My third evening home from the hospital, I was downstairs (I'm allowed to do the stairs once a day or less, depending on how I'm feeling) trying to spend some time with the Pumpkin while my FIL held the Pookie. We were playing with magnetic letters on her easel while sitting on chairs (I needed a chair and she wanted to be sitting like Mommy), having a fun time.
Then, it was dinner time. I was starving, but the Pumpkin pitched a bit of a fit after maybe two bites. She still wanted to play with Mommy at the easel. We let her down so she could go play (we don't force food on her if she doesn't want to eat), but we told her that Mommy still needed to finish eating before I could play. That lasted maybe a minute, maybe less. Then her little bit of a fit turned into a full-fledged hissy fit. She started crying and carrying on about how she wanted to play letters with Mommy! Mommy and only Mommy would do!
Then, the baby started wailing in my FIL's arms. Although he likes babies okay (he LOVES the toddlers and older ages), my FIL can't deal with their crying very well. Plus, the baby wasn't even a week old yet and pretty much was soothed only by my breast.
So I shoveled in a couple more bites of food, swiftly got up and asked for Londo to move my chair to the easel, swept the baby out of my FIL's arms, settled the Pookie boy to my nipple, settled into the chair at the easel and began to rearrange the letters on the easel with the Pumpkin!
It was that moment that I realized I was definitely the mother of two, both of whom needed me at the same time, as they will for a long time coming. I was very proud of being able to be there for both of them in the ways they need. I know I won't always be able to accommodate both simultaneously, but I will never stop trying. Even if my dinner gets cold every time.
5 comments:
oh, cold dinners!! Not so mnay cold dinners here as the kids are usually in bed when we are having ours. But breakfasts! The only way I can complete a breaky without distractions/interruptions from my kids is to have them before they actually wake up. And that's been going on for 4.5 years!
Sounds like you are coping marvelously though. ( dare I use another exclamation mark???)
We have lots of cold meals because Sasha still does not feed himself completely (he gets frustrated with silverware and gives up but is still so hungry).
You really do seem to be doing so well!
I'm going to be taking notes, since we're TTC! :)
Although the Infanta doesn't seem to be quite so high-needs as Pumpkin, she's definitely Mommy's girl... *ahem* very securely attached to Mama.
Aww, that's a sweet moment. There'll probably be a not-at-sweet (though just as notable) one the first time you not only can't make them both completely happy, but someone is totally miserable. (For me it was screaming hungry baby vs. vomiting toddler. There's just no good answer there.)
I'm so glad you're enjoying your new wee one. :)
I had a "mother of two" moment this weekend. Hubby and I were taking our son downtown for a long walk and we thought he'd enjoy running around and playing outside. Apparently, he decided he wanted to be carried. By MOMMY only. For miles. Me being preggo, there was no way I could haul his 38 lbs around for the 2 miles back to our car. It's a system of compromises that starts now! He sat in his stroller. :-D
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