in related news, I've started drinking coffee in the morning
Being a parent of two is a new adventure. Managing the two of them (or the three of them, when I'm watching LB) isn't as hard as I thought it would be. (It's not easy, but it's not as hard as I thought it would be.) I'm sure it'll get harder once Mary-Alice mobile and not so portable, though. I did a dry run of "me and the three kids with no one to help" by taking them all to a playground this morning. Unfortunately we ran into a big problem when Pippa's pants kept falling down for some reason (they weren't doing that at home!) and I didn't have another pair. I had to have Gordon meet us at the park with another pair of pants for her. But I was doing ok other than that.
I've had Pippa and Mary-Alice solo a few times now, and I'm feeling more confident about that also.
The more difficult part is that the sense of having no time to myself is almost overwhelming at times. Like today, during Pippa's nap, Mary-Alice cluster fed all through it, so I got no real break. And when Pippa's not napping, although she's beyond the cluster feeding stage, she's definitely got a big case of mama-clinginess happening. Somebody always needs me, and usually that need is a literal need to be ON me, at least it feels like that sometimes. Even an extrovert like myself can't take that forever. Snatching 15 minutes here or there to really be ALONE makes a huge sanity difference.
I've started perking up from the blood loss and that is helping. Hopefully when I get the iron test it'll show good progress. I'm still tired, but anemia fatigue is on a whole other level than even "newborn and toddler wrangler" fatigue.
Anyway, I just wanted to make a quick blog post when I actually have a minute to do so. This afternoon/evening Mary-Alice was basically just singin' polly wolly cluster feed all the day, but apparently that was just gearing up for a big ol' crash. We took off her onesie, put on her nightgown (usually she hates the process of being undressed and dressed), and changed her diaper, all without her waking up. She fussed a bit (in that "five more minutes mom" kind of way) but didn't open her eyes, and is still sleeping. So far she's a very different sleeper than Pip was. For one thing, Pip only slept for big chunks swaddled. We've only tried a few times to swaddle Mary-Alice, and she hated it and didn't sleep as well as unswaddled.
Oh, one last thing which I don't think I've mentioned before, we found godparents for Mary-Alice. Our friends Aimee and Kyle agreed to be godparents, and to our very pleased shock, actually are flying up here for the baptism (when we had just expected it would have to be a proxy baptism). It was sort of funny, we were trying and trying to think of who to ask, and feeling very low (long story, but if you don't already know, we got turned down by other people), and I was in the shower one day, not even thinking about the baptism, and suddenly I said "Aimee and Kyle! That's it!" And I just knew it was the right thing. And them immediately saying "what an honor we are thrilled when do we fly up" just confirmed that it was the right thing. Plus I'm super excited because I haven't seen them since their wedding. Very much win-win-win-win-win.
I'm not sure if I'll stick with "it's a jolly holiday with mary-alice" as her ex utero tag, but that's the song I sing to her all the time, so it'll work for now.
I've had Pippa and Mary-Alice solo a few times now, and I'm feeling more confident about that also.
The more difficult part is that the sense of having no time to myself is almost overwhelming at times. Like today, during Pippa's nap, Mary-Alice cluster fed all through it, so I got no real break. And when Pippa's not napping, although she's beyond the cluster feeding stage, she's definitely got a big case of mama-clinginess happening. Somebody always needs me, and usually that need is a literal need to be ON me, at least it feels like that sometimes. Even an extrovert like myself can't take that forever. Snatching 15 minutes here or there to really be ALONE makes a huge sanity difference.
I've started perking up from the blood loss and that is helping. Hopefully when I get the iron test it'll show good progress. I'm still tired, but anemia fatigue is on a whole other level than even "newborn and toddler wrangler" fatigue.
Anyway, I just wanted to make a quick blog post when I actually have a minute to do so. This afternoon/evening Mary-Alice was basically just singin' polly wolly cluster feed all the day, but apparently that was just gearing up for a big ol' crash. We took off her onesie, put on her nightgown (usually she hates the process of being undressed and dressed), and changed her diaper, all without her waking up. She fussed a bit (in that "five more minutes mom" kind of way) but didn't open her eyes, and is still sleeping. So far she's a very different sleeper than Pip was. For one thing, Pip only slept for big chunks swaddled. We've only tried a few times to swaddle Mary-Alice, and she hated it and didn't sleep as well as unswaddled.
Oh, one last thing which I don't think I've mentioned before, we found godparents for Mary-Alice. Our friends Aimee and Kyle agreed to be godparents, and to our very pleased shock, actually are flying up here for the baptism (when we had just expected it would have to be a proxy baptism). It was sort of funny, we were trying and trying to think of who to ask, and feeling very low (long story, but if you don't already know, we got turned down by other people), and I was in the shower one day, not even thinking about the baptism, and suddenly I said "Aimee and Kyle! That's it!" And I just knew it was the right thing. And them immediately saying "what an honor we are thrilled when do we fly up" just confirmed that it was the right thing. Plus I'm super excited because I haven't seen them since their wedding. Very much win-win-win-win-win.
I'm not sure if I'll stick with "it's a jolly holiday with mary-alice" as her ex utero tag, but that's the song I sing to her all the time, so it'll work for now.