Me: Here comes Stacia; make sure you hide her present so she doesn’t see it until Christmas.
Her: Stacia! Look what I got you for Christmas!
Chelle was just talking about the faerie at her house last week, and I giggled remembering the “it wasn’t me” refrains when I was growing up. The “not me” phenomenon has come back to haunt me. We now have a goost at our house—commonly referred to as a ghost by those over the age of three.
The Goost stole the baby’s pacifier. The Goost kept her from taking a nap. The Goost colored on the kitchen floor, and The Goost spilled milk on the kitchen table. So far, The Goost appears to be a friendly—albeit messy—ghost, but we’re not taking any chances. Stacia is becoming an expert Goost-shooer to keep it is safe for Brenia to go to the potty. That process is hard enough on its own.
If The Goost sticks around much longer, we just may need a bigger house. We’re starting to get a bit cramped as it is.
I took Lorelai to the doctor today because her eyes are yucky. The nurse weighed her just in case the doc had to prescribe medicine. She weighs 9 lbs. 15 oz. now—that means I’ve gained 10 ounces in just 6 days. I can’t believe how fast she’s growing.
The other girls went with us too because they aren’t feeling well either. The doctor looked at her eyes and checked her out all over, landing on pinkeye. Now we have to put drops in her eyes every day. And by we, I mean him.
I thought I had a little vampire baby on my hands. She wakes up each evening around 10. This is her longest waking period all day, unless you count from 1 to 5 am when she wakes every 20 minutes. I don’t count that since I don’t get to see her eyes through the haze of my own exhaustion. I only know she’s awake from the tiny wails that escape from her body.
We’ve taken to putting her in her bouncy seat to sleep. The vibrations are calming and when she wakes needing nothing but attention, I can just toss an arm over the side of my bed and bounce her. I only need to half wake for this motion. I thought I was going to have to start sleeping on the couch as her cries wake Daddy—who has to actually get up and go to work the next morning—though only about a quarter of the time. Well, at least the couch is ready made.
My dear husband can’t simply use a throw pillow and blanket when he watches television. No, that would be too normal. We have a comforter and bed pillows. I kid you not. I did manage to snag a new one on Black Friday that actually matches our living room. I’m not sure that makes it any more normal, but it’s not near as tacky.
I’m not sure the theory of me staying up all night actually makes as much sense as it did for the first two. Back then I could take naps when baby did. Now I have to stay awake and diligently keep middle sis from loving her to death. I could probably count on my fingers the number of hours I have slept since the munchkin came home.
Alas, that is no longer. I managed a blessed 5 straight hours of sleep last night. The wee one slept from 1 to 6 am. I swear that is the longest stretch I have slept in months. Pregnancy is not so conducive to sleep either. I guess that would be nature’s way of preparing you for the total lack of sleep you will have for the next 18 years. At least I’m finally getting a little rest.
Unless I just jinxed it. How do you do a jinx back? Oh, well, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.
Seven days. Seven precious, wonderful, glorious, exhausting days. Who would think it would be so tiring taking care of a tiny little thing who sleeps all day? Oh, the things we forget. I guess that’s natures way of getting us to do this over and over again.
It amazes me how much alike the girls can look and be so incredibly different. Third time around and I’m still learning as I go. All that crap the hospital sends home with you and not an owner’s manual in the mix.
She’s so cuddly, this one. If I could hold her all night long, I’m sure she’d sleep right through the night. She sleeps quite a bit anyway, so our nights aren’t too bad. She wakes up once in the middle of an 8-hour sleep to eat and get a dry diaper. Then she proceeds to sleep the other 16 hours in 3 hour shifts. We’re lucky to get an hour of gazing into those beautiful blues. Not that I mind staring at a sleeping baby cuddling against my chest.
The girls are just as enchanted with her. Brenia wants to help with absolutely everything. Funny story about that one—she decided she needed to help me feed the baby. When I told her she couldn’t hold the bottle because there wasn’t one, she said “That’s okay!” and grabbed my boob. Stacia rushes in the door every day after school to hold her. The girl who rushes through her homework to run out the door every day, always takes the time to cuddle her baby sister.
We’re starting to establish a routine, though when Daddy goes back to work in a couple weeks we’ll have to alter it a bit. The older girls are very set in their ways and do not handle changes well. Luckily, Lorelai pretty much sleeps through anything. She could care less where she is or what you’re doing as long as someone holds her now and then. That makes it very easy to go about our daily routine, with just a few small adjustments.
You know, like learning to do everything with just one hand. In another week or two I’ll get out her sling and start wearing her everywhere, but for now I’m content just to hold her. I do make her sleep in her bassinet every afternoon during her sister’s nap. That’s when Mommy takes her nap too!
