Having a new baby is very taxing on any new mother. When you already have a little one at home (for me an 18 month old) it's no exception. You may have a little experience in the new-mom department, but you're clueless on how to handle them both & keep some sort of sanity let alone a schedule that includes you showering everyday! :) I have to say that it takes awhile to get into the swing of things. I had excellent help when our baby boy was born 5 weeks ago, and we're just now getting into a relatively normal groove of things. I did have an especially difficult delivery (I had a 10 lb, 12 oz baby naturally & he was facing up instead of face down) so I needed the extra help more this time than last time; however, I still think all new moms need this extra assistance! If you're about to be a new mom - LINE UP HELP when you get home from the hospital. I think this is the best piece of advice for new mom's. Even if it's just someone to change the baby's diaper before you nurse in the middle of the night, or get you a nutritional supper or put the dishes in the dishwasher, sweep the floor, throw a load of laundry in - all of those things are amazing help when you have a newborn!
cRazInEsS at our house:
I have a 19 month old daughter along with a 1 month old son. I wasn't sure how M was going to handle being a big sister but she is amazing! I am so impressed with how great she is. She shares her toys, gives him oodles and oodles of kisses and actually listens to our 'rules' pertaining to P pretty well (including that she doesn't touch his face which is really hard for her right now because she loves pointing out people's eyes, nose, etc!) :-)
One day M was digging through our drawers (common occurrence around here!) and found some of her old baby bottles. She was of course sucking on them, and I said "No those are for babies, you don't use those" and later when I went to check on P, there was the bottle she was sucking on! She had made the correlation that bottles are for babies and P's a baby so it must be for him! ...so cute!
When he cries, if I don't get to him right away, she'll give him a toy - her favorite book, a car, she's even given him her hairbow before! :-) That's not to say that she doesn't also throw her tantrums though either. Once in awhile, it will all get to her and I have to remember to stop doing the housework and give her some one on one attention. Usually she doesn't even need too much time, just a little story read or building a few blocks.
When it comes times to nurse, I've learned that it's easiest to do it while sitting on the couch. That way M can climb up right next to us, and I can read her a book or interact with her somehow so that she doesn't feel left out. She also started a habit where if I lay with my legs on the couch, she'll sit between them and put her head on P's back - it's pretty darn cute!
Well I know that's a pretty random message here, but I'm trying to type something up quick while they're both napping, in between my cloth diaper laundry loads (which I'm SOOO glad I chose to do now that I have 2 in diapers especially!) and decorating for Christmas and nursings...just wanted to put a little update up since it's been so long!
