Catch Up: The First Month

My little man turns three months old tomorrow, so I thought it was probably time for his one and two month updates. I actually wrote the one month post on time, but as I was editing, I thought it sounded too perfect. It was very we-had-another-baby-and-nothing-was-hard-and-life-is-perfect sounding, which we all know is far from the truth. 

The truth is, the first month was really tough. It was wonderful and beautiful and everything else that a newborn baby is, but it was also exhausting and kind of scary. With Husband's work schedule being as crazy as usual, I was sort of thrown into this at home by yourself with two kids thing pretty quickly with very little relief. It was an adjustment. 

Most nights, I knew the day was over when everyone, including me, was crying. My patience with C was unusually short and her tantrums were unusually frequent. I served a lot of frozen waffles, cereal with bananas, and Chick-fil-A.  C was late to school once a week, forcing me to walk her in, with baby brother in tow, often while wearing yesterday's stains on my yoga pants. 

I started playing games like see how high you can jump on my bed just so I could pee all by myself.

Then, two weeks in, there was a really fun snow storm which no one predicted, making my usual ten minute trip down the highway to pick up C from school a three hour journey with a two week old baby in the back seat. We were snowed out of our neighborhood and I was suddenly really thankful for all wheel drive, my neurotic extra clothes packing in the diaper bag, and my laziness in unloading heavy things from my car which resulted in my having a whole case of formula on hand as we spent the night in the only hotel room we could find within safe driving distance.

It certainly made for an entertaining few days for our newborn (and his big sister).

Hanging out in Daddy's office (where we thought we might have to spend the night) with M&Ms and Peg + Cat

Not too sure about this snow

Snuggled up in the hotel room

C and Daddy getting some work done in the hotel room

After we were able to get to our house, we were then snowed IN, which is remarkably better than being snowed OUT, but still pretty inconvenient. Winter is not my favorite season.

So, Wilson spent his first month bundled in layers, inside, napping peacefully in between bottles. 

If we learned anything about him in his first month, it was that he wants to be warm; he wants to be full; and he wants to sleep ON you (a preference I do not mind in the least). He is just so snuggly and sweet.

At one month, he loves bottles, his hands, and his elephant lovie

In the first month, I learned how to cook while entertaining two children; I learned how to juggle baths and bottles and books and bedtime; I learned how to snuggle two kids at once; and I learned that my heart can expand and my love can grow every single day. It was scary, but it was so wonderful. We survived!

Conversations with Catherine: Anatomy Lesson

At her three year old check up, C's doctor mentioned that she should be drawing circles and lines well by now. As I assured him that she was, it occurred to me that I really didn't know. We do a lot of coloring and drawing, but I've never studied her skill level.

So, I used bath time as an opportunity to test her skills with bath crayons. We were drawing stick figures and drew our family. I drew a little boy and said, "look it's Wilson!"

Catherine looked at the drawing, cocked her head to the side, scrunched her nose, and said, "no, he needs a body."

"Catherine, he has a body. What do you mean?" I asked as I handed her the crayon.

With one quick motion, she added the missing component - his "body."

She doesn't miss a thing.

Conversations with Catherine: About "That Baby"

I see so much of Husband in C. She spends 98% of her time with me, yet acts just like him. Aren't genetics crazy? She is a thinker. Sometimes, I can look at her face and actually see her little mind working. One of my favorite stories about Husband as a boy (one that I have heard over and over again, yet never tire of hearing) is about him as a four year old. He was standing and staring at a pile of bricks when he was asked what he was doing. He replied, "just thinking about what I can do with those bricks."

Catherine is always trying to figure out what she can do with those bricks.

Sometimes, this gets her into trouble. She is a daredevil. She likes to experiment. She likes to test her (and my) limits. As I adjust to parenting two children instead of just one, C often gets the stern, disciplinarian version of me and less of the fun, carefree me. I often lack the patience I once had. I am overtired and can't always see the magic through the mess. It's just the nature of things at this stage in our lives. So, as she also adjusts to our new roles with our little man, I can't help but chuckle at some of the things she comes up with and I just don't want to forget them.

One of the first nights I was home alone with both kids, after the entourage of help had gone back to their lives and Husband had returned to his long hours at work, I was settling both kids into C's bed to read books. I admit I was feeling a bit cocky, having successfully fed and bathed and clothed two children all by myself. It was at that moment, the one in which I was giving myself a huge pat on the back and writing my "Mother of the Year" speech in my head, that Wilson started to cry. 

Catherine looked at me in all her three year old honesty and said, "that baby needs his mommy." 

I replied, "I'm his mommy." Without missing a beat, she said, "no, you're my mommy."