner cooking, we put the kids to bed, and stay up for about a hour longer, and go to bed. Every night is on repeat. We haven't had a date night in forever. I have looked at Care.com a couple times to maybe find someone there, but like I said, it is just really scary to me...especially with a new born now. 

I wanna say this past week has been so much better with Emma getting used to her new brother. She still does not want to hold him but she will give him lots of kisses and hugs now. In the beginning, there was a lot of crying and whining. Granted there is still a good amount of that but it seems to be dying off a little. On the topic of Emma, recently I have noticed that she is extremely detailed about certain things. I don't want to say OCD, but that's what I would explain it as. Example- The light was on because it was nighttime playing with a puzzle, the next day if we play with the same puzzle but it is daylight and the blinds are open the light still needs to be on or there is a huge crying fit. 
Things like that.  She is such a sassy little girl so I'm not sure if she just likes to be in charge.

You have no idea how many times I have been pee or pooped on this past month. I can not for the life of me get the hang of changing a boys diaper yet. I always think he doesn't have to go mid way through the change and then he surprises me. I do a TON of laundry. 

I am going to go back to his sleeping arrangements. 
You will have to excuse my "all over the placeness" because that is how my brain is operating right now. 
I been having a hard time with where Charlie has been sleeping. Currently I have 2 bassinets in my room next to my bed. One that lays him totally flat and another that has a incline on it. I had Emma in the incline and she seemed to like it while she slept in our room. I wanna say she was with us for the first at least 6 months. Charlie on the other had hates both of them. Or at least hates it in our room. The past 3 nights he has slept in his own room in his own crib and seems to be doing better. Cami tends to be really loud especially with hard wood floors when she jumps on and off of our bed. Mike is also quite loud with his "breathing" so I think he was woken up a lot by them. I am still working on a way for him to be more comfortable though. He seems to want a little incline so it has been tough finding something that I can prop him up on. I know the real way he would be totally comfortable would be on his belly. He sleeps great when he is on me laying face down. 

So with all that, I am sure I am missing a ton of things that I wanted to write down but it is now 11:30 pm and I am beat. 
I will leave with a update on the newest member because we went to the doctors today for his one month check up. 
He weights 9 lbs 12 oz 
Exactly 2 pounds more then his birth weight. 
He is in the 50% for his head size, length and weight. 
Emma is always in like the 10th% so a lot different already. 
We talked about him maybe having a little reflux. I don't really no much about it so I will have to do a little research still.  He does tend to get stiff and arch his back a little but there is hardly any spitting up. I'm going to keep an eye on it this month and see if it gets any better. I really don't want him to be on any meds if I can help it. 
Other then all that, we are so in love with him. He is such a calm little guy so it is nice to just sit and relax with him. Hopefully he can rub off a little on Emma and not the other way around. 

3 comments:

  1. He looks really alert. Very cute too! I know the transition from 1 to 2 kids is the hardest parenting transition. It really is. Don't be so hard on all the things you are forgetting/not getting to, I promise you it really doesn't matter. My young mom self wouldn't have heard it 15 years ago though. If having a clean house is important, then would you consider a housecleaner to come in 1-2xs a month? It could help you temporarily until things start to settle out and you get more sleep and energy. As for the babysitter thing, my suggestion would be someone in your husband's workplace? Maybe a single couple who would love to snuggle a baby for 2-3 hours? Or a young wife who is currently going to school and might appreciate some extra cash? Or a drop in service? I didn't like to leave my kids with a babysitter either unless I really knew them or it was a facility. When all our kids were young we would do date night in after we put the kids to bed. The Dating Divas.com have some really great ideas for that. I hope you can figure some things out to give you a little break. I really feel for you!

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  2. If you are at a base, call the Child Development Center and ask about care providers that do evening / weekend care. The CDC would have already done back ground checks and likely have referrals and references available.

    If your little guy likes to be in his room and likes to be inclined, put some blankets at the head of his bed between the spring and the mattress. It worked for my boys when they had colds and needed help draining those nasty noses.

    Hang in there. I know it's hard and it seems like it never ends, but it will go quickly. They grow fast.

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  3. I'm sorry that sleeping hasn't been easy, hopefully over time he comes to enjoy one of the bassinets.

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