8/25/10
A Dollar Store Letter
Real funny!!!
Love,
Oh wait... that was me...
(It's just for piece of mind, people)
8/21/10
It Makes Sense.
6/17/10
Turning The Corner
I suppose it started about when Sammy was 4 months and began to consolidate her naps into a more regular routine. The increased predictability allowed me to plan when I could do certain things (shop, shower, clean, etc.) And now that she is 6 months we seem to have settled into an even more predictable schedule of sorts.
The rest of the equation is kind of like this:
Reasonable Predictability+Slightly Better Night Time Sleeping+Body Healed From Birth+Exercising+Sammy's Ability To Self-Entertain Better+Harmon & Sammy Entertaining Each Other+Misc.= Feeling pretty in control of my life with two small people.
And it's a good feeling.
5/21/10
The Bedtime Blessing
Lately said children have given me a most wonderful gift at bedtime. They have been going to sleep in the same room at the same time from wide awake to fast asleep. Without me being in the room. I don't know how this magically happened, but it did. Sammy often goes to sleep an hour or so before Harmon, but will often get woken up in the process of putting Harmon to sleep. A week or two ago was the first time that when I put him down and she was awake and I just left (to both of them complaining) instead of taking her out with me to put her down in the other room. As soon as I shut the door (assuming I would be coming back to actual crying in a minute) the complaining stopped. And there was no more noise until several hours later when Sammy needed a snack.
I still don't want to jinx it, but I will say I am VERY happy with the current situation and hope it continues. My landlord just woke my baby up. The end.
4/21/10
The Diaper Problem
4/14/10
Harmon's Sixth Sense
Man I love that stinker. Even if his sister would get more sleep if he would quit it.
4/6/10
I'm Dying, or Sleep PLEASE!
So, the cribs in the same room idea was good. It turns out I sleep a lot better with no babies making little (or big) noises in my ear. What is not so good is that my children hate sleeping. Luckily they have been pretty good about not waking each other up, but perhaps that is in part because I go running in at the slightest noise to keep whoever is the noise producer quiet. Which is approximately EVERY HOUR.
Somehow my babies come out sleeping well enough, and by months have learned that waking up every hour is the best idea in the world. I think Harmon was at 2-3 hours by 4 months and waited until 6 months to do the hourly thing. Sammy is so advanced. I realize that Sammy is suffering teething pains, but most of the time she just wants a little snack and to be put back to sleep. The times when Sammy has been sleeping 2 or more hours, Harmon favors us with a teeth pain induced waking, or perhaps just an "it's-5am-I-want-to-be-cuddled-and-rocked-while-you-stand-up-don't-you-even-think-about-sitting-or-laying-down" waking which we enjoy so much.
All this sleep deprivation leads me to say awful things to my kind husband who asks yesterday morning: "what can I do to help?" My reply? "Don't get me pregnant ever again!"
But seriously. One baby is ridiculous if you like sleep. Two babies? I think I may die.
4/1/10
The Same Room Experiment
So, two days ago we set up crib #2, and last night I put her to sleep in Harmon's room. It went like this:
7:30 feed Sammy and put her down in her crib, turn on sound machine
8:00 read books with Harmon in our room, bring him into his room to sing and sleep
1:30 Sammy wakes up, feed her for 15 min
3:30 Sammy wakes up, feed her for 15 min (panic that this is going to be the pattern for the rest of the night)
6:30 Harmon wakes up, turn off sound machine
6:31 Sammy wakes up
Although this was only night #1, it went WAY better than expected. I slept 3 1/2 hours in a row and got 8 hours total. It was amazing. I can only pray that it continues.
3/22/10
Teething x2
3/5/10
Double Stroller Mistake
With Harmon in the pack on back and Sammy in the stroller we make it through one store, sort of. Sammy screamed most of the time, and Harmon tried to dive from the pack whenever a rack was within his reach.
Then it was back to the car to feed Sammy and switch the setup. Round two was Harmon in the stroller. I may or may not have given him a lollipop. Ok, I did. But it was only a dum dum. Sammy in the pack, screaming bloody murder. We make it to zero stores.
Take Sammy out of the pack, hold her under my arm. Crying stops. We make it to two stores. I should point out that these are quick trips, under 5 min apiece.
In the next store they have adorable coats for Harmon for $12.99, but only in 18 months, not 2T. Maybe I will just try it on him? [This move cost me the game.] I take him out of the stroller and set him free for a minute while I put Sammy into the stroller. She screams. I try on the coat. Oh it is ever so cute but will only fit for a little bit... I decide it's a no-go. Pick up Harmon (who begins to scream) and push Sammy (who is screaming) towards the door. Receive sympathetic looks from all. Shopping over. Kids: 1 Mom: 0
On the plus side, at least I didn't spend too much money?
3/4/10
The First Official Bad Day
2/26/10
Yes, Please!!!
Also Harmon seems to be quite fond of his little sister as well. He brings the pacifier when she cries, gives her [not very] gentle pats to make her happy, rocks her in her car seat, and gives her many wet smooches.
Please please please please let it continue in such a fashion.
2/25/10
Age Difference?
Lady at Costco: "Are they twins?" [Seriously?]
Lady at Group Health who was taking her two kids aged 2 yrs and 4 months to get shots: "How do you manage?" [Uh, just like you?]
Lady at Walmart: "So, is he 2 yet?" "Not yet." "How old is she?" "Two months." "Oh, so they are close!" "Yep."
I love it.
2/12/10
Playdate = Exhaustion
I don't know why I had any reason to think that yesterday's playgroup would be easy. First, I have the first and third youngest children in the group. Second, I have a two month old who cries. A lot. I thought I could alleviate this problem by driving around a bit before the playgroup and put Sammy to sleep. Not so. Third, Harmon is into everything. EVERYTHING. Non-stop. And he likes to step (stomp) on other kids and steal their toys. This requires a lot of vigilance obviously.
So, at yesterday's valentine's day playgroup party, I managed to get one of the best workouts of my life. Sammy cried the first 45min (or more?) so I bounced and rocked and did squats while my legs burned. And after that when she finally fell asleep, I couldn't put her down. Meanwhile Harmon wanted to do everything: climb the stairs, play in the toilet, pull the books off the shelf, steal toys, etc. I think I would do better as an octopus.
When I write it down, it seems so mild, but really, although I enjoyed seeing some other moms and Harmon enjoyed playing, it was exhausting. The good news? We all came home and took a long nap together. Oh, and we ate a lot of cookies.
1/22/10
The First Month
Don't get me wrong. It's hard. Like the times when both babies are crying. Or not napping. Or waking each other up. But it's a lot easier than I imagined it would be. As I tell most everyone, I imagined extreme ultimate chaos, and anything below that is a welcome surprise. So, pretty much I will declare it a bad day based on these conditions all occurring at the same time: 1. Sammy is crying 2. Harmon is crying 3. I am crying. Thus far we have managed only two crying at the same time, not all three of us, though we have come close. Most of the crying is done by the kids, but I've done my fair share but that's probably mostly because I'm a wussy baby by nature.
Probably much of my success in not feeling like a complete failure comes from Sammy liking to sleep in the car (and subsequently in the grocery store) Aaron being home between jobs a fair amount, and my mom coming over to provide adult conversation on a weekly basis.
The biggest problem besides both of the babies needing something at the same time is my lack of sleep. This is a combination problem: I hate going to bed and stay up too late (yeah, 11pm is pretty late, I know) and the kids have a magical talent of never napping at the same time.
So all in all, it's been a great and pretty easy first month. Now get back to me when I have two babies that can crawl/run/move in different directions. I imagine that will be pretty ridiculous.
Car Trip
But as it turns out, I had nothing to be afraid of (this time). Baby Peanut slept pretty much the whole time both ways. There were a few peeps and crying, but mostly silence from her end. Harmon was an angel. Going over he napped pretty well, and was content to play with toys and chat with us. Near the end of the trip when we had to turn around to go rescue Aaron's parents traveling the opposite direction I knew it was time to bust out the DVD player. I mean come on, he had been in the car for over 8 hours at that point, it was totally justified. (I am really only trying to convince myself it's ok.) Going home was a bit more difficult, but he was still practically perfect. This time aided by juice boxes and candy and about 45 minutes before home a DVD.
So, in sum: 1 month old baby plus almost 15 month old baby plus bribery and stopping a bunch = good car trip. I really should call it great, as it was about 100 times better than expected, but I don't like riding in the car that much either, so we'll just call it good for now.
12/24/09
The First Two Weeks
The first couple of days were lovely. The bliss of a new cute baby managed to outweigh her brother's displeasure at her arrival. Plus the help of Grandma did wonders for everyone's sanity and rest. Day three was just our new family of four and suddenly things didn't seem so manageble. I spent most of my time in bed, but thought poor Aaron would go crazy. It seems that day three was just an adjustment day for everyone (especially Harmon) and that things have steadily improved from there.
Harmon started out screaming/throwing himself on the floor/rejecting me when Sammy was brand new and would cry. Now he will come over and pat her, he has stopped rejecting me (it was easier to do so when Aaron was home, not so much when it's just me) and only occasionally feels the need to melt down when Sammy is crying. It's fair though, I kind of want to melt down when she screams bloody murder.
Last Monday, 6 days after having Sammy, Aaron went back to work. And we were alone. I think Aaron was more scared for me than I was. And honestly, things went really really well. Probably partially because Sammy sleeps a lot still. And because she can't move on her own. And because Harmon is getting used to his new life. And because I am getting WAY more sleep than when I was pregnant, and this makes me feel 100 times better. Also my body is recovering 10 times faster than when I had Harmon, so that makes life easier too.
I have decided a bad day consists of Sammy, Harmon, and me all crying at the same time. Of the 4 days we have spent alone, none of them have been bad. Day 4 was kind of stressful, and the kids often decide to cry and be starving at the same time, but we have yet to reach the all of us crying point. I have no doubt it will come someday, but I hope to keep it at bay as long as possible.
So, my report for the first two weeks is that having two kids less than 14 months apart is great. I really enjoy both of them, Harmon makes me laugh so much, and Samantha is a good cute cuddler. I choose to live in the bliss that we are currently enjoying and am trying to block out what will happen when both children crawl/walk/run/gang up on me on purpose.
P.S. Church is ridiculous with one small child, add another and it's insane. I think in the 3 hours we spent at church Aaron managed to get about 30 minutes total in class, and me about 45.
11/14/09
I'm Ready. No I'm Not.
First I think: yes, I am going to have two kids, 13 month apart, everything will be fine (I have no idea why I think this).
Then 30 seconds later I panic: what? I have a one-year-old who just started walking, likes to attempt to dive out of shopping carts, is becoming more and more "willful" and likes being held an awful lot. How does a baby who can't do anything for themselves fit into this situation without a lot of screaming from one or both of them?
I talk myself down: No no, lots of other people have done this. They all survived. None of them died. Some of them even had lots of kids close together
Panic: When will I sleep/shower/sleep/shop/sleep/sleep/clean/sleep/read/sleep?
Calm: I will go to bed early, I will beg others for help, I will be fine.
Panic: What if my kids hate each other? What if Harmon gets hurt while I am taking care of the baby? What if Harmon pokes/bites/squashes/beats on the baby? What if my new baby is ugly? (a totally important fear, right.)
Calm: I hate being pregnant. Being not pregnant will be great.
Panic: insert any new thought on the difficulty of having two children, especially two very young children.
Repeat.
[PS Sorry about the weird formatting, it's being mean to me.]
10/26/09
Alert: You are about to have two
Also a big high-five to all the strangers who have pointed out to me lately: "you will have your hands full very soon!" Here is my reply to all of them: A. My, you are observant B. Thank you, I had no idea! C. Come over to my house right now, my hands are already full D. You need a chop.