Other than checking my e-mail, searching classified ads for child care, and a bit of twittering, I’ve been away from the internet this week. Part of that is because Hubby’s parents were in town and part of it is because nearly every time I look at a computer screen I start falling asleep. I suppose the sleep deprivation that comes along with a newborn is finally catching up with me.
The good news is that Evie does sleep pretty good most of the time. She generally sleeps for four hours at a time through the night and a couple of times has made it even longer. Plus, I have perfected the breastfeeding laying down technique so when she does wake up it really doesn’t disturb me that much unless she needs a diaper change. That is the one major advantage of the co-sleeping/breastfeeding combination. As long as I keep a stack of diapers and some wipes beside the bed, the farthest I have to go at night is into a sitting position.
In all honesty, I think the bigger cause of sleep deprivation is the two-year-old rather than the newborn. When he wakes up at night-which happens nearly every night-he wants to climb into bed with us. That wouldn’t be a problem except that now we have a baby in the bed, plus two rather large adults, and a two-year-old. And we have a queen sized bed. Four people in a queen sized bed (even if one is tiny) is a bit much. If I had the money I would go out today and buy a King because I’m guessing we have several more years of this and the kids are only going to get bigger.
Speaking of the two-year-old, things have been getting a little more stressful with him. He still appears to adore his little sister most days, but his behaviors say otherwise. I expected the backlash to come at some point, but it is getting quite frustrating. He doesn’t listen to a word that his Dad or I say. He’s hitting, pushing, and biting (yes, I now have that kid). On top of that, my fully potty-trained kid has been having accidents left and right (but only at home of course). It all came out tonight though as he was throwing his latest tantrum. He was mad because Mommy came to get him out of the bathtub instead of Daddy. When Daddy asked him, “Why don’t you want Daddy to hold Baby Sister?” Zach said, “Cause I DON’T LIKE HER!” Enough said.
I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with him at this point. I realize that this is a major change and he’s probably having all kinds of feelings that I can’t even begin to understand, but Hubby and I are both at the end of our ropes and don’t have a clue what to do with him. On top of having the new baby at home, his favorite teacher at school just had a baby and is out on maternity leave. That means his class is stuck with a teacher that Zach doesn’t really care for and it is getting harder and harder to leave him there in the mornings. It has me considering another day care change for him, but at the same time I know if we just wait it out his teacher will be back and that situation will get better again. However, it would be nice to have both kids in the same place if I could find openings for them both.
Oh, and while we’re on the topic of day care, I have yet to find a place for Evie. I do have an appointment to meet with a lady on Thursday, but she’s opening a new day care and wasn’t planning to open until sometime in May. She is willing to work with me though and may be able to watch her a bit earlier. She’s not in my ideal location, but at least she’s not too far out of the way. I have a few more places to call tomorrow, but I really haven’t had much luck at all. If any of you local KC people know anyone who does home day care in the Grandview or OP areas (or anywhere between those areas) I would love some recommendations.
Other than those things that I’m stressing and obsessing about, things are going good. Evie is growing, growing, growing. She seems to have gotten huge in the last week and I’m really anxious for her one month check up later this week so I can see just how much weight she has gained. In the last few days she has pretty much outgrown all of her newborn sized clothes and we’re definitely on our last pack of newborn sized diapers. It makes me a little sad to see her growing so fast, but I suppose that’s just how it has to be.
She really is looking older in the pictures! My son was two years old when my daughter was born, and it took him awhile to get over the sibling envy. If you can let Zach feel he’s “helping” with the baby, that might give him a better attitude. Like, I’d have my son go get me a clean diaper, or take the wet diaper to the diaper pail (in those days we used cloth diapers). And I’d tell him how much help he was with his baby sister and what a big boy he was. I felt so relieved when I woke up one night hearing my daughter crying and Jimmy was saying, “It’s all-wight baby. It’s all-wight.” There was actually love and care in his little voice, and I thought, “It’s going to be OK.”
Two things:
1) Zach’s hair is looking fantastic! Is that a little bit of product I noticed in his curls on top. Seriously cute.
2) During Evie’s video I realized that I had almost forgotten what a newborn’s cry sounds like and how different it is from a toddler’s. I’m so used to the full-blown, “I’m going to die!!! I hate you all” cry that my Zac lets loose with that Evie’s cry sounds downright mellow. She’s a cutie, though, and definately looks like she’s going to follow in her brother’s footsteps when it comes to growing quickly.
I remember the exact same things happening with Paige when Nolan was born, and I probably blogged about it somewhere too…
I tried to get Paige involved as much as possible and always made her feel that her little brother ‘needed’ her. after the inital adjustment period she decided that being a big sister had definite advantages… (babies can’t eat ice cream or pizza for instance) and it has been smooth rolling since then. I also had ‘dates’ with Paige so she could have her alone time with me- I think they helped too.
Don’t stress about it too much even though I know how hard that is! Good luck with the childcare situation- I’ll be keeping you in my prayers :0)
oh and I nearly forgot to tell you how beautiful your children are… as if you didn’t know :0)