Monday, January 30, 2012

Been Awhile: Advice for having 2

Been forever since I've posted!
I have all these thoughts in my head all the time about things I want to write but I never have time to sit and blog. I mean, never.
Not only do I have two, very needy children, but we're supposed to be packing up our house so we can move in 2 weeks. Yeah, I think I've only actually packed about 3 boxes, but all my wonderful help has gotten much more done.

So, SOME people told me that the second child was a lot easier. I mean, you have experience already, so you're not as nervous and the second born is just more easy going.
Well, I have more experience. But that's where it ends. Isaiah cries. A lot. Luckily, though, he also sleeps a lot. So most days its feeding, holding while crying (or on the verge of crying), then sleeping (for maybe 30 min to an hour) then repeat.

Survival tips:
**If people offer to help. TAKE THEM UP ON IT. I am not ashamed to say that at almost 8 weeks, I haven't had both children by myself for more than a total of about 4 days. :-D
I usually feel guilty about taking people's offer for help because I want to be able to repay them, and if I can't, I don't want to take that help. I need to give up that feeling. But in the meantime, I just say thank you so much and still feel guilty about it. But I take the help. Believe me!
**Let a kid cry a bit. It won't hurt them. They may sound like they're dying, but they aren't. At our house, you cry, you take a number. Really, I think I have horribly fussy children. There is so much crying that I hear phantom crying when it's not there. When I wake up to one of the monitors, it takes looking at it to tell which kid it is. They both cry. A lot. And its not always the older one that has to take a number. I have to evaluate the situation. Samantha has a stinky diaper? Sorry Isaiah, you gotta wait your turn, buddy. Isaiah hasn't eaten in *gasp* 2 hours and 10 minutes?? (He eats like a champ, much more often than is desired by the mama) Sorry, Samantha, you'll have to wait to a little longer to have mommy get you a snack.
**Learn to multi-task. My kids OFTEN decide they're hungry at the same time. And about that time I realize I need to feed myself too so that Isaiah will have food later. So at least twice a day, all three of us eat at once. Yes, a toddler that hasn't quite mastered the spoon and a nursing newborn...I'm that good. Now I won't be able to have company over, but I can feed both kids and manage to get a few bites in myself.
**Don't forget to sleep, but realize you probably don't need as much as you think you do. Somehow lately I've been the energizer bunny. I'm sleeping maybe 6 hours of broken sleep a night yet I feel strangely ok....
However, speaking of that, its late and I'm wasting the precious hours of silence not in bed myself. So as much as I'd love to write more (I mean, how else do I get out my 30,000 words a day with 2 kids that can't converse yet?) I need to get to bed.