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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Eat, feed, clean, repeat

This is Lukasz's 5th day at home. I have NOT had any baby blues yet... I think I had one little cry to Tomek on Saturday because I felt momentarily overwhelmed with it all, but since then I've just forged ahead and the hours are racing by. I feel like I spend most of my time thinking about food, feeding and eating. Seriously. Lukasz has to be woken up every 3 hours to eat, so that breaks up our nights into an hour here a couple of hours there of sleep.

Tomek has been WONDERFUL... I'm getting more sleep than he is. In the morning I try to work it so I get Lukasz up an hour before Lily gets up. That way I can get him fed, burped and changed and back to sleep in time to prep Lily's morning bottle, then while she's drinking I'm pumping milk for Lukasz's next feed (which takes 20-30 minutes), then we play for a bit, then she's ready for a real breakfast so I figure something out for her to eat. This morning it was cereal and some banana. Then it's MY turn to eat, and then I play with Lily some more or do the never-ending laundry or dishes or start another batch of formula on the stove. Lily usually goes down for a nap 3 hours after she wakes up. It's nice in the morning if Lukasz sleeps the entire time Lily is up and when she goes down for a nap, he wakes up. Then it's only the afternoons that are tricky. Lily surprised me today and went down for a nap 2 hours after she got up. I guess 8:30 was a little too early for her. I didn't know she was going to fall asleep, she just wanted to go in her crib and wanted her mobile on. And she drifted off just as Lukasz started grunting and waking up. Did I mention how easy-going he is? He hardly rarely almost never cries. So then another hour passes while I feed and burp and cuddle and do the bicycle with him (because he hasn't pooped since he got home).

Now they are both asleep although Lily will be up in less than an hour and I'll have to get something together for her and I to eat. The bottles are already washed for Lukasz's next feed, and I'll have to make sure I have a dvd or something ready to go to occupy Lily while Lukasz is in my lap.

On Monday I could not have made it through the afternoon if my friend, N, hadn't been visiting. Lily demands "up" often and screams if she doesn't get to go up. She refused to leave my lap w/o screaming when I needed to prep Lukasz's bottle and feed him, so N ended up feeding him and I held Lily. She's not mean to him at all. She loves to give him kisses and high fives and wants to hold him a lot. But she doesn't like it when one of us is holding him for an extended period of time.

Thankfully, Tomek has the rest of the week off so we can try to get Lily used to the fact that sometimes she will just have to wait because we are taking care of Lukasz. Although, he went to check on one of his projects early this morning and he's still not home. Stuff always comes up. But at least I know he's nearby so if things get hairy this afternoon I can call him and he should be able to come home.

Evenings are a flurry of timing dinner around Lukasz's feeds, although yesterday he woke up just as dinner was ready, so Tomek helped Lily eat her dinner while I fed Lukasz and then he and I sat down to eat once Lukasz was asleep, with Lily wanting to sit in her daddy's lap for the entire meal.

All in all, it's going pretty well. I don't feel too exhausted and I'm SO RELIEVED that I'm not falling apart emotionally. I was really worried about that. Today was Lukasz's scheduled arrival date and I'm SO GLAD I've already been through the c-section and hospital time and am already back at home with my family.

Now I just have to figure out how to go for walks with the 2 of them. I think Lukasz is too small for the Snugli still, although he was 5 lbs at birth and now he's 6 lbs 9 oz!!! I have a stroller that his car seat attaches to, but then Lily would have to walk, and I don't feel comfortable walking around w/o her holding my hand, unless we're at the park. Once Lukasz fits in the Snugli I can push Lily in the stroller to the park and then she can get out and run around. Until then, I may have to wait to go for a walk till someone is here with me, then we can go out with Lukasz in his stroller and Lily walking or in her stroller.

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