Yes, We Are Alive!

I'm finally making some time to update my blog since it's been over a month. My baby Ty is 5 weeks old and let me tell you, it has been a long 5 weeks. Sometimes I can't believe how big he is already, and then remember how long ago it seems that I only had one child. I'll do a quick re-cap on the past few weeks.

Week 1:

My mom was here. Life was easy.

Week 2:

I realized my new baby is very different from my first baby. Ty spent a lot of time awake for a newborn if you ask me. Every day was getting a little more difficult as I couldn't catch up on my sleep and Macie kept waking up very early. Luckily she still takes a nap, but I was lucky if I got one for more than 30 minutes. Josh usually has an 11 hour day, so I was starting to go crazy. Ty also got an eye infection.

Week 3:
The days seemed so long that I couldn't separate my dreams from reality. I was blessed with a fussy baby suffering from acid reflux. This was quite the challenge at first because I had no idea what to do about the constant spit up. I am a clean freak and this was SO HARD. There were days of crying (not just Ty either) and everyday I didn't think I could handle another day with two kids. Macie all along has been as well behaved as you can expect from a 2 1/2 year old, but combined with a needy newborn and my pathetic self it wasn't going well. Wow, I'm pretty depressing. It wasn't all bad though. Ty made up for it at nighttime and started sleeping about 6 hour stretches. Wow! I started getting some help and found that when I had visitors come over I didn't feel so alone and overwhelmed; it gave me something to look forward to. I chopped off my hair for easier maintenance and I love it. I also got some new cute clothes that would fit me while I got rid of the baby weight. Helping myself look better made me feel better.

Week 4:
By the end of the week we were back on an uphill. We had some newborn portraits taken of Ty that turned out great, I'll have to post some when I get them. We went to the pediatrician for Ty's well check and he weighed 11 pounds 3 ounces. I couldn't believe it considering the reflux problem. We had a great conversation with the pediatrician and got some good ideas about dealing with the reflux. They seemed to work well and he has definitely improved. I think weeks 2-4 were the longest ever, but now life is livable again.


Week 5:

My little newborn is turning into more of a baby now. He is getting little creases and fat rolls on his thighs and arms. And get ready for this...Ty slept 9 hours straight last night. I can't believe it! I am very impressed. The fussiness has also gotten better, although we do have some good days and some bad days. For the most part we are all happy and doing well. I still don't leave the house hardly at all with Ty because I have germ anxiety issues. I'm seriously wondering if I might suffer from a few phobias, but we're not getting into that. I think I easily have about 10 bottles of hand sanitizer right now. Needless to say, we're all healthy.

I know I made things sound pretty rough, but they actually were for a couple weeks and since I'm over it I'm OK with admitting it. I thought that the 2nd time around with a newborn was going to be easy because Macie was relatively easy and I didn't even know what I was doing. Now that I knew how to handle things it would be great, right? WRONG! I failed to realize that when I had Macie I could sleep until 11 am if that's what she was doing. I could sit in my chair and rock her for a couple hours if I wanted to. All I had to worry about was one person besides myself during the daytime. Josh was home a lot more. Well having two is much harder than it seemed for me, so I have to tip my hat to all mothers of multiple children. It took me a little longer to get a handle on things and I think my personal anxieties are worsening as I get older. However, I absolutely LOVE my little Ty and feel so lucky that he's part of our family. It's already easy to get a smile out of him and a little cooing; it's the most adorable thing ever. Josh and Macie have been so great this past month as we've all adjusted and enjoyed life as a family of four. We have been up to other things besides Ty, so hopefully I'll get some more posted soon.