Jack - The First Month

Today my son Jack is one month old! How time flies!

The past month has been filled with trials, tribulations, happiness and sleep deprivation.

I’ve learned that going from one kid to two is a MAJOR adjustment. It’s actually pretty insane – perhaps that’s because Grace is still pretty young and requires a lot of attention and supervision. For instance – I could be sitting on the couch breastfeeding Jack and my little Gracie is wandering the house. Anyone with a toddler knows that an unsupervised 21 month old wandering the house = trouble. So poor Jack gets ripped off the boob because his older sister is either stuffing the toilet full of toilet paper, banging away on our computer, or calling some far off country on my cell phone. Lovely.

I’ve also had the pleasure of taking both kids out by myself. This entailed getting both of them out the door and in the car – by myself (key words here being “by myself”). This was not an easy task and caused me extreme stress.

Apart from being a curious little girl, Gracie is in love with her little brother. She asks where he is as soon as she wakes up and wants to hold and kiss him all the time. I am thankful for this. However, she is still adjusting to having to share mommy and daddy’s attention with the new sheriff in town. The frequency of tantrums has definitely increased – to say the least. This could be due to the fact that she is entering the “terrible two” phase but I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s her way of getting attention when she wants it. It seems to be slowly getting better and I pray that it is because dealing with a toddler who has thrown herself on the ground and is screaming is not my cup of tea when I’m running on limited sleep.

Speaking of limited sleep – WOAH!!! I forgot how crappy the sleeping situation actually is with a newborn. Getting up a couple of times in the night to feed a baby is not what I call fun. Like I’ve said before though – I know this phase is only temporary and knowing that is getting me through this.

I’ve just realized that I’ve been a bit of a Debbie Downer myself here (and if you’ve read my previous blogs, you’ll know that I am not a fan of Debbie Downers). So let me get to the good stuff:

Jack is a great baby. Right from day one, he has known that night = sleep. He only wakes up in the night to feed and goes right back to sleep after. He also only cries if he’s hungry. I can’t imagine having a baby with colic, and am thankful that Jack is in the clear.

I am so happy that Jack is finally here. Everyday I am amazed at how much I love my children. Even though Jack is making me a little bit sleep deprived, it really is all worth it. And although two kids is a ton of work, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I am so happy that Grace and Jack have each other – someone to play with, grow up with, and share childhood memories with.