So I've got a week back to work under my belt and in a word, EXHAUSTION!!!
(and a small disclaimer: it took me over a week to write this!!! It's hard now to fit the blog into this crazy schedule, but I'll work on it!)
I have to now get up at 6:00 a.m. to get myself ready. That wouldn't be so bad since I used to get up by 6:30 pre-Nicholas, but I'm going to bed between 10:30-11 and still getting up between 3:00-4:00 for his middle of the night feeding.
My mom came to stay with Nicholas on Monday. Hannah was a little upset that she wasn't going to get to stay home with Grandma, but we promised her to get her own day later this summer since Grandma wouldn't have to work anymore.
I got myself ready and out the door on time Monday pretty easily. I got home around 5:45 and made dinner. I then realized my evening routine was jam-packed busy! I had to put all pumped milk away and wash out bottles and pump stuff. Then I had to get diaper bag ready for the next day as well as lay out clothes for Hannah, Nicholas and myself. Then Hannah needed a bath, a snack and to be put to bed and all at the same time, tending to Nicholas when he needed something. Tony got home from work around 9:30 and he agreed to give Nicholas his bedtime bottle so I could go to bed by 10.
Tuesday was the same, but no Grandma. It was Nicholas' first day at daycare. The morning went really well and Tony dropped them both off with no problem. I didn't even call to check on him since I knew he'd be fine...nice part about knowing your babysitter this time vs. her being a perfect stranger when Hannah first went as a 2 month old! I picked them up at 5:15 and went home for my busy, busy evening of dinner, cleaning up, getting everything for the next day ready, Nicholas bath, Hannah bed, etc. Tony got home around the same time and I just fed Nicholas and put him to bed by around 11.
Wednesday was another good morning - I'm getting the hang of the mornings. They're not bad. I use 6-7:00 to get myself ready and then wake Hannah up around 7 and get her breakfast. Tony gets Nicholas up and changed and then gets in the shower. I feed Nicholas and play with him a little after he's done eating. During this time, Hannah gets herself dressed and then I do her hair. I get out the door and to work by 8 or a little after. Today was Nicholas' 2-month well visit, so I picked him up around 1 and took him to the doctor. He's growing a lot!!! He weighed 13 pounds, 1 ounce (gaining 4 pounds 6 ounces since his 2 week checkup) and was 23 inches long. That's 90% for weight and 75% for height. His head size was in the 50%, but I forget how much it measured! He is doing really well and doctor says we should give him gas drops more often if he seems really gassy. Also, I have this issue with the fact that Nicholas doesn't look at me....I'm trying not to make a big deal of it, but it bothers me so I asked the doctor. It's not that he can't or won't, but he just doesn't prefer to look at me - he'd rather look off at nothing or lights. Dr. said it could be a vision issue, or could just be nothing (probably nothing), and that we should start seeing more interaction with him over the next couple months. He got 5 vaccinations. One was oral and then he had 3 separate shots in his legs. He screamed and got real red-faced when he got the actual shots and then it was over within 5-10 seconds. Amazing the difference in boys vs. girls - Hannah carried on for minutes even as an infant and Nicholas was done after the hurt stopped! I took him back to daycare and then went back to work. The evening wasn't so good. Tony went golfing as part of practice for his summer golf league and Nicholas was fussy and I was getting really tired and cranky, so by the time Tony got home, it wasn't pretty! I fell asleep with Nicholas around 7:30 and Tony took care of Hannah the rest of the night and then I got back up with Nicholas to feed him around 11 (and of course again around 3:30).
Thursday morning was the same and went fine. Tony emailed me at work and said he decided not to golf in his summer league. I was so releived by this decision! I feel bad that he won't get to do it, but being home 3 evenings alone to do everything was really stressing me out. It was fine while I wasn't working, but after working all day and the stress there, doing 3 evenings alone didn't make me very happy. It will be fine once things get easier with Nicholas, but for now that he's so needy, I need Tony's help!!! So that crisis was averted and we'll be fine! Hannah had gymnastics tonight and I remembered that I had to get her water bottle and snack and Nicholas' bottle prepared before I left to pick them up, but I got all mixed up with the timing! I didn't leave to pick them up until 5:15 and she has to be at gymnastics at 5:30. We were obviosly late, but not super late, about 15 minutes. After that, we had to go to the calling hours for one our friends' who's dad just passed away....poor thing just lost her mom too last fall. We still had to eat dinner and do the whole evening thing after we got home, so it was a long day!
Friday - ah, Friday! By Friday, I've got the morning thing down so it's going better. Work was really busy and I left to get the kids around 5:30. I had to pack up my van with all of the stuff to take to the children's resale the next morning after we ate dinner. I took all of Hannah's clothes, my maternity clothes and some other misc. stuff that we had for Hannah that we wouldn't need or use for Nicholas.
I had to get up by 6:00 again Saturday morning to get dressed and out the door and to Lakewood for the resale. We had set up time from 7-9 and the sale started at 9:00. This sale was OK, but not as good as the one in Strongsville. My bigger stuff all went pretty quickly, and the clothes are hit and miss. Overall, I ended up making $210, which wasn't bad and came home with about one tub less of clothes, which was good. At the very end, a lady wanted all of my 0-3 and 3-6 stuff and I was so pressured to throw out an offer. I said $30, she said $20 so we agreed on $25. She took literally all of Hannah's 0-3 & 3-6 clothes for $25 -two garbage bags full of stuff. Good deal for her, OK deal for me - got rid of it, but only got $25 for it?!?!? Seems like people don't buy the newborn sized clothes at these sales, so I guess it may have been a good thing to not have to take it home and try to get rid of it at another sale. Oh, well, it was done! I packed up and got home around 2:30.
Friday - ah, Friday! By Friday, I've got the morning thing down so it's going better. Work was really busy and I left to get the kids around 5:30. I had to pack up my van with all of the stuff to take to the children's resale the next morning after we ate dinner. I took all of Hannah's clothes, my maternity clothes and some other misc. stuff that we had for Hannah that we wouldn't need or use for Nicholas.
I had to get up by 6:00 again Saturday morning to get dressed and out the door and to Lakewood for the resale. We had set up time from 7-9 and the sale started at 9:00. This sale was OK, but not as good as the one in Strongsville. My bigger stuff all went pretty quickly, and the clothes are hit and miss. Overall, I ended up making $210, which wasn't bad and came home with about one tub less of clothes, which was good. At the very end, a lady wanted all of my 0-3 and 3-6 stuff and I was so pressured to throw out an offer. I said $30, she said $20 so we agreed on $25. She took literally all of Hannah's 0-3 & 3-6 clothes for $25 -two garbage bags full of stuff. Good deal for her, OK deal for me - got rid of it, but only got $25 for it?!?!? Seems like people don't buy the newborn sized clothes at these sales, so I guess it may have been a good thing to not have to take it home and try to get rid of it at another sale. Oh, well, it was done! I packed up and got home around 2:30.
Tony had taken Hannah to swimming and then went to his friend's house with the kids and they were all napping when I got home. I unloaded the car and then laid down for about 1/2 hour. We got showers and went to dinner and then Jerry came over with the girls for a little while. They had a fashion show for us!
Sunday was a fairly simple day. We hung out at home most of the day. I had to get in the cleaning and laundry as well as a run to the grocery store. I made dinner and we cleaned up and got everything ready for week number 2.
We exposed Nicholas to his activity mat for the first time. He seemed to enjoy it quite well.
Hannah exhibited the first signs of real jealousy today. She wanted to lay on the mat with him and later in the day, she was really acting out. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she didn't like Nicholas anymore. Ah, ha - so we had a little talk about how it was different before him and now it's harder with him here - for all of us. I told her that I am really tired now because of him and I was sorry for being so impatient with her all week and for not having special time for just her. I painted her nails and read books with her and by bed time, she said she was only a little bit mad at him. I guess that's OK!
Whew! I'm tired!
