Forgetful Mama

(This will be a long, boring blog to mama's and non-mama's alike. So I'm throwing in unrelated pictures just for fun.)Terry has been back at week for more than a week now. He went back just in time for big client meetings and presentations so he's been super busy. The last two days have been 14 hr work days for him. Which means we've both been thrown back into the "real world" rather quickly.

My first outing out with both boys (to the pediatrician and then the hospital for the 2nd newborn screening) was eye-opening. Terry had been such a big help when he was home that I didn't realize the effort it takes to get all three of us out the door without his help. By the time I get us all bathed, fed, cleaned up and dressed it's nearly time to feed Caleb again. And then Micah will want a snack. And then Caleb's diaper will leak on his clothes and he'll need to be changed. Then I've got to pack diaper bags and load up the car, all while remembering to let Micah potty once more before we head out.

It's crazy! I know I'll get it down soon enough though. I remember telling my dad that it took us 2 hours to get Micah ready and out the door for church when he was a newborn. My dad assured me that that would change and it did. I can't imagine what must have taken us that long now! (Of course, when a kid nurses for 30 minutes and takes 10 minutes to burp, that takes up lots of time!)

Caleb has been eating every 3 hours during the day but by evening he wants to eat every 2 and a half. That continues through the night. He wakes up to eat and it takes him 30 minutes, I change his diaper and then rock him back to sleep and by the time I fall asleep I've got a whole 90 minutes to sleep before we do it again. Which doesn't make me too rested for the evenings of crying he's had the last two days (maybe he's just missing his daddy!). Terry got home from work last night and I was a wreck! I told him, "Micah never did this! He never cried for no reason. If he cried it meant he was hungry, sleepy or wet. I feel so guilty about how frustrated I can get when Caleb just cries and cries."

And then Terry reminded me that Micah HAD, in fact, cried for no reason. He reminded me that we'd had to come up with our very own special rocking movement (think Rachel when she tries to quiet Emma on her first day home) to calm him. As soon as Terry said it, it all came back to me so vividly! I can't believe how much I'd forgotten about Micah as a newborn. It must be the same amnesia my mom has now. All she ever says is how much she loved being pregnant and how easy breast-feeding was. (When Jill and I complained about uncomfortable nursing in the mall, not to mention nasty looks and even comments from shoppers when you use a dressing room to nurse- my mom said we were spoiled and that she used to vaccuum while she nursed. Mm-hmm, I bet, Mom!) In fact, when I asked her advice about how to handle two babies, the only thing she had to say was that it wasn't any harder than having one! I mean, come on- that's just mathematics. Two is harder than one!

So since my memory seemed to be lacking, I finally went back and read the blog about Micah's first 3 weeks. A lot of the stuff is happening the same with Caleb. It made me so happy that I've kept up this blog for so long. And even though posts like this one about routine, eating and sleeping must bore all of you to death, it turns out to be so helpful to me!