4 Weeks In

 Our sweet girl will be one month old on Friday, so I'll do a post specific to her then; but for today, a little update on what life is like around here 4 weeks in.

  We're getting there. She is so precious and Liam is so awesome. So far, neither one of them are particularly difficult children, but sometimes the combination of their individual quirks and preferences is overwhelming. She gets overstimulated pretty easily, which makes it hard for her to wind down and fall asleep for naps unless her environment is very calm and restful. He is a noisy 2 year old boy. A boy who wants to play with toys like fire trucks with sirens, puppy dogs that sing (loudly), and his ball popper push toy. Usually these toys don't make an appearance until I'm trying to get her to fall asleep. Imagine that.

  I know my poor buddy must be so bored most of the time. The first couple of weeks at home it seemed like he was excited to rediscover some toys he hadn't really played with in a while, but I think at this point he's getting tired of all the solo play time he has. I try to make up games we can play while I'm feeding Cora ... games like "find the color" where I ask him if he can find a toy car or play food or something else of a specific color and bring it to me. We also try to read books sometimes while I'm nursing, but most of the ideas I come up with only entertain him for a few minutes. We watch a LOT of PBS Kids cartoons and Clifford dvds. I know this is a short season (the one where I'm nursing a newborn 8-9 times a day), but I will be so glad when tv becomes a treat again, instead of a crutch :)

  What Liam really wants to do (about 90%) of the time, is play catch, have batting practice, or be outside. Sadly, with temps in the 90s & 100s and a backyard without trees, daytime outside time just isn't happening. Daddy coming home has definitely become the highlight of the day, and I love watching Josh wear him out with wrestling, evening playtime outside, and lots and lots of baseball! Josh has also started taking Liam on late evening runs in the jogging stroller a couple of times a week, and Liam loves it. He is always SO proud to tell me about his "wunnin" (running) when they get back.

  Although I never know how most of our waking hours are going to go, we have settled into a pretty good sleeping routine. I'm usually able to sleep from 11/11:30pm until 3:00am, when I get up to feed Cora, and then from about 4:00am-6:30am, when she wakes up again. Gratefully, Cora has started taking her best nap of the day during Liam's afternoon nap, so I can usually get at least an hour of peace (although today Liam fell asleep in the car on the way home and couldn't get back to sleep at home, so spent his naptime singing & calling the Hogs in his crib). That hour is amazing and always seems to come just in the nick of time, and then seems to refuel me just enough to handle my little munchkins until Josh gets home.

  Liam spends Wednesdays at the farm with Grammie, and it's so nice to have that one day a week where I can completely focus on Cora and resting without feeling like I'm neglecting him. Since my parents are only about 10 minutes away, the kids and I usually spend a couple of hours at their house once or twice a week, and again, it is such a blessing to have a place where we can go to get out of our own house, and where someone else can play with Liam while I feed Cora, or rock her so I can play with him. We are SO spoiled by having both Josh and my parents nearby. They are all SUCH wonderful grandparents and so ready to help out with Liam, meals, and cleaning. I sometimes feel like I'm not even fully a parent myself, because our parents still do so much for us.

 I know we're getting there, and even though I still have at least a mini-meltdown about every other day; I do feel like things are getting a teeny bit easier. And thanks, so much, to the friends who commented here or on Facebook or texted me with kind words and advice about adjusting to two kiddos. I was VERY encouraged and really appreciate what everyone had to say!