everyday life

the good and the bad

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Little Dexter is 9 days old now and we’ve been home from the hospital for an entire week. The good, no…great news is that Dexter has been a fabulous baby so far.  He hasn’t cried much (yet) and while he loves to be held, he can also be sat down and has been sleeping (fairly) well in the pack n’ play next to our bed. Last night he had his longest stretch yet from 1:15am until 6am. I couldn’t believe it when I woke up and looked at the clock. I think as a parent, your heart always leaps a little out of fear when that happens for the first time.

The even greater news is that Dexter has not (yet) woken Theo up at night. Theo has been sleeping like a champ. Dexter had a doctor’s appointment last Wednesday so we took him to the babysitter’s for the day. I was a little worried that it would hurt his feelings that we were leaving him behind but apparently not because he ran straight to the toy box and never looked back. He loves his babysitter and the other little boy there so I think it was some normalcy for him in a world that’s pretty confusing right now.

Back to Dexter’s doctor’s appointment… everything was good. He weighed 7lb 8oz at birth and was 6lb 13oz the last time he got weighed at the hospital. At his appointment last Wednesday, he weighed 6lb 14.5oz so we are headed in the right direction. Last week was pretty rough for me physically. Pain from my tear, some continued uterine cramping, and engorgement made me kind of miserable. Luckily, my hormones have stayed in check thus far and I’m not feeling too crazy. 

More great news – breastfeeding is about a bazillion times easier this time around. Not to say it’s painless, but that’s to be expected when you’ve got someone latched on to a sensitive body part 10 different times a day. I don’t dread feeding my baby. He has a great latch and I suppose I’m probably more relaxed with the whole scenario. Regardless of who gets the credit, I’m happy with the outcome.

Finally, the not so great stuff. I don’t know what to make of Theo’s behavior since we’ve been home. He goes from one extreme to the other. Half the time he totally ignores Dex and then when he does pay attention to him, he’s either throwing a shoe in his face (yes, that happened) or laying his head down on him to give him a hug. I never know what he’s going to do, so I find myself cupping Dexter’s head and shielding his face anytime Theo walks by. I don’t want to give Theo the impression that he can’t touch his baby brother but I can’t allow him to be mean to him. It’s tough. Theo has thrown a few out of character fits for no apparent reason so of course I’m left to wonder if it has something to do with Dexter, being mad at me, his teeth hurting, or something else.  It’s stressful not being able to drop what I’m doing to read Theo a book or play with him when he asks me to.

All in all, we’re making the transition and so far it’s gone okay. I’m not sure I’ll ever leave the house with both babies, but going with a helper isn’t so bad.

I kinda like living in a house full of cute guys.

~C~

birthday/mother’s day weekend

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I don’t mind having my special days lumped into one fabulous weekend.  Not one bit.  It just means having a whole weekend all about me.  🙂

Thursday I started off my weekend by taking Theo over to his friend’s house and watched the two little boys and their girlfriend playing on his friend’s new playset.  These babies are all just weeks apart and it has been an amazing journey so far to watch them grow together.  I can’t wait until we can overhear their little conversations and arguments and see the products of their imaginations while they play.  We sit around and marvel at how much they can do now and how grown up they are (and they can’t even really talk yet, aside from a word here and there).  I’m so thankful I had friends that were pregnant pretty much the exact same time that I was.  Not only was it great sharing our pregnancies, our babies have bonded us for what I hope is a very long time. 

On Friday, Theo and I played, relaxed, ran a couple of errands, and when the hubs got home we met another family of friends for dinner to celebrate my birthday a day early.  Theo, predictably, threw everything from toys to food on the floor, which drives me insane.  I don’t know if scolding him reinforces or deters the behavior so unfortunately, I’m very inconsistent.  Sometimes I pretend not to notice so that he won’t feel like he won a reaction out of me.  Other times I tell him “no” very sternly.  Being wishy-washy is probably not the best approach…

Saturday we woke up to rain.  Surprise, surprise, surprise.  I keep waiting for the April showers to end but apparently they are over a week late in getting the memo that it is now MAY.  I had a haircut scheduled for 9:15, so we were up and at ’em bright and early.  I’m very happy with the results!  As always…I  haven’t had time to upload any pictures (yet) but I plan to do that soon.  After my haircut, we went to the outlet mall for a bit in search of plain, solid colored 12 or 18 months onesies with no luck.  I’m so frustrated by this!

I got these adorable shortalls for Theo to wear this Spring and Summer:

And I want to get this 5-pack set of Carter’s onesies so that he can wear the solid colored ones underneath:

Is that too much to ask?  Everywhere I look, they either don’t have them or they only have them up to 9 months.  I saw them in 12 and 18 months a few weeks ago.  I see them online now.  I just want to go to the flippin’ store and buy them.  I guess I’ll have to order them online, but I refuse to pay shipping for baby t-shirts.  Anyway, once I went on a mission to find these shirts, I realized that it’s nearly impossible to find PLAIN solid-colored onesies for babies.  Everything has some kind of print on it.  What’s up with that?  Okay, rant/tangent over.

After failing at the outlet mall, we went to my in-laws for a birthday dinner.  Pork chops, a mock-up of my favorite salad (the Summer Berry Salad from Paradise Cafe), asparagus, and angel food cake with strawberries.  What. A. Feast.  I was one happy girl with one full belly.  I could have just eaten the salad.  I have been craving cold, sliced strawberries for the last couple of weeks.  I think I’ve eaten about 4 pounds of them…this baby is going to come out with strawberry seeds on its skin.

Sunday, for Mother’s Day, we went out to lunch and did a little shopping (after waking up again to gloomy skies).  Biggest gift of all was that Theo actually slept until just after 9am.  I couldn’t believe it.  That never happens.  I took a little nap in the afternoon and then went to the grocery store to stock up on freezer and microwave friendly meals for the first couple weeks after the baby is born.  While I was lying down, a couple of things happened.  The sun came out and I got this picture from my hubby:

Here he is in the non-striped version of the Osh Kosh shortalls.

Isn’t he just the cutest?  Truth be told, my hubby’s not too shabby either.  I think one of the best gifts you can have as a mom is a great dad for your kids. 
I told him to hold off on my Mother’s Day present this year, because I want something special with both of my babies’ names from Lisa Leonard Designs.  Have you heard of this lady and seen her work?  She does some of the cutest jewelry I’ve seen in a long time.  Big fan.  Big, big fan.  Here are a couple of her pieces that I like a lot, to give you an idea.  And they are completely customizable! 
You get the idea – but there are several pieces that I just love.  Super excited to find out in 3 short days if my necklace or bracelet will have 2 little boys’ names or a boy’s and a girl’s name on it. 
happy monday,
~C~

what if?

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

What if the baby has colic and cries ALL the time?

What if everyone’s disappointed with his or her gender?

What if the baby doesn’t sleep through the night at 8 weeks like Theo did?  What if it’s 8 months or 3 years?

What if Theo wakes up every time the baby wakes up and can’t go back to sleep?

What if I (physically? emotionally?) can’t handle two babies?  Not just two kids, two babies.

What if he or she gets stuck coming out?  And breaks a shoulder or has brain damage or worse?

What if I have to have a c-section this time?

What if my recovery is a lot worse than last time?

What if this baby changes Theo somehow?  What if he doesn’t like the baby and is always mean to it? 

What if he thinks I love him less because I’m always with a new baby? 

What if I have to tell him “no” when he wants me to play with him or read him a book? What if he hates me?

What if I’m sad and crazy after the baby is born because my hormones are out of control and I’m feeling overwhelmed and alone?

What if we never get the time (and nerve) to list our house so we never sell it and are squished like sardines forever?

What if I never fix my hair or put on make up or brush my teeth or leave the house again?

What if my friends forget about me and I become completely irrelevant?

What if the baby won’t latch on and I have to go through the same nightmare to establish breastfeeding this one that I did with Theo? 

What if my husband and I never take or make time for each other anymore and turn into just friends?  Or worse, co-parents?

What if I’m never, ever well-rested again?

What if I don’t get rid of all these pre-baby jitters before next Thursday?

to be continued,
~C~