Today Orion is two weeks old. This has been a very interesting adjustment, and by "interesting" I mean hard, hard, hard. If you see me out and about you probably wouldn't think that I'm struggling, but it's only because after the two hour process of leaving the house I'm just so excited to be on the road that I probably look passably pleasant. Our transition from zero to one child was smooth enough - we were swelling with baby love and Giovanna had no competition for time and attention, but from one child to two children has been tricky. We are no longer so anxious about newborn care and keeping him alive - my concerns when Giovanna was born - but trying to care for two children, and care for them well leaves me feeling stretched.
Add in a newborn with a terrible latch who eats like a shark, one very independent two year old, and one exhausted mamma, and sometimes it just makes for the perfect storm.
But we're making it, and this boy has not lacked for love or attention. Despite all of my pain with breastfeeding and my total exhaustion, I can't stop kissing this boy. He is so handsome and well mannered. We are totally smitten.
The other day Gigi said "I'm so glad that we have a baby boy in our family", and so far this seems to be holding true. She is very protective of him, and has started to be more aware of her physical presence in the world. I did not realize how spastic she was with her falling and jumping until I brought home a small infant whose safety is under my care, and suddenly she seemed like a giant whirlwind. In fact, everything about her seems giant to me nowadays, after all of the time I spend with a little man with chicken legs.
4 comments:
I remember feeling that way too- Like Amaya was giant. Everything about her was giant.
And the breastfeeding... So sorry. I know how it goes with that latch problem. The worst! I felt so much better prepared when Mozely came around after the problems with Amaya, but it's enough to make you cry when they want to eat.
What a cute boy! Nursing troubles are the worst. I hope it gets better soon.
Going from 1 to 2 was our toughest transition. You guys will be a well-oiled machine soon! You both are wonderful parents and work so well together. I had the hardest time feeding Audrey. She had, what the books described, as a "barracuda" latch. I cried from the pain each time she had to eat for probably the first 4 weeks. Hang in there - it will get better. The up side to the "barracuda latch" was that she was a FAST eater and was usually done after 5 - 10 minutes. The good news is that if you guys decide to have another, going from 2 to 3 was a breeze for us, haha. You will be old pros at multiple kids by then. Big hugs to all of you!
Rachel
hang in there, 1-2 was a lot more work than 2-3. try to enjoy the things you can. I tried to tell my 1st emma if she played by herself while i nursed then we could play play dough when i was done and she got good at being independent.
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