Tips, tricks and adventures in parenting two kids.
Today, Ryan, Hayden, and my sister and her husband went to a college football game. While there, Hayden informed Ryan, “Mommy is God.”
Naturally, Ryan wanted to make sure he was hearing Hayden correctly. “God?”
Hayden affirmed that was what he meant. Ryan clarified that I was not, in fact, God, and Hayden seemed to understand.
Rebecca had a doctor’s appointment last week—she passed!
She’s grown quite a bit since her last appointment (she was two weeks old at her last appointment). We were impressed with her growth last time—she was born at 5#13, and got down to 5#8 when we left the hospital. At two weeks, she was at 6#10, and while that was only the 7th percentile, we were still amazed.
This time she weighed in at 10#1.5—in the 28th percentile for her age! While I shall decline to call her “Fatty F. McFatterson,” there’s no denying that she’s a growin’ girl!
Tuesday this week was “one of those days.” The best way to describe it, for me, is a day when the kids have been particularly demanding.
I mean that quite literally—not that they’re taxing or tiring or draining, but that I feel like I’ve been at their beck and call all day long.
These are the days that one more demand, such as the usual after-work (or after-school) question, “What’s for dinner?”, elicits dagger stares, anguished moans and other cries.
I didn’t have a ton of friends in high school, but I had some pretty awesome ones. My best friend from high school, in fact, is also pretty tight with my mom—and her mom loves me. (I love her, too, of course.) My friend’s mom regularly inquires after my wellbeing (awww).
Saturday night at a church activity after one such inquiry, my friend, her mom and my mom were talking about . . . well, me. My friend told my mother, “I don’t know how she does all that she does!”
My mother was like “… Really?” (Remember, these lovely women live 2000 miles away.)
When my mother related the story to me, I told my mom, “Oh, she sees how much I write. She doesn’t see what my house looks like!”
(A side note: according to a survey of 7000 moms by AOL’s Platform-A and OMD, the average mom fits the equivalent of 27 hours of activities into a 16-hour day. Only 1.4 of those hours are “personal time,” of course. The one thing I question about this study: who gets eight hours of sleep?!)
I was really expecting to basically die after Rebecca was born. The transition from a nonmom to a mom was so difficult for me that I have likened it to dying—the old me-only self had to go away and I had to find a new kind of me-mom self. I had to find new ways to find fulfillment (e.g. this blog), new ways to interact with adults, new ways to interact with my husband and of course, everything about being a mom.
It was, honestly, by far, the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
At times during my pregnancy, I feared that I would have to go through the same transition with Rebecca. Other times, I feared it would be the same but worse—having to go through that while parenting a child in the terrible twos.
Thankfully, this has not been the case—but not actually because Rebecca is a more or less difficult baby than Hayden. In fact, I’m surprised at what has been the same—and what’s completely different.
For example, I think she sleeps slightly better than Hayden did (although she does continue to stay up until all hours, when she finally falls asleep, she usually only wakes up once or maybe twice a night).
On the other hand, Hayden was a champion nurser who learned a comfortable latch almost immediately. Rebecca often chokes and sputters, and her latch still hurts. And on the other hand (how many hands does one mom have?), she has spit up maybe five times. Ever. (Knock on wood!)
Hayden was a very quiet baby from the time he was born—the nurses couldn’t get him to cry in the delivery room. Rebecca doesn’t cry overly much (unless I miss her tired signs!), though more than Hayden did—but she’s a vocal girl. She coos and “talks” to us, and she’s finally starting to use her social smile (don’t tell Ryan, but she likes me best!). (Of course, I know that girls are supposed to talk more than boys, but to beat Hayden, she really would have to talk every waking minute.)
What interesting differences have you noticed among your kids—and what have you been surprised to find is the same?
I finally went through all the adorable clothes my sisters-in-law sent for Rebecca. Suddenly, instead of worrying about how often I have to do laundry and how to make sure people can tell my yellow-clad baby is a girl, I’m worried that she’ll grow out of these cute outfits before she gets to wear them! (Not likely, since she’s still just a tiny girl, but still.)
She also has just enough hair to hold a clip. Normally this clip goes on a headband, but the headband kind of leaves a dent in her skull…
Hayden continues to be a great big brother.
He is very sweet and gentle with Rebecca. Well, he’s very sweet in general. Lately, his favorite conversation goes like this:
“Mom? Mom? Mom?”
Sigh. “What.” Not a question.
“I yubs you . . . [voice jumps an octave] O MU-UCH!”
“I love you, too, Hayden.”
“Me? Oh wow! . . . ‘S guud.”
This cute little number is one of my favorites. It was a gift from my Aunt Janie, and it reminds me of my wedding dress.
I had pictures of Rebecca in a cute dress from my Aunt Janet, but it looks like all those pictures were on my in-laws’ camera! (Can you guys send us some copies?)
