I mentioned in my
post partum update that going from 1 to 2 children was a lot easier than going from 0 to 1 child. The taking care of a newborn thing, has honestly been a breeze. I know what to expect out of a newborn - is it going to be easy all the time even though I've done it before? Heck no. I don't deny that a minute. I'm sure as soon as his 3 week growth spurt comes I'll want to pull out my hair all over again.
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| We love when Poppy visits! Braden painting for the first time. |
The harder part...has been taking care of Braden. Don't get me wrong, he
really hasn't changed that much - truly. He has adjusted SO well. But I find for some unexplained reason (other than sleep deprivation), that my fuse for him is
way shorter than it ever has been and it makes me feel absolutely
awful and guilty all at the same time. He deserves the same love and attention that Ethan gets...but it's just not possible right now.
Braden has shown absolutely no signs of jealousy towards Ethan. He loves him, he looks for "Baby Efan" every morning and wants to "cawwy him, pwease" a few times a day. But I think it's only natural he must be feeling a bit neglected, especially since we used to spend almost every waking minute together, or in each other's presence, especially through harvest. I do make a point of playing trains, coloring, reading books - playing with him - every day. I have also participated in every single bedtime routine for him one way or another since Ethan was born, which has been really special to me too.
Regression? Absolutely. I knew it would happen, but it's hard to say if it's 100% Ethan or just his norm. Braden has had poop regressions many times in our potty training journey. I still firmly stand that potty training is very phasey and cyclical too, for us anyway. Right now he's in the middle, or hopefully end, of having poop issues. He keeps having little accidents, but we know he's capable of going all by himself too. Like I said, this has happened before, so I don't know if it's all Ethan-related.
He's actually been sleeping better than normal. The first week we had Ethan home he slept in pretty much every day, so sleeping 13 hour nights again from about 7PM-8AM. It was awesome! He even slept until 8:50AM one morning! Just the other night he wet the bed in the middle of the night for the very first time. He did have a LOT to drink that evening and I even told him "no more to drink, buddy or you'll have an accident in bed!" Mama knows best, I guess!
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| We made cookies together last week! |
He's definitely been a little bit more whiney and needy lately. BUT, since the snow fell, I can tell he's getting cabin fever way faster than he used to. Jay tries to take him at least over to the farm every other day, but it just doesn't seem to be helping yet! I'm hoping to schedule lots of coffee/play dates with
friends with kids Braden's age.
All in all, Braden has done really well. I'm very proud of him and just keep praying for compassion towards him and that God will bless me with patience and kindness towards my eldest!
How did your older child(ren) adjust to a new baby in your home? How long did it take for things to "normalize"?
