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Monday, July 6, 2009

Life in the land of two

Time for a little catch up, apparently having two kids means less free time for blogging. Who would have thunk? It's been a good kind of busy though, a hectic yet manageable time suck. As we enter into this third week of fourdom I am starting to feel a little more in control of things.

The breastfeeding/pumping thing does not hang like a lead weight over my head anymore. We resolved to use formula when necessary and I scaled back my pumping sessions so that I didn't feel like I was hooked to the machine round the clock. Surprisingly this still means that Mason only receives one small formula bottle a day, if that. As his appetite grows this likely will change, but I am comfortable with this balance. It leaves me feeling a lot more sane and has allowed me to enjoy this time much, much more.

Skyler has become a tantrum throwing toddler tornado. Not sure if he possessed all this energy prior to Mason and it just simply wasn't as noticeable until thrown into comparison with a slug-baby newborn...but now it seems like he is all over the place. He is still sweet and completely wonderful with his new baby brother, but he also seems to have a much shorter fuse than before his arrival. We used to see tantrums every couple of days, a really bad meltdown once a week or so. Now, we are enjoying tantrums regularly throughout the day, at little or no instigation, and there have been some epic meltdowns. This has been pretty trying, but then again I suppose they call these the terrible twos for a reason. And he did just get a new brother thrown at him, so I am going to cut him some slack...for now.

Mason continues to be a very mellow baby, we so don't deserve this. Skyler was a pretty easy baby too, but Mason seems even more laidback than his older brother. This may be in part to his being the second baby and our feeling more relaxed about the situation. Generally though, I think we just got a very sweet baby boy. He sleeps away the majority of the day, and up to this point I have been waking him up to feed him during the night. Since we went in for his two week check up today and found that he is a nice healthy ten pounder (13oz over his birthweight!) I will now be following his lead for feedings overnight. He only cries when he is hungry, or getting his bum wiped. I am feeling pretty blessed with this one.

Here's some recent photos as well:


Skyler getting in some morning snuggles with Mason man
Encountering pop-its for the first time. He was encouraged to throw!

Daddy smooches

Mama and Mason


Blue eyes

4 comments:

Kristi said...

Gorgeous photos, and I love the one of you and Mason.

Isabella went through some tantrum/behavioal issues around the time the twins came home. For example, when I was nursing them, she would take that opportunity to do things around the house that she's not allowed to do (go upstairs on her own, wreck havoc with her toys, etc.). She totally knew I was trapped in the chair and couldn't correct her-smart kid! Anyway, Skyler is likely going through an adjustment period, and will hopefully mellow out for you soon.

I am so glad Mason is a good baby. It's hard being a mom to a toddler and a newborn (or two). ;)

Ann(ie) said...

Oh sweetie...you have such handsome boys. I often finding myself wishing you lived by me so our families could hang out!!! I love the update b/c I'm experiencing much of the same. Noah is such an easy baby and I've found the same happy medium in regard to pumping. I do love the complete feeling of being a family of 4 I must say. :) Ben went thru that stage about 4 or 5 months before Noah's arrival...or at least that's when it began....we still have our moments. :)
xo.

LutherLiz said...

Very very cute! I'm glad to hear things are going so well.

Pregnantly Plump said...

What great pics! A friend once told me that 2 is hard on everyone. I can certainly agree.