Wednesday, May 27, 2015

What's it like to go from 2 kids to 3?

What a whirlwind the last 10 weeks have been!  The first half of March went by so slowly waiting for baby and then suddenly it was May!  Life has certainly changed and I know it will keep on changing.

So, what's it like to go from 2 kids to 3?

My best answer is that I now feel like I'm never done.  With anything.  With laundry, with taking care of children, with any given task.  This is definitely a test for someone who likes to feel productive and to fully accomplish things.  ANY thing.

We got amazing help initially to the point that we only spent five nights alone with all three children in the first month. Right after our last help left, Jacob happened to be leaving as well - for four full days to Portland for the Craft Brewers Conference.  This actually turned out to be a blessing as I was able to prove to myself that I could indeed take care of all three.  After receiving so much help, I needed a confidence boost and to relearn where all three kids were at.  But what I saw in those four days is that this new gig is literally around the clock.

The daytime was full of many feedings, many outfit changes, many questions.  The evening was full of many baths, many books, much cleaning, much laundry.  Then when the big kids were actually asleep the baby's needs picked up. 2-3 night time feeds + the occasional big kid nightmare.  And then the day began again between 5 and 6 a.m.

Luckily by two months post-baby and with Daddy stationed back at home, it's no longer that crazy. (Or else I might have quit.)  Luke now goes to bed too and there are some predictable quiet hours between 8-10pm. He also has started sleeping better this last week...(!)

During the day, as you might guess, when there is a whole other person, it's less likely that all three children will be self-sufficient at the same time.  This makes it hard to get things done.

This month I've been taking advantage of the morning time as Jack and Cora are in school.  This is mostly when I accomplish things.  Some mornings Luke sleeps for a full three hour block; other mornings, his naps are interrupted and the morning passes without much happening.  I look at those mornings as productive too as one main thing I want to do these days is spend time with my sweet baby. And morning walks, baths, feeding, and rocking time mean calm, quiet moments together.

Afternoons sometimes work great. And other times they are not fun at all.

The best afternoons have me + all three kids on Cora's bed reading together after school.  This is followed by obedient big kids who spend 30 minutes in their beds reading or being quiet followed by 30 more minutes in their rooms playing. Baby of course would have nursed during books and gone straight down to nap. This is then followed by a well-rested, productive Mom who has put some thought into what the rest of the afternoon holds.  And in that one hour of quiet time, she would also have prepped dinner and had her needed downtime.

That can obviously fall apart in about one hundred different ways. Like big kids needing to poop about 2 minutes after rest time begins.  Baby being woken by loud children.  Mommy having to negotiate with irrational 2.5 year old about how she must stay in her room even if she doesn't want to. Mommy starting a task and then being interrupted - six times. Lots of trips upstairs. And then a frazzled woman who sees that it's only 2:45 p.m. and "rest" is over.  We're working on those days.

With all that said, I definitely recommend three kids!  :) And I'm being serious!  Everyone loves Luke and we love watching everyone love him.  Sometimes the craziness forces Jack and Cora to get along and come up with great games which results in lots of laughter together. Life is always interesting lately and that is giving us the energy we need.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Who's Who?

Brand New Baby A (okay, this one is a little easy)

Brand New Baby B

Brand New Baby C
2 Month Old Baby A

2 Month Old Baby B

2 month old Baby C
What do you think?

Friday, May 15, 2015

Luke at 2 Months

There's been LOTS of growing going on over here.

Birth: 8 lbs, 7 oz

1 month: 11 lbs, 11 oz
2 months: 14 lbs 12 oz
So breastfeeding is obviously going well :)  He had his first bottle this month and didn't blink an eye.  This kid just likes eating.  And thanks to his hearty appetite, I'm continuing to be able to eat WHATEVER I want and lose weight.  I know it sounds annoying, but I'm choosing to fully enjoy this time of my life!

Sleeping

As he hits the two month mark, Luke still sleeps a lot throughout the day - some days it seems like most of the day.  We don't worry about naps except that we notice if he hasn't had a long sleep stretch then he probably wants one.  If he gets into a deep nap during the day, I do wake him to make sure he's eating at least every three hours because, well NIGHTS!

We have noticed that he's ready to check out for the day around the time the other kids are, so we now "put Luke to bed" as well.  He gets into his jammies and we lay him down somewhere quiet, usually in his own room.  During his day/evening naps, I often lay him down on his belly because that's how he gets the best sleep.  At night, we've always laid him on his side with his back against the side of the cradle.  Nights are still blurry, but not bad.  He usually eats twice (I think) but lights stay off, I usually don't even check the time, and we often fall back asleep together.  I try to change his diaper once in the night because he will wet through if I don't.  But there have been a few nights where the idea of sleeping on baby pee sounds more appealing than having to fully wake up to change a diaper :)

That's a smile at his mama there!
New and Notable

Baby Luke smiles!  He gave us his first smile just shy of 6 weeks.  For another week, we had to work HARD to get a smile, and it was only about one a day.  Then he entered the sweet phase of smiling ONLY at his mama.  When he catches glimpse of me, he always breaks out into a smile. There's pretty much nothing better. :)  Now he also smiles at his daddy and I think we've seen him smile at Jack.  Jack and Cora are probably a bit scary to him as they are so LOUD and pop into his view ALL OF A SUDDEN :)

Sibling Love

He's still the most popular sibling.  I've checked out Siblings Without Rivalry thanks to the Jack and Cora interactions as of late, but 99% of interactions with Luke are love-filled.  See evidence below:




In Other News

While still fitting into some 3 month clothes, Baby Luke is now rocking his 6 month wear.  Landry babies don't stay small for long!

He went to his first Jazz Fest!  He also has been making the rounds to Jack's baseball games where he stays snuggled on my chest as I perform my duties as dug-out mom.

While not the easiest month, we have so much to celebrate and be grateful for and WE ARE!