Where We Are

I'm having a hard time making myself blog lately.  Could be the sleep deprivation that accompanies having a newborn.  Could be the ridiculous emotional roller coaster that accompanies the post-partum phase.  Could be just dealing day in and day out with an unreasonable 17 month old.  Not that mine is so much more unreasonable than others.  ALL 17 month olds are unreasonable.  I know because I've met them all...

Whatever the reason, I haven't quite written my birth story blog entry yet.  Soon hopefully.  Before I forget how it went and get delusional and start thinking I might wanna do it all again...

In the mean time, I'll write about where we are now.  It's kinda like when I used to write in a journal years ago.  I would sit down to journal something, but then I would spend an hour just trying to fill in the gap from the last time I journaled and then I wouldn't end up writing about whatever I sat down to write about in the first place.

We are 12 days into the newborn phase of life.  As best I can tell, 12 days in means we're REALLY getting into the good sleep deprivation effects.  Like trying to put the cereal in the refrigerator instead of the pantry.  And seemingly minor inconveniences, like a cat that meows NON-STOP to be fed if you're within 10 feet of the kitchen, can just about cause a mental breakdown.

Overall, though, I'd say we're doing just fine.  I think it takes having a second kid to realize how relatively easy a newborn is.  Yes, they are demanding little boogers, but their needs are fairly simple.  I definitely feel much more at ease with Reese than I did with James.  It's hard to say whether it's her more laid back personality or if Scott and I are just more relaxed.  Maybe it's a combination of the two.

For now, Scott and I have developed a divide-and-conquer approach to our parenting.  He has his kid (James), I have mine (Reese).  Each parent is primarily responsible for the feeding, diapering, and keeping alive of one's own kid.  Each kid has positives and negatives.  His kid sleeps more than mine does.  My kid requires less intellectual stimulation and "playing with".  Of course, while Scott is at work, both kids are "mine", but that's okay.  We're managing. :)

Physically I feel pretty decent.  Surprisingly.  I thought I would hurt for a long, long time after birthing a 9 pound baby.  But my biggest physical complaints have nothing to do with my nether regions.  My complaints are 1) FATIGUE, go figure. And (TMI! TMI!)  2) my boobs.  Little girl is trying to destroy them when she eats.  That combined with the overproduction of milk we're still experiencing makes for some ever-so-slight (note sarcasm) discomfort.  More on our breastfeeding challenges in another post...

James has been slightly more whiny than usual since Reese has arrived, but overall he's handling this transition as well as can be expected.  He likes to "gock gock gock" her bassinet (translation: "rock rock rock") a wee bit roughly, but I appreciate his intent.  He tries to offer her his toys and things he's eating.  We have to watch closely so he doesn't toss large toys into her bassinet.  Poor girl just isn't ready for all that yet.

So, that's where we are for now.  More than just scraping by.  We're doing alright.  And I am so, so, so grateful.  We are completely and totally smitten with this little girl...