Sunday, July 20, 2008

Peace is Possible


When I first brought Corbin home, I thought that - at least for a while - I'd never have a second of peace. I'd never have a moment of downtime, when the house was quiet and I could just breathe.

But, now, right now, at this very moment, my house is completely quiet. My husband, toddler, and baby are all asleep in their rooms. There is no whimpering, crying, or banging. There is only peace. Wow. Now, I know this peace won't go on forever, it may only last a few minutes - but it is possible.

Corbin is doing so well. My only worry is that he's such a sleepy head, I am constantly trying to get him to eat enough. Which, when breastfeeding, is hard to gauge. He's got plenty of wet and dirty diapers, so he's obviously doing fine, but my motherly hormones still make me over analyze.

We started a schedule on Friday and so far it's been wonderful. Corbin's nap times give me a chance to give Hayden one-on-one time and gives Hayden a break from Corbin's presence. Having Corbin now sleep in his own bed has been wonderful too. For the first three weeks, while we had company in the room Corbin is now sleeping in, I had him with me. He basically slept on my chest while I "tried" to sleep. Not the greatest option. I'm so happy he's now able to sleep on his own. We were creating a baby that needed to be held constantly those first few weeks. And I mean constantly. I'm all for holding and loving on my little one, but a girl has to shower and go to the bathroom sometime. So he has gotten over that, thank goodness.

Knowing that I have a whole hour and a half where both kids are sleeping in the afternoon is wonderful!! So far I've been using that time to take a nap myself. However, I'm sure that will become my "productive" time when I catch up on my sleep.

Corbin is sleeping at 2 hour stretches at night, waking only to eat and then going back to sleep. I'm enjoying the bits of sleep I get in between. Maybe in the next month we can get that to 3 hour stretches! This time around I'm more laid back and realistic in my expectations of sleep or rather no sleep.

On the body front I'm still bleeding a bit, bleh - so no exercise/sex yet. Bah! I have been doing daily walks though. But I can't wait to actually work out. I so want to get out of these maternity/big clothes and into some pants with a zipper. I'm sick of elastic. HAHA! It's amazing how you get used to elastic. I remember after Hayden was born and I was able to wear my first pair of pants with a zipper - when I went to use the restroom, without thinking, I started tugging on my jeans without undoing the zipper! Haha. I was so used to never having to do buttons/zippers. Needless to say, the jeans did not give. So I'll have to do that all over again.

I have 20 lbs to get to my pre-Corbin weight. I'll probably keep y'all posted on this blog on how that's going. First though, I need to stop eating out so much. That will all stop this week though. Our last "catered" meal from our friends was yesterday, so I must start cooking again and go grocery shopping. We've spent more than I'd like to think about on food this past month - ugh. Too many dinners out.

Hayden has been doing better, but it's still difficult. He seemed to do well though on Friday when it was just me, him and Corbin. This week he'll get to spend 2 days of the week at some of my friends houses in the mornings. This will be awesome for me! Give me a chance to take care of Corbin and maybe even get a nap or two.

Well I've managed to get through a whole blog post without nursing a baby, scolding a toddler, or answering a phone so I better end this on a good note!

3 comments:

AndreAnna said...

I'm glad you got some peace and quiet. I hate to jinx myself, but right now, having two isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Sawyer sleeps 2-3 hours during the day and 4-5 at night, so I can't complain. And because I'm nursing, pumping, and supplementing, I know he's getting enough food - he's just a sleepy boy!

The toddler is actually harder than the newborn. Especially when it's so hot and gross out. I don't want to take the new baby outside to be eaten alive by bugs and it's too hot to do much else. I'm hoping for some nicer weather soon and I'm gonna get a mosquito net for his stroller so we can take some nice walks.

You asked before on my blog how I'm dealing with the toddler - lots of water painting, play-dough, markers, blocks, books, and movies. Some things make a mess, but I can handle the mess a lot better than the crabby toddler tantrum.

Her new favorite thing is to sit on the kitchen floor with pots and pans and measuring cups and a bowlful of oatmeal and "cook". The cleanup is easier than it looks - just a vaccuum and it keeps her happy for at least 45 mins.

AndreAnna said...

I should mention, I meant dry oatmeal (the rolled oats). It's cheap and easy to vacuum up.

LeftyMama said...

Yay! You sound so relaxed, Melissa. I'm so happy things are going well.

I second what Andreanna said about toddler fun in the kitchen. We do the same thing with a cannister full of dried beans. It took a few tries before Samson believed me when I said, "No, we don't eat these beans; only the soft ones." Anyway, I sit him down on the floor with a few bowls, measuring cups, funnels, and spoons, and he goes to town mixing and moving beans from one container to the other. That gives me at least 5-10 minutes to do something in the kitchen.