Isaiah and Ngaire

Today we spent a couple of hours with our friends who live nearby. They are another young couple with a daughter named Ngaire (rhymes with fiery). Eventually everyone had to go to a play practice except me (I try to avoid stages), so I volunteered to watch both babies while everyone else was busy. This was fine until both babies wanted to be held and rocked. While I managed to bonk my own son's head on the side of the rocking chair, I eventually got them both in my lap and rocking. Unfortunately, Ngaire doesn't like to share laps while cuddling. I tried various positions until both of the babies were hysterically crying. It was then that my friend rushed in to save her daughter from my clutches...or save me from the clutches of two screaming babies...whichever you prefer. Another reason I am glad I did not get my wish and have twins!

Of Mice and Me

Ok, so it has been a long time since I have written. Lately my mouse has been driving me crazy. I try to scroll over to things and it constantly sticks. After a few days and thoughts of going to my Mom's house to get a mouse from my old computer floated through my head, I had an epiphany. I would use my brain. I popped the bottom off of the mouse, and low and behold the inside was all full of dust. I guess the little rubber ball (yes I have an old mouse) was picking up dust and depositing it all of this time. Isn't it great to discover obvious fixes for things sometimes?

happy day

Ok, so things weren't going very well when I last posted. Since I have been accused of only writing bad things down in journals, I will write that things have been going well now. I still don't get everything done that I want to do, but I do enjoy things more. Isaiah has been sleeping very well, so I have more time that I don't have to hold him. I am getting slightly more done, and I am getting more help from Chris. This weekend we went to Isaiah's Grandy's house to meet lots more family and people in her life. That was a lot of fun, but Isaiah got a little bit tired of seeing so many people after a while. He was pretty patient though, and everyone loved him. He is so adorable when he smiles at us, and he loves to talk and interact. He concentrates so hard when we talk to him, and it is so great to see him learning every day!

bleh

Bleh...that is how I feel right now. It is 12:34 am, and I am not asleep. My small baby is, so that means I should be, but unfortunately my body does not allow sleep at my will. Presently I have too many thoughts in my head to sleep, so here I am to get them all out. Motherhood is wonderful. I really love Isaiah, and I love being with him. That said, it is so much harder than I thought it would be. I thought I would have time to get all of my undone projects completed, take care of the baby, and have an immaculate house. This is not so. I can barely get anything done. Isaiah comes first, and I am fine with that, but I am drowning in other things to do. Chris feels that I should be able to keep the house clean on my own, so he has stopped all house hold related chores except taking out the trash. I can't get everything done, and I feel guilty for doing anything just for myself while he comes home from work and does whatever he wants. Even when he is home, I take care of Isaiah. I don't mind that in itself, but I need some help if I am going to be his only everything. I feel like a failure if I ask for help, and Chris doesn't see that I need it all on his own. I guess I am going to have to say something, but I don't want to feel like I don't live up to his expectations as a wife and mother. I haven't had any real time to do something I wanted to do in the last 7 weeks that Isaiah has been here, and I am beginning to understand that I won't for a very long time. What can I do to make Chris understand that I really am doing all that I can and not being lazy. All he sees is that I have the TV on a lot, and I don't get out of my pajamas until late in the day if at all. He doesn't understand that I don't have time to get dressed and ready, and the TV is mostly for noise as I play with, nurse and feed Isaiah as well as clean constantly. I never get enough sleep, and when I have the opportunity to sleep like now, I inexplicably lay in the bed for hours begging God to grant me sleep. Really, I don't know what the right answer is here. I just need some help.

the bottle

Isaiah is a breastfed baby. He is very happy being one. Today we attempted to give him a bottle. We did this for a few reasons. We would like to go out without him for valentine's day, and I am going to work one day a week starting at the end of this month. I pumped out enough milk to satisfy him for at least one feeding. At first it seemed that we would have success on the bottle front. Chris attempted to give it to him, because the books said that someone other than me should give it to him so he wouldn't want to nurse. He drank about an ounce before he started spitting it out. Chris thought he wasn't hungry, but as soon as I picked him up he tried to nurse through my shirt. We tried a different type of nipple, I tried holding the bottle, but nothing worked. Finally it got to the point that we put the bottle in his mouth and he changed from a happy baby to a screaming one, take the bottle out and back to happy Isaiah. I am not sure what to do, but he has to take a bottle at some point. I guess we will just keep trying daily until he will take it.

I knew there was a reason

Before I had Isaiah a very good friend of mine gave me a list of advice for new mothers. On the list was the suggestion to bring an extra shirt for myself in the diaper bag. Since my diaper bag isn't that big and Isaiah doesn't spit up much, I ignored this little pearl of wisdom. For shame. Today I realized that I had forgotten to put breast pads in my bra. For a nursing mother, that is a big mistake. I was OK though, so I figured I would just buy some more at the next stop. Unfortunately, I thought about nursing Isaiah before that, and like magic my shirt was suddenly wet. I couldn't imagine going anywhere like that, so I made Chris go to Old Navy and buy me another shirt while I nursed Isaiah to relieve some of the pressure. Ahhh... the joys of motherhood!

the beginning

Well, I have decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon. Hopefully this can be a record of my baby's first year and beyond.