Sunday, March 18, 2012

Week in Review: And Then We Were Five

We had a good, laid back week, and we just focused on adjusting to becoming a family of 5. David was home, and he took over Aubrey and Jude's care, and I was able to focus on Alaina. I feel like I spent the whole week nursing! :) The weather was perfect all week, and we spent a LOT of time outside. I haven't been as weepy and emotional after having a baby this time as I have been the other 2 times, and I really think the beautiful spring weather has helped. We are adjusting well so far, but the real test will be when David goes back to work tomorrow. I'm so nervous, but I'm also excited to figure out what our "new normal" is going to look like. I'm just praying I can be patient and calm on little sleep! Oh, by the way, my next post WILL be Alaina's birth story!

Sunday: We had gotten home from the hospital the day before, and we had had a really hard night with Alaina. David was taking the kids to church, though, so I helped him get them ready. After they left, Alaina and I just hung out at home together. Much of our time was spent nursing, but I did manage to get a little rest. Sarah Denley came over to visit and meet Alaina, and she brought me lunch :) It was nice to have some company!David and the kids got home while SD was still here. David fed the kids some lunch that a friend from church had cooked for us and sent home with David. After Sarah Denley left, David put Aubrey and Jude down for naps, and then we visited for a few minutes. I fed Alaina, and then David took her while I took a nap. I was so exhausted by that point! She looks so sweet and peaceful in there... too bad it only lasted 30 seconds! ;)

I got up when it was time for Alaina to eat again, and David and the kids got ready and went back to church. That night while they were gone, I got kind of bored and lonely. I was also feeling discouraged about the sleep. I was feeling all hormonal and dramatic and thinking, "we may never sleep again!" That's definitely the most blah and hormonal I've felt since she was born, though, so I think that's pretty good! I cheered up when David and the kids got home. We ate some dinner, they told me about church, and David put them to bed. We decided we would try letting Alaina sleep in her swing, so we set it up in our room close to my side of the bed, and I fed her and we went to sleep. She had a MUCH better night.

Monday: I got to sleep in. When Alaina was up for her early morning feeding, I just swaddled her again and put her back in the swing, and we went another 3 hour stretch. I felt much better after getting some sleep. I was itching to get out of the house, but my doctor had told me I needed to take it VERY easy and not go to any stores for a week. We figured a ride in the car wouldn't hurt though, and we needed a few things from Target. So, we all loaded up and went for a drive. It felt great to be out! It was kind of a disaster, though. Alaina and Jude were both crying at one point. Aubrey said, "I don't know what is wrong with these babies." Ha! While David went in Target, I got in the back of the car and fed Alaina, and she was better after that, so we decided to run to Hobby Lobby too. When we got home, we ate lunch and the kids took naps. I sat and fed Alaina and surfed the internet all afternoon. That's pretty much my life right now. When everyone was up from their naps, we went outside and the kids played. We've had beautiful weather all week, which has been awesome! I've spent a lot of time sitting outside, and I think that has really helped my emotional state ;) Jude LOVES to try to give Alaina her pacifier all the time! Oh, and the kids have basically lived in mismatched pj's all week.
Rebekkah brought some dinner over to us that evening, and we visited for a few minutes. We ate after she left, and it was so good! We had a laid back evening. I watched some TV while I fed Alaina and David put the big kids to bed. We went to bed early, too. Alaina had another good night. I had to wake her up for feedings.

Tuesday: This was pretty much a repeat of the day before. Very laid back. David played with Aubrey and Jude a lot and took care of them, and I took care of Alaina. Which meant I sat and fed her off and on all day. I always forget just HOW much time is spent nursing in the first few weeks! She has been a good nurser so far, but of course she's still getting the hang of it, and sometimes it takes quite a while to get her latched on. And then she falls asleep, and we have to start over. And she's eating about every 2 hours during the day. So yeah, I'm not kidding when I say I fed her basically all day. It's worth it, though! When Daddy is home, the kids play hard and get DIRTY! :)

After naptime, we decided to venture out again. We needed some staples from Kroger, and I was starting to feel stir-crazy. I sat in the car again, and David and Aubrey ran in. Alaina slept the whole car ride this time. When we got home, we ate leftovers for dinner and spent a little time outside. Then we just hung out together until it was time for the kids to go to bed. Once again, David and I went to bed fairly early too.

Wednesday: This was a fun day because it was a little different. David took Jude and Aubrey to get some shots for Jude (we were so behind!) that morning before I woke up. He then took them to Chick-Fil-A to play and eat lunch. I was glad they got to get out and do something fun. Well, minus the shots. Those weren't fun :/ I got up and took a shower and fed Alaina before they got home. David needed to go to work for a while that afternoon, so I asked my mom to come over and hang out with us. I'm not supposed to lift Jude yet, so I needed someone there in case he woke up from his nap. David fed the kids lunch and then put them down for their naps before going to work. I gave Alaina a sponge bath, and then my sweet friend, Gray, and her mom came over to bring some food. I was so excited about seeing Gray because she's been in Africa for the past 6 months or so doing mission work. They stayed and visited for a good while, and it was so fun to catch up! While they were here, my dad came over to see Alaina. So, we all had a nice visit :) Aubrey wanted to come downstairs and see our guests, but then she was super shy and wouldn't really talk. After my friends left, Jude woke up and my dad went to get him. My parents then went outside with the kids for a little while until David got home. Another friend from church came over to bring the sides and dessert for our meal. Aubrey was SUPER friendly with her and wanted to take her all over our house and give her a tour. Haha, it was so funny! When she left, we ate our dinner, and we really enjoyed it! That evening, we watched American Idol and then the kids went to bed. The rest of my evening consisted of feeding Alaina and getting us ready for bed.

Thursday: Alaina and I slept late, and when we got up, my two younger brothers were here to help David do a lot of yard work. They worked hard pretty much ALL day! My brother, John, and one of his friends came over to bring lunch to Michael and Joel, and they ended up hanging out over here all afternoon, too. I took care of Alaina and fed her in my room when she needed to eat. When my brothers finished up in the yard, they left and we had another low-key evening. We ate leftovers for dinner, and then watched the American Idol results show. The kids went to bed, and then David and I did too.

Friday: I decided to get up earlier that day. I figured I would have to be getting up early next week, and I could take a nap that afternoon if I was too tired. So when Alaina was up at 8 to eat, we just got up. We needed diapers desperately -- Alaina was wearing our last one! Since it had been a week, I figured it was safe for me to go in a store :) So, I took a shower and got dressed, and then we all loaded up and went to Target. David stayed in the car with the kids. I hadn't been to Target in a month, and it was so fun to be able to walk around and feel free! Ha :) I couldn't stay in there too long, though, since David and the children were waiting for me. After we left Target, I went in Kroger to get a few essentials. I loved being back out among people -- it made me feel normal again after all that bed rest! When we got home, we fed the kids lunch. David had an appointment that afternoon, and I decided not to get anyone to come help. I thought it would be a good chance to ease back in to being here alone with the kids. Plus, the appointment was during naptime, so I figured it would be fine. Alaina went to sleep, and I was pretty tired, so I laid down to take a nap. David put Aubrey and Jude down before he left and then turned up the monitors in our room so I could hear them. Well, they were both awake. Aubrey eventually quit talking and went to sleep, but Jude didn't. Of course I couldn't sleep with him awake, so I got up and went to his room. I got him up to check his diaper, and then I rocked him for a few minutes. It was the first time I've rocked him since before I went on bed rest, and it felt so good! He never did go to sleep, though :( I eventually just got him up and brought him downstairs. Everything went just fine with Jude and Alaina being awake and me being by myself. David got home, and Aubrey was still asleep, so he went to wake her up. She was in a terrible mood and stayed in her bed just screaming for a long time. She eventually just snapped out of it and came downstairs and was super sweet. I hate it when we have to wake her up. My friend, Megan, was bringing dinner to us that evening. She dropped it off and visited for a minute, and then we ate an early dinner. After dinner, we got in the car and drove to a restaurant to get tickets for a character breakfast that David and Aubrey are going to go to. Alaina started crying, so I had to feed her in the car in the parking lot. She settled down and was quiet after that, so we made another stop at Hobby Lobby. I ran in and got a matte for a picture. When we got home, Jude had fallen asleep in the car, and he had a MAJOR meltdown when David got him out. David put him straight to bed, and then he put Aubrey to bed too. I was pretty tired by this point, but I didn't want to just go to bed so early on a Friday night, so David and I watched the pilot episode for Psych. My mom let us borrow the first season on DVD. It was pretty funny! After it went off, I was super tired, so we got ready for bed. Alaina had a little more trouble than usual going to sleep, but she eventually did and slept great.

Saturday: Alaina and I got up around 9, and David and Aubrey and Jude were outside playing. Dancing :)
Sharing with Knightly
Kisses!
We all stayed outside for a little while, and then we came back in. I took a shower and then it was lunchtime. David fixed lunch for the kids, and then they played for a while before naps. I ate lunch while they were in bed, and I fed and held Alaina. She got super fussy after I fed her one time, which is so unlike her. This was the first time she has just screamed for any length of time. She was inconsolable for a while. I felt so bad for her. The way she was crying reminded me so much of how Aubrey used to cry before we figured out she had reflux. I'm praying that it was maybe just something I ate that bothered her and not reflux. During all of this, David was dealing with Jude who was also screaming because he didn't want to nap. Whew! I finally got Alaina calmed down, and we got the kids up and dressed, and David's parents came over to visit and deliver diapers. We hung out on the deck while they were here and enjoyed the nice weather. After they left, we ate leftovers for dinner. Alaina got super fussy after eating again :( I put her upright in the Moby, and that seemed to help. She took a good nap in there. After dinner, David bathed Aubrey and Jude and put them to bed, and I fed Alaina and watched an episode of Sweet Home Alabama online. Alaina had a lot of awake time, but she was content so it was good. David and I watched an episode of Psych before bed. Alaina got inconsolable again when it was time to put her down. I was so tired and was getting so frazzled, so David took her out and ended up getting her to sleep in her crib! I brought her back to our room after the first feeding and she was fine after that.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Oh my, I know those early weeks are so tough but there is nothing sweeter than a tiny baby when she is asleeep. You like my disclaimer. Sleep is the hardest thing about having a baby - moms never get enough and babies are always changing their patterns. Hang in there and I hope today is going well for you and your three kids!