Full disclosure: I haven't experienced reality yet. My mom is still here until Wednesday, and when she has been gone on the weekends, Matt is around. She has left the house twice, leaving me with all three kids. Both times all three kids have been sleeping.
That said...THIS IS GOING TO BE INSANE!
Common advice says:
Sleep when the baby sleeps. When exactly is that? At 7am when the newborn finally is ready to go back to sleep and the 1.5 year old and 4.5 year old wake up, need to get dressed and fed? Or is it when they're awake and running around the house like crazy? Perhaps it's during their nap time, the only time to have two hands to do laundry, dinner prep or clean up? I can sleep when the baby sleeps...starting at 9pm, but so far that has added up to between 4-7 hours per night. Seven is awesome. Four is hard.
Eat healthy - you're breastfeeding. Right. Bananas and granola bars are where it's at for me. I'm also eating an insane amount of fruit and cheese, because those seem super easy. Not much healthy stuff is going in my body, but that's mostly because it takes more effort, and that I do not have. Unfortunately we had a lot of cookies that appeared in our house after the baby was born. I ate all of those also, singlehandedly.
Luckily - even though we really just moved here, we have such an amazingly supportive community. Samara's class made a dinner for us (most of it is frozen and should last us four nights!), a friend (with a two year old and 6 month old TWINS!!) ordered us an amazing dinner, a friend from Sam's school made us a whole dinner on her own, our cousin, Nancy made us a dinner that lasted for three days and some is still frozen, and we have two coming in the next week. That is AMAZING, and I so appreciate every bite.
Don't take a newborn out - definitely not around germy pre-schoolers. Ok - so tell Samara that she can't go to all of the birthday parties? Don't go to the fair in our little town (with face painting, bouncy houses, a fire truck to go on, etc.) where all of her friends are going? Well, Koby went to two birthday parties and he did go to the fair (all just this past weekend), but we're trying to not take him to too many indoor places with germy preschoolers. Does that count?
Don't let a newborn cry. Well, if I'm in the middle of feeding a kid (or myself), upstairs with a kid when the baby is downstairs, or if we're in a time crunch to get somewhere...sorry, dude. You're gonna have to wait too. Is that bad for his brain development? Let's hope not. I would have been stressed listening to the crying of the other two when they were this little. At least I hear Koby's crying, but it doesn't really stress me out. He'll be ok.
For the first two I was very aware of where they were, what they were doing, when they might want to eat again, the number of poops, pees, how long they were feeding, etc. From day one with this guy I haven't kept track of any of it. He seems like he's growing. That should be good. Three mornings ago Matt was with Elie, and he was talking. Sam was with me, brushing teeth in the bathroom, and then I heard someone cry, and for about 20 seconds I could not figure out who that might be. The neighbors had a baby? How can Elie talk and cry at the same time? Who is that? RIGHT...it's our other baby.
Overall, Koby has fit into the family amazingly. Sam is a super double big sister. She takes care of Elie and she takes care of Koby - most of it without me even asking her. Elie did throw some baby toys on Koby's head today - which is a step above "hit baby," which was about where he was at last week. Elie seems pleased with the baby, but mostly he doesn't notice him. He very much enjoys the buckle on his car seat, though. Matt is amazing with all three, and I'm just trying to get out of as much as I can with the bigger two - until I HAVE to do it all, starting in two days.
The two things I can't figure out are dinner and Elie. Will people bring us dinner forever? Please? No - I will have to figure out how to make food for the kids and for us (they don't eat our food - I know...I'm sure it's my fault, but I'm not dealing with that right now). Matt will likely have a lot of bagels and peanut butter as well as cereal, and I will likely have a lot of frozen Trader Joe's delicacies. And Elie...I will try to Elie-proof our house as much as possible in the next few days, but mostly I think I will lock us on the ground floor, and we will not attempt to go anywhere - unless we have a babysitter or Matt is home. I'm not sure when that will end...I will likely be able to go to a (safe) playground with them all, and I will be able to go for a walk with them all (if Elie stays in a stroller) soon - but play dates at other people's houses, the beach alone, a quick trip for a cup of coffee...not gonna happen for a while.
In the meantime, after my mom leaves, we have a lot of help set up. Though I have had very bad luck with babysitters canceling - I'm hoping this doesn't happen in the next few weeks! I have 2 weeks where I have help coming about 60% of the time, and I will really appreciate it. Step by step.
At least they're all cute.
That said...THIS IS GOING TO BE INSANE!
Common advice says:
Sleep when the baby sleeps. When exactly is that? At 7am when the newborn finally is ready to go back to sleep and the 1.5 year old and 4.5 year old wake up, need to get dressed and fed? Or is it when they're awake and running around the house like crazy? Perhaps it's during their nap time, the only time to have two hands to do laundry, dinner prep or clean up? I can sleep when the baby sleeps...starting at 9pm, but so far that has added up to between 4-7 hours per night. Seven is awesome. Four is hard.
Eat healthy - you're breastfeeding. Right. Bananas and granola bars are where it's at for me. I'm also eating an insane amount of fruit and cheese, because those seem super easy. Not much healthy stuff is going in my body, but that's mostly because it takes more effort, and that I do not have. Unfortunately we had a lot of cookies that appeared in our house after the baby was born. I ate all of those also, singlehandedly.
Luckily - even though we really just moved here, we have such an amazingly supportive community. Samara's class made a dinner for us (most of it is frozen and should last us four nights!), a friend (with a two year old and 6 month old TWINS!!) ordered us an amazing dinner, a friend from Sam's school made us a whole dinner on her own, our cousin, Nancy made us a dinner that lasted for three days and some is still frozen, and we have two coming in the next week. That is AMAZING, and I so appreciate every bite.
Don't take a newborn out - definitely not around germy pre-schoolers. Ok - so tell Samara that she can't go to all of the birthday parties? Don't go to the fair in our little town (with face painting, bouncy houses, a fire truck to go on, etc.) where all of her friends are going? Well, Koby went to two birthday parties and he did go to the fair (all just this past weekend), but we're trying to not take him to too many indoor places with germy preschoolers. Does that count?
Don't let a newborn cry. Well, if I'm in the middle of feeding a kid (or myself), upstairs with a kid when the baby is downstairs, or if we're in a time crunch to get somewhere...sorry, dude. You're gonna have to wait too. Is that bad for his brain development? Let's hope not. I would have been stressed listening to the crying of the other two when they were this little. At least I hear Koby's crying, but it doesn't really stress me out. He'll be ok.
For the first two I was very aware of where they were, what they were doing, when they might want to eat again, the number of poops, pees, how long they were feeding, etc. From day one with this guy I haven't kept track of any of it. He seems like he's growing. That should be good. Three mornings ago Matt was with Elie, and he was talking. Sam was with me, brushing teeth in the bathroom, and then I heard someone cry, and for about 20 seconds I could not figure out who that might be. The neighbors had a baby? How can Elie talk and cry at the same time? Who is that? RIGHT...it's our other baby.
Overall, Koby has fit into the family amazingly. Sam is a super double big sister. She takes care of Elie and she takes care of Koby - most of it without me even asking her. Elie did throw some baby toys on Koby's head today - which is a step above "hit baby," which was about where he was at last week. Elie seems pleased with the baby, but mostly he doesn't notice him. He very much enjoys the buckle on his car seat, though. Matt is amazing with all three, and I'm just trying to get out of as much as I can with the bigger two - until I HAVE to do it all, starting in two days.
The two things I can't figure out are dinner and Elie. Will people bring us dinner forever? Please? No - I will have to figure out how to make food for the kids and for us (they don't eat our food - I know...I'm sure it's my fault, but I'm not dealing with that right now). Matt will likely have a lot of bagels and peanut butter as well as cereal, and I will likely have a lot of frozen Trader Joe's delicacies. And Elie...I will try to Elie-proof our house as much as possible in the next few days, but mostly I think I will lock us on the ground floor, and we will not attempt to go anywhere - unless we have a babysitter or Matt is home. I'm not sure when that will end...I will likely be able to go to a (safe) playground with them all, and I will be able to go for a walk with them all (if Elie stays in a stroller) soon - but play dates at other people's houses, the beach alone, a quick trip for a cup of coffee...not gonna happen for a while.
In the meantime, after my mom leaves, we have a lot of help set up. Though I have had very bad luck with babysitters canceling - I'm hoping this doesn't happen in the next few weeks! I have 2 weeks where I have help coming about 60% of the time, and I will really appreciate it. Step by step.
At least they're all cute.
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