Family of Four

We still fit comfortably in both of our vehicles.

There is still one parent per child if they are both upset at the same time.

We still fit at our kitchen table without having to use the leaf.

When Jeff is not home, both children can fit on my lap with no trouble.

I have one arm to hug each of them at the same time.

There have been aspects about being a mother of two that have been surprisingly easy and other that have been more difficult than I had expected.

What surprised me the most the first week is how guilty I felt all the time. There were a few parts of my life that I was very used to: 1. giving Jill all of my attention, 2. having a tidy house, and 3. being able to do both of those things completely on my own. After coming home from the hospital, that just didn't happen. Every moment I spent with Daniel, I felt like I was stealing from Jill. And any time I spent with Jill, I felt like needed to be given to Daniel. And then there was laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, meals to be cooked, and rooms to be tidied! Tears were shed, emotions ran high, and I wasn't sure I could handle this new life.

Then my mom finally couldn't hold her tongue any longer and said, "you know, Mimi, I didn't come here to be on vacation." Hm. She made a very good point!

Once I remembered that she was my mommy just like I was Jill's mama, things got a lot easier. Sometimes it's hard to let someone help you though. And of course then whenever she had Daniel or Jill, I was jealous of that time. Ha.

I finally just had to let go and realize that my babies would survive without all of my attention all the time. I mean, I'm the youngest, and I had to share my mom with three siblings, and I obviously (ha) turned out pretty great, so surely Jill and Daniel could handle sharing me, too.

And they do handle it very well. Daniel almost never cries when Jill hugs, kisses, pats, or squishes him. And Jill doesn't mind sitting next to me instead of on my lap while Daniel is nursing. Or how she says it, "Daniel eating. Eating." She does occasionally get bottle jealousy. Haha. She'll pretend that she wants to feed Daniel, and she will for a while, and then she'll take his bottle and put it in her mouth.

Binkies have been an issue as well. Jill used to only get her binkie when she was sleeping and during long car rides (and occasionally as a last resort at church when she was fussy). However, Daniel has his binkie in his bassinet all the time, so she sees it a lot. Since she always wants her binkie, she thinks he must as well. So she always climbs up and tries to put—shove—it in his mouth. He does not always want his.

Or she'll see it and decide that she should have it, so she'll take it from his bassinet—or from his mouth—and plop it in her mouth.

This has made me resort to letting her have her binkie whenever she wants. In an interesting turn of events, she has rejected the Nuk binkie that used to be the only one she would accept and now has returned to a Soothie binkie. Hers is pink, and Daniel's is blue-green.

Occasionally, even with her pink Soothie, she'll try to take Daniel's, because one of her various stuffed animals needs a binkie, and apparently the toy's need is greater than her brother's. :)

I'm interested to see if sibling rivalry will develop more later. Right now there is none.

Jill has another new development this week. She calls me "Mimi" half of the time now instead of always "Mama." She did that for a little bit early on, but she hasn't in months. I wonder if it is from hearing my mom call me "Mimi."

My mom, as I mentioned, helped me survive the first week. I have been by myself this second week, and things have gone well.

I had food on the table for dinner every night except for last night, and we only stayed in pajamas all day once. I feel pretty victorious.

An interesting piece of information I have learned by staying home all day for two weeks is that my daughter has a very regular sleep cycle. She wakes up almost exactly at 7:00 am every day. She is ready for her nap by 11:30 and is asleep by noon. She always sleeps between two and three hours. She is ready for bed again by around 7:00 pm and is always asleep by 8:00. She will usually lie in her crib for a while saying "Mama," but she doesn't cry. Sometimes she sings to herself. Then she drifts off. It is nice to know what to expect and unexpected to discover that I was forcing her to sleep at unnatural hours through all my activities and running around. I don't plan on being a slave to her sleep cycle, but I do plan on letting it work for me.

Daniel does not have a regular sleep cycle. He is slowly spending more time awake every day. Right now if he is awake, he is either pooping, trying to poop, eating, or wanting to eat, so it has been wonderful to have a pump, because I can only nurse nonstop for so long. It's still painful! He still has night/day confusion, but it is improving. His longest awake time is in the evenings right now. Last night he was awake from around 7:00 to 10:30, which allowed me to have quite a few hours of consecutive sleep!

Since he is so sleepy during the day, I have always been able to get him to nap during Jill's nap, so then I get a nap in and some stuff done, so life is good.

Life is very, very good.

People have asked me if Daniel looks like Jill did. You can decide.

Jill had red hair and the very defined V hairline. Daniel has brown hair and a rounder hairline. I think they have the same nose and mouth though. We'll see how his appearance progresses.