Come, Mommy

Friday, April 06, 2007

Bits 'n' Pieces of Post-Partum Randomness...

It's been a week since I posted?? How did that happen? Oh, yeah, now I remember, there's an extra kid in the mix now. I have an extreme dearth of blogging time, and an even more extreme lack of coherent thought. From what I hear, that's about right for this stage in my parenting career. Still, though, things are happening here. To wit:

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Poor Leonard. Gran-Gran left on Thursday, and between having had her to himself for a month and the fact that I am not instantly available to him 24/7, it's been a very hard last couple of days. This sweet little boy who had previously thrown maybe five tantrums in his life has been melting down every half-hour or so. I feel so bad for the kid, but with wacky post-partum guilt hormones, I'm not handling the meltdowns well. My reactions range from wanting to give him the world as an apology for ending life as he knew it all the way to wanting to tell him he's a big kid and the whininess is killing me so deal with life already...

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It bothers me when people make a big deal out of the baby while discounting the presence of his very cute older brother. Not that the baby isn't a big deal, but doesn't his brother count anymore? Poor Leonard's had a few encounters with folks who pretty much blew him off this week, and the big brother gig is wearing a bit thin. I suspect those of you with more than one child have seen this in action, but here's a typical scenario:

At Friendly's, we were mobbed by a bunch of biddies:

Biddies: "Oh, oh, oh, look at the baby! How CUTE!! How old is he?"

Me: "He's two weeks old."

Biddies (spying Liam): "Oh, oh, oh, and this must be the lucky Big Brother!!"

Liam: "No."

Biddies: "Oh, you've got it made with such a cute baby. How much fun is it to be the Big Brother??"

Liam: "No, I'm not-"

Biddies: "Is the baby a boy or a girl?? So, so cute! Cute! Aren't you happy to be the big brother?"

Liam: "NO! I'M NOT THE BIG BROTHER! I AM LEONARD!!!!!"

So at least I'm not the only cranky member of the family. Sigh.

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But Gran-Gran is coming back next week. There is hope. And lookie the Easter eggs she and Leonard made this week:


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And? Since when do they stamp expiration dates right on the eggs? Look between the sticker and the "Mommy," and there's an expiration date.


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Thought we were through with various tummy bugs? Nope. Now the ferrets have GI issues. There's nothing like a couple of ferrets with diarrhea to create quite the mess, I tell you. Thankfully our vet was able to phone in some Bactrim to the pharmacy, so we didn't have to take five ferrets, a newborn, and a cranky 3-year-old to the vet's office.

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How's Kieran, you ask? He's doing incredibly well. So well, in fact, that he managed to gain 12 ounces in his first 10 days on Earth. The baby is a natural-born nurser. And he sleeps at night. Both of which are wonderful things, truly, but in the perverse world of post-partum hormones, it's only adding to my guilt at my parenting of Liam. Liam was not a natural born nurser, and we spent the first six weeks of his life trying to get him to nurse enough to gain any weight at all. He cried a lot, and slept little. As did Kevin and I. Now that we've got Kieran around, I'm realizing how hungry Liam was in his first weeks. And I feel bad.

But, gosh, Kieran's a cutie:




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What's this? Snow for Easter?

Hmph!

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On a non-whiny note, lots of you have sent cards and gifts, made dinner, and phoned with congratulations. I fully intend to get Thank You notes out sometime before the first college tuition payment falls due, but in the meantime, know that we appreciate all of your help, good wishes, and generosity. Thank you!

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And Thank You for sticking out the post this far. I hope to be back soon in a less cranky/less exhausted frame of mind. In the meantime, Leonard wants to know:


"Gran-Gran? Will you come back soon? I miss you and Mommy and Daddy are tired and cranky and Kieran isn't but he doesn't play trains, either."

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7 Comments:

  • First of all, thank you so much for your kind, kind comment on my sad nursing post. I guess I have learned a lot about nursing over the course of two kids. (We had to use the dental syringe and give Little Guy tiny bits of formula while he nursed before the milk came in. That is a lesson in itself.) Also, Suzanne said you've had lactation training...I'm curious what your opinion on frenulum clipping is.

    On to your post--I'm right there with you on the new and way more frequent tantrums on the part of the big brother. I'm getting some comfort from the fact that Little Guy won't remember any of this or a time before his little sister was here. I just feel like his quality of life has gone downhill over the past month--more TV, quickly made dinners, way less Mommy time, etc. But then again, the whining has got to go!

    By Blogger Camille, at Friday, April 06, 2007 11:08:00 PM  

  • Glad everything is going well! It is so tough to adjust to a new sibling; it will get easier for Liam, but in the meantime the divided attention is hard on everyone.

    (I love Kieran's hat, by the way...)

    By Blogger Suzanne, at Saturday, April 07, 2007 8:01:00 AM  

  • Camille - You're welcome :) I just wish your experience had been easier.

    In general I'm for clipping the frenulum. Tongue-tie really messes with latch, as you know, and clipping the frenulum is not traumatic for the baby, so it makes sense to clip it. That also prevents speech problems later on due to tongue-tie. No one would argue trimming a frenulum if a child was having speech issues, but I would think it would be better to trim it earlier and just bypass the speech and feeding problems, you know?

    When I read your post I was thinking your ped called it wrong in not referring you to an ENT, but then I reread and realized you did in fact get her frenulum clipped, so you did indeed start in the right place by doing that. It can take a bit of time for the latch to adjust, but it sounds like you had several factors working against you, not just the latch issues. I just wish things had been more straightforward for you.

    Suzanne - Thanks :) Things are calming down already this weekend, thank goodness. I imagine we have some more ups and downs to go through, but I think it'll work out if we just take it day by day...

    That picture makes me laugh - Kieran had been wriggling so much the hat is turned almost backwards, but it's a good thing he had it on because dang it's cold outside!

    By Blogger Liesl, at Saturday, April 07, 2007 2:43:00 PM  

  • hugs, mama.
    it will get easier with liam as time goes on. ava was never one for tantrums either, but she had a TON of meltdowns after julian was born. now that we are 4 months into this life with a sibling thing, she's soo much better. :)
    we've got snow here too! what's up w/ that???
    glad to hear your mom will be back again soon. my mom is coming in this week to spend some time w/ us too and it will be great to have the extra help and extra attention for ava.
    love all the pics. liam and kieran are both such cuties. :)

    p.s. thx for your vote for julian!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Sunday, April 08, 2007 1:13:00 PM  

  • Hee hee, I love your catch-up posts. And the pics of the kids, as usual, are just priceless!

    By Blogger Dana, at Monday, April 09, 2007 9:56:00 AM  

  • I totally agree that it should be clipped while still in hospital after birth. You probably thought we hadn't had it clipped because the ped refused to order the ENT consult for 4 days, and finally, on the last day of the hospital stay, she relented and it was clipped that night. I'm so glad we did it.

    By Blogger Camille, at Monday, April 09, 2007 4:19:00 PM  

  • Hey Liesl-

    It eases up some. . . then the littler one starts to walk and it all starts over again : ) I had the same reactions to Carter's meltdowns after Archie came along. Of course, Carter had had a few more than five or six tantrums in his time. . . a-hem.

    I love the big brother comment. It always irked me when people gushed over Archie and ignored Carter. They're both pretty darn cute, imho. You have a beautiful family! Here's wishing you rest and peace.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tuesday, April 10, 2007 2:56:00 PM  

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