Settling In

Addison and Jonas snuggling in her bed. She's pretty in love with this little guy.

We are now working on our 2nd week of being a family of four. I think we are finally starting to get our footing. How'd the first week go you ask? Not too shabby - not near as bad or scary as I was thinking it would be. Hormones have a way of taking the "ordinary worries" and upping them so that they seem a LOT more drastic than they really are. Plus I'm convinced it takes away a little bit of the rational thinking as well.

Not only did we enjoy Grandma Bell's help during the first week, but John was able to take a few days off of work as well to help with the transition back to normal life. The day Grandma was to leave, I spent the morning teary eyed. She only lives two hours away but more than anything I was afraid of going back to normal life and saying goodbye to all the wonderful help. She was the first phase of a two phase step to being a "stay-at-home Mom of two". I think it was also that I was convinced I'd be lonely once all my adult help left. Luckily I broke through it and was dry eyed enough to say my goodbyes to her. However, once Addison figured out she was leaving - she burst into tears and kept sobbing for Grandma. Yep, that alone brought my tears welling back up. She and Grandma Bell were the best of buddies. They hung out every hour of the day for five days. They even slept in the same room together! Grandma Bell was her constant during a time of lots of change. Luckily, Grandma left her a coloring page to color and Aunt Jenny came over soon after so it didn't take long before she was on to other things.

This could be one of the reasons it was so hard to say goodbye to Grandma. She gives Addison ice-cream for dinner - she's pretty amazing!

Daddy going back to work the following Thursday was another adjustment for both of us. Same situation, different day. I spent the day prior worrying if I could do it by myself while also worrying about being lonely etc. Again, the hormones added to all of it. It probably helped that his last day of vacation got cut short and he had to go into work. That way it gave me less time to prepare or worry about it all. However, Addison still had a hard time with saying goodbye to him. She and Daddy are best buddies. She likes me alright, she cries when I leave to run errands so I know she likes me. But I think she just likes me to be in the house while she plays/wrestles with Daddy. Daddy and Addison hang out and play all the time, especially this time since I was busy nursing the baby for the most part. She broke down in tears when he was leaving for work. We kept trying to explain that he'd be back that evening to play some more and eat poppies with her but it wasn't helping. The poor girl - it breaks my heart to see her cry the truly sad cry.

As for swinging it as a mother of two - I'm doing okay. Our first day was actually pretty good...until 5:00 came. The phone was ringing off the hook, and Addison was in tears over something, Jonas was hungry and crying in my ear, and frankly I was this close to joining them. I guess that was my first lesson - when things are going great - they can change in a minute! And I'm sure that works in the opposite way as well. Overall, I still felt pretty good about surviving my first and second days - and we even got out of the house to boot! Including a last minute doctor's appointment for Mommy wherein I had to scurry two kids under two and myself out the door and drive to the doctor - all within the hour! Woohoo - we made it! Thank heavens for pumped milk, no make-up and wet hair, and Addison already being partially ready for the day. And thank heaven for weekends that allow us to hang out with Daddy yet again and just be lazy and enjoy each other's company.

So, here is a synopsis about how each of us are adjusting so far.

ADDISON: She L.O.V.E.S. "baby brudder". She is always kissing on him, announcing his presence in the room, cuddling on him, watching him eat, poop, cry, pee, - you name it. It's all fascinating to her. She doesn't have one ounce of jealousy over him at all. Hasn't even tried anything malicious on him either. She is still learning to be soft with him but even that isn't too difficult to teach her. She just plain loves him. She'll look at him and say "Aweee, baby brudder!" "So Tute (Cute)", "I give him tiss (kiss)?", etc. The only adjustment I've noticed her making is that she always seems to want to cuddle on the parent that is holding baby brother. She especially wants to cuddle on Mom while she's nursing baby brother. And frankly, any/every thing that would upset or break the nursing latch is too much of a risk to take. Luckily Daddy is always quick to interject and distract her with a game or cuddles of his own. And this just in...Addison knows how to go to the potty by herself! :D It was a matter of necessity since she doesn't have help from me if I'm feeding baby brother. I've watched her do it a few times and she just took off with it and amazed me. She still struggles with learning just how much toilet paper her little bum needs to be cleaned. As evidenced by the roll of toilet paper covering the floor, and the ginormous fist full she seems to need to wipe herself. And Mommy is a bit concerned over just how clean she seems to get over wiping herself but I block out those fears and just congratulate her (while secretly vowing to scrub her down when I get the chance). Just last week we had this interchange about her new toilet skills while I was nursing baby brudder:

Mommy: "Addison did you go to the potty by yourself?"

Addison: "Yes Mama!!" (I love her inflection in her voice nowadays - it's adorable)

Mommy: "Go wipe your popo with the toilet paper and put it in the potty okay?"

Addison: ::Trotting off to the potty yet again, just to come back with wet hands and rubbing them together::

Mommy: "Why are your hands wet honey?"

Addison: "Da watah Mommy!"

Mommy: "What water honey?" (Knowing full well she isn't tall enough to reach the sink faucet quite yet"

Addison: "Da watah in da potty Mommy!" (All proud of herself)

Nasty eh? Cute but nasty. Especially since all this happened pre-flush. I shudder to know what was floating in the toilet water while she so willingly washed her hands in it. We had a quick tutorial on that being gross and not to put her hands in the potty anymore b/c that is where the poopoo and pee pees go. And I then commenced scrubbing down those dirty little hands while chuckling at the whole situation.

JOHN: Frankly he has been nothing short of amazing with all of this. (And no he did not pay me to say that! ;-) He has really stepped up into his role as Mr. Mom and been supportive to a sometimes hormonal wife, jumped up to clean and/or make dinner, played/wrestled with Addison, taken her to her numerous potty breaks, ran a few errands here and there while she was in tow, watched her while Mommy went off to a few errands with baby Jonas, tucked us all in for our afternoon naps, and cleaned the living room I don't know how many times. Who is this man I married and where has he been for the past four years? ;-) Just kidding. He's even done several loads of laundry AND folded them! I told him nothing is sexier than a man folding laundry.....and it's true! He is a great Daddy and always takes time to wrestle with Addison and give her that one-on-one time that she definitely needs at this stage of the game. No wonder their buddies eh? And yes, they've had numerous "poppy eating moments" as evidenced by the kernels that keep appearing on my nicely vacuumed floors. Oh well, I'll take it! It's been fun watching him in his role as Daddy. It's definitely one he wears well!

JONAS: What can I say? He has been a welcome member of our family. I couldn't imagine him not in it and he's only been here a little over a week! He's a really easy baby so far. He sleeps and eats and poops and pees - what every newborn does right? But he sleeps sooo good at night. We learned with him that you don't have to wake the baby at night to feed him. They won't starve to death while sleeping - amazing concept right? Anyway, he started doing 3 hour sleeping stints that turned into 4 hour and that are now in 5 hour stints at night. I'm loving it...my chest is not. I still force myself to sleep through the pain since I know those moments may not last for long. He's a good eater....now. In the hospital we both struggled with figuring out nursing, latching, etc. I don't know why Mother Nature makes your milk come in 3 days later long after you check out of the hospital. That's when I need the most help w/nursing! We even worried for the first two days home when he wasn't giving us enough pee and poops. Luckily we have figured it out now and he has caught up on his dirty diapers. He's a happy and content baby when his belly is full. But it does seem like he wants to eat non-stop. He is definitely a binky baby but until we perfect the latch he's not getting the binky back. He's such a cute little baby and definitely has Addison's features with some of his own intermixed.

Jonas kicking back and relaxing - what he does best. Don't pay attention to the fact he's surrounded in a pink Boppy - his sister was so kind to share hers. ;-)

ME: How am I adjusting? Fairly good so far. I'm definitely much more confident this time around than I was with Addison's birth/newborn phase. Poor Addison, it wasn't her fault - I was just a basket case being a first time mom and managed to fret about everything with her. This time around, I had heard stories of how most Mom's adjusted to two kiddos and I figured mine wouldn't be far from theirs. However, so far it's been pretty do-able....but I do reserve the right to be realistic and realize things can change in a heartbeat. I think most of it is due to the fact that nursing has gone so much better this time around and once that hurdle is out of the way - everything else seems doable. And I've been less bitter about lack of sleep when I wake up for the night feedings. It probably helps that I endured all those bouts with insomnia before he came along. I've learned the sleep will be made up eventually. Plus, since he sleeps all the time, all three of us manage to get a good afternoon nap in every day. I'm going to enjoy that while it lasts! That's the other thing...no matter how much sleep I seem to get - I just want more of it. Not sure where all my energy is going but it seems zapped most every day. I have enjoyed several moments of just sitting back and admiring my family and hugging on both Addison and Jonas at the same time. It really is a good time in our lives and I don't want to miss out on it by being preoccupied with other things.

Anyway, we are all doing good and learning along the way. We wouldn't have it any other way and just love having Jonas in our family. Enjoy the pics of brother and sister loving on each other - right now it's mostly Addison loving on brother but I'm sure it won't be too long before Jonas wants to love on her.