One Month

Happy Month Day, Robin, the big number 1!

One month. She's awake more now, but I still don't really feel like I know who she is yet. Other than the fact that she's a total mommy's girl. Raccoon loved daddy from the moment he was born. Daddy meant fun and action! Robin seems more overwhelmed by everything and she likes to just chill upstairs with mommy. Evenings are hard, I'm not going to lie. My husband shuts off at about 8 pm since he's up early and Raccoon is still going strong until 11 pm. I'm a night person so evenings were our special time, but now that Robin is here, it's more complicated. She wants to nurse and doze for a few hours before she settles down to sleep, also around 11 pm. Juggling both of them is impossible at the moment, especially since Raccoon is sick and we're trying to keep Robin from catching it.

Sorry, Robin, not exactly the cheery one month post I meant to write this morning. Enough said. As I read on a blog called A Quiet Week in the House, "My legacy to (my son) will not be an interminable online ode on how hard it is to raise him." There are plenty of moments to celebrate as well, and I am grateful for all of my children.

So in honor of Robin surviving one month with her crazy new family:

and really, Raccoon is a very good big brother. When I said he couldn't touch her for three days since he's sick and has germs, he said, "But mommy, I love her!"

One Day

Yesterday was a complete failure. Raccoon ate every. single. thing he's allergic to and didn't take a nap. I set a frying pan with fish in it on fire, while holding Robin (I know, I know). I managed to watch them both for a few hours while my husband was out, but only because Robin slept through most of it. In the evening, I was searching for some feeling of motherhood success when I realized that I hadn't changed her diaper all. day. long. Thank you, Lord, for Desitin diaper rash cream, it saved both our butts.

Today has been a much better day. Robin is back to her normal sleeping schedule (3 hour naps at a time) and Raccoon has been unusually happy, playing by himself for over half an hour. Angels were singing somewhere, I'm sure of it. Raccoon's pleasant mood and willingness to entertain himself may have been due to the numerous Reese's Peanut Butter cups he consumed this morning (I know, I know), but whatever the reason, I am celebrating.

What a difference a day can make.

My Heart

 

Part of me will always be with you.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day, now and forever.

The Scrunchy Face

All in all everyone is doing well with our new normal, and just seeing this face makes it all worthwhile.

Confessions

There must be something in the air today, because several of the people on my blogroll posted confessions and struggles. So I thought I'd post a confession of my own: I wrote the post about me as a mother partly out of guilt because most days, I am not even close to showiwng any of those things.


Here's the list I saw:

Lori Does Maryland - Some Real Things About Me
The Family Pants - Confession: My Three-Year-Old Still Uses a Bottle
Little Bird - Confessions
Doman Inspired Parenting - Different Parents

and I decided to add this one too, although I found it later:

Journey to Josie - Confessing

Me as a Mother

Memories that I want - hope - my children have about me:

* That I would put everything else aside to play with them

* That I always had time to listen to them

* That I was happy

* That I love Jesus and taught them to love Him too


This list is a work in progress, inspired in part by Small Bird Studios' Life Rules.

Letting Go

When I got home from the clinic on Wednesday afternoon, I could see that my husband was exhausted. He'd been watching Raccoon 24/7 for almost two days, plus a niece (7) and nephew (4). Having his cousins around helped Raccoon not care as much that I wasn't there, but it was a lot of work for my hubby. I settled into bed and baby Robin promptly nursed and fell asleep, her modus operandi. The doctor said I shouldn't do stairs for a few days with my stitches, but it was all I could do not to go running when Raccoon hurt himself playing with his cousins. Then I heard him cry, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." At that moment I knew that things had changed in the days I'd been gone, and my mommy's boy had all of a sudden become a daddy's boy.

A few days later when his cousins left, he cried again. I told him he could play with me and he said, "No, you're a grown-up" like it was the plague. It is special to see the new bond with Daddy, and I knew we all had to make room for Robin, but for a minute, I just wanted my mommy's boy back. We've gotten in some good snuggles since then, and I love hearing him say "my sister." Some of the mommy-ness has returned now that I'm back, but our bond is stretchier now and he is going further and further, happily, without me.

Go ahead and explore, Raccoon, it's a great, wide world out there. But don't forget to come back to Mommy every now and then. Who else is going to understand it when you say, "Grampa has a crossbow?" and that you want the movie about woozles.