life with 2

WHEW it's hard to find time to write a blog when you've got a cranky newborn, a bored toddler, crochet orders, a dirty house, oh and the need to eat and shower every so often.

I LOVE having my baby boy home.  The trips to the NICU every day were long and heartbreaking.  Jack spent 25 days there and was such a good baby, I couldn't wait to get him home.  He was on a schedule of eating every 4 hours, slept all the time...what a great baby!

Then we brought him home.  He was up most of the night, bright eyed and bushy tailed.  That whole idea of 'sleep when your baby sleeps' only applies when your baby actually SLEEPS...and when you don't have a toddler up all day.  So that first night was rough and I spent the whole next day with one eye open and a little drool collected in the corner of my mouth.

I think it was just the excitement of being out of the NICU...new things to see and smell and hear at home; because the next night was much better, and the next day Michael made sure I had a large Red Bull waiting in the fridge.

Life with 2 kids is interesting....it's all about balance and multitasking and sharing the load.  I have to balance my time and attention between 2 children now; Jack needs time and attention because...well...he's only 6 weeks old and is terrible at taking care of himself.  Morgan needs attention because it's not fair she's stuck at home watching me take care of Jack all day every day.  Michael is great help...when he's home.  He holds Jack while watching a Reds game or watching the Olympics.  That's a man's version of multitasking.  My multitasking includes giving Jack a bottle while using the breast pump while reading The Hungry Caterpillar to Morgan while yelling at the cat not to stick his head in Morgan's potty that is still in the living room while using my iPhone to catch up on Facebook (a.k.a. life outside of Mommyland).  And I'm learning to share the load with Michael.  I'm a little OCD about how my house is cleaned and how my laundry is done...and I'm having to get over that in order to have help.  I just can't do it all right now.  Yes it makes my eye twitch a bit to watch Michael fold the towels different...but he can't help being left handed (he's seriously not amused when I tell him in the Dark Ages he would have been burned as a witch for being left handed AND for owning 2 black cats)....and those towels will be used and dirty in 2 days anyways.  But I still do most of the cleaning myself.  It's a matter of getting Morgan situated with Play Doh or crayons (with threat of death if she gets any on walls, carpet, clothing, cats, etc), sticking Jack under his 'floor gym' thingy that has music and animals sounds and a light show (it's like a Phish concert for newborns), chasing the cats out of the bathtub (seriously, the lazy jerks have fresh water in the basement to drink but they would rather do otter flips in my bathtub giving it a beard while lapping up whatever water is leftover from the last rinsing of Morgan's potty), busting out my cleaning supplies and getting as much done as possible before Jack starts to cry or Morgan ends up jumping on her bed throwing Play Doh balls.

Speaking of laundry...it's amazing how such a tiny human being can create SO MUCH LAUNDRY!!!  I think it's his personal mission to see how many times I can yell 'JACK!!!' in a day from the amount of poops and spit ups and pees I have to clean up from Jack, me, the couch, etc.  A favorite game of his is to snuggle down in my arms and just let loose with all bowel and bladder functions.  When I feel the warmth on my shirt I just sigh, close my eyes, then check the color of the dampness.  I've been lucky; I've only been peed on so far.  Michael...not so lucky.  Let's just say there's one outfit of Jack's that have been dubbed 'the poopin' pants' because Jack had a major blowout up the front of that cute little outfit...and on Michael.  *snicker*  And Jack is on a mission to be 20 pounds by 2 months.  I've never seen such a hungry baby!  Not that I've ever really paid attention to other newborns other than Morgan....and she hated everybody and everything, including breast milk and all formula which she only took 2 ounces of at a time then vomited up like a scene from a horror movie...but Jack was on 4 ounces by the time he came home at 3 weeks old.  Sometimes he takes 5 ounces.  And he's hungry ALL THE TIME.  He will seriously eat until it spills out the top...and he does, and it does.  He doesn't cut himself off.  We have to do it for him, and it's terrible because he looks around for more as it's running back out of his mouth because his stomach can't hold one more drop.  And once again I yell 'JACK!!' because I worked hard to make that milk (or 'baby sippy' as Morgan calls it) and 9 times out of 10 he's spitting up on my new couch.  I put him on a burp cloth but he somehow ends up wiggling off of it just in time to make a nasty damp milk spot.  Let me just take a moment to give kudos to the Members Mark brand of baby wipes from Sam's Club.  They are better than Mr Clean magic eraser because you can use them on fabric!!!  They get pizza sauce out of carpet, ketchup out of a shirt, and I wipe my couch down daily with one.  But anyways, I go through a lot of laundry.  Dirty burp cloths (I use cloth diapers for that purpose) and soiled clothing and blankets pile up quickly.  So now I pretty much leave Morgan in her pajamas all day and Jack in a diaper and socks to help keep down the amount of laundry...sometimes I put clothes on them when we leave the house. 

Having a baby boy is different.  Morgan is fascinated by the 'boy junk' because she's never seen anything like it.  During Jack's bath time she about trips over herself to get to the bathroom in time to see him pee during his bath.  Most nights he obliges by peeing out of his little tub onto the bathtub wall then stares at us like 'ehh? what do you think of THAT trick?' and Morgan squeals and laughs and I would be a liar if I said I didn't squeal and laugh too... 

Right now Jack is napping and Morgan is lounging in her nightgown with hair sticking straight up, I can't even remember the last time I brushed my own hair much less hers, watching nursery rhymes on her iPod...I hope...