Funny Diaper Story (not gross)

We came home from the hospital with about two packages of diapers, and when I added that to what I already had it filled up Matthew's top drawer. I actually thought, "man, look at all of these diapers! We are probably going to end up having to donate some." Ugh, yeah. No.

I somehow forgot about 10-12 diaper changes a day, and forgot about the diapers you lose just while you are changing diapers. We ran out before the first week home was up!

We Survived Week One!

I'm not really sure where to start this post. Does anyone else write mental blog posts? At the end of the day or week I'll recap things that I'd like to write about and remember. Well you can see how often those actually make it to the board. I have so many things over the last 19 months that I'd like to recap to remember but now I feel like the best thing to do is cut my losses and move on from here. Having the new baby makes me really disappointed in myself for not writing down somewhere all of Lillian's milestones. When I reflect on her first year all I remember is screaming. I can't remember what the first week is like. I know there were some times where she would sleep quietly in my arms but those moments seem to be so few because of all of the screaming we endured in the months following. But I know we had to have the special newborn moments that I am now enjoying with my precious little son and I wish desperately I could remember those times with her as well.

Point being, once again I am going to try and get back to the blog. At least once a week I'd like to recap everything that has happened.

Anyway, so the first week...we did it!! Today was my first morning to spend by myself with both kids and I managed it with no tears which I feel is a huge accomplishment, worthy of the rainbow sherbet I am devouring as a reward.

Matthew is such a sweet baby. Like I said, I can't remember if this is what all babies are like in their first week so I keep preparing myself for things to get bad, but in the meantime I am loving how quiet and sleepy he is. With Lillian we had to wake her to eat every two hours for the first few weeks, but since we don't have to do that with Matthew we turned off the every 4 hour alarm after his one week visit. He only wakes up twice to eat at night, which is awesome in my book. Lillian never cared for the swing, except for hanging out while I was in the room. It certainly never lulled her to sleep. If Matthew starts to get a little fussy at night we put him in the swing and homeboy is out for a good 3 hours. It is blissful.

We are having a minor issue with nursing but I was assured it was something that would work itself out by a nurse at his doctor's office so I really try not to stress myself out too much over it.

Lillian is doing wonderful with him. She loves to hug and kiss him, she likes to point out all of his different body parts, she likes to rock his chair and learned very quickly how to do it with one finger and gently, and she is always asking to hold him. There are times where I am tending to him that she wants attention, and she doesn't usually get upset just calls my name incessantly which is annoying, but at least she isn't crying or throwing a fit about it most of the time.

Even though she didn't take it out on him, I do think she had a hard time adjusting to the change. She was all out of sorts for the first few days we were home. At first I attributed it to being with grandparents for three days which means not being told no and not being kept on her schedule which I am very strict about, but it went on for so long I think it must've been a little more than that. It was really hard to deal with, but by Monday she was adjusting back to her playful helpful self.

Speaking of which, she has really stepped up the helpfulness. I think she has had it in her all along, but I just saw it as her getting into whatever I was doing. I would try and empty the dishwasher, and she would pull out the dishes and put them on the floor, I would try and fold laundry and she would undo it all. Well, with a little instruction I turned that into bringing me the dishes to put away, putting away the ones she can reach, and bringing me the laundry to fold. She takes her time with the clothes, shaking them out and putting her arms through them, like we do when we are getting ready to fold them, then she brings them over to put them in their correct pile which is when we fold it and put it up on the couch out of reach. Such a great system! She also will take her laundry to either the laundry room or basket, throw her diapers away, and we are working on putting things away at the end of the night which she is doing a great job at.

I was really scared about having two kids, not thinking there was any way I could handle it. I was especially scared about today, the first day by myself, but all in all I feel like it is going to be okay. Truth be told (but please don't tell him) yesterday I was so scared of Travis going back to work, but really ready for him to go. It is an adjustment having someone there questioning things that you are used to doing, seeing how you are when you start to lose it, and needing your attention as well. I knew this was going to be hard, but I was ready just to go ahead and get it over with!

I look forward to continuing to keep you up to date on things that are going on around here in our world. With that, I leave you with a few more pictures from Matthew's first week. On Travis's last day home we went to the Aquarium at Grapevine Mills and we had such a great time. If you look close, you can catch a peek of Matthew in the first shot.