The New Normal

Some snippets of our life lately as we adjust to our new normal!

Cutting up a pineapple AND sending an email and feeling incredibly accomplished for the day.

Enjoying the beauty of the adaptable third child, who is not only sleeping at night in his nursery but also napping in there! I didn't begin any kind of nap training with the girls until they were 2-3 months old, but George seemed to want to be put down to sleep, so I gave it a try one day when he was about 2 weeks old and after going back in a couple times for some patting/shushing, asleep he went. The other night we even put him in his crib awake for bedtime, and it took awhile to get him down but then he slept for 5 hours! Either we're getting better at this or my children are getting more adaptable--probably both. (Update since this post has taken me weeks to get up: he's routinely sleeping 6 hours for the first stretch of the night, which neither girl did until they were 6 weeks old. Not that this is a competition, but you win, George.)

"Me time" at night currently involves putting kids to bed for the better part of two hours, then putting myself to bed, often in the 8 o'clock hour! As much as it would be nice to have some adult time back, Nick and I keep reminding ourselves, "Don't be dumb" and just sleep while we can. Adult time will come back one day.

Along the same lines, we made up a song when Amelia was a baby and was on a total opposite napping schedule as Eloise: "One gets up and the other goes down." Needless to say we've been singing it all over again! Not a single free minute these days, but I have a better handle on its temporary nature, and the baby snuggles are a worthy trade.

Nightly nudges from Nick to wake up and feed George. This is a brand new dynamic around here. Historically our house has been in the "Dad Nighttime Deafness" camp--surely you know about this phenomenon, right? Whereas I've always been able to hear the baby breathe from the next room with earplugs in. Now I hear nothing. Maybe this will help him sleep through the night sooner?

Parental guilt about the girls being on spring break this week and in true-to-us fashion, we have no plans. New Jersey still hasn't gotten the spring memo and we're still having snow weekly, and when it's not snowing it seems to be raining, so our typical outdoor activities are off the table, and any germy indoor activities are also a no-go. Nick has taken this week off and was trying to brainstorm fun ideas but I think we've come to terms with the fact that we're still in the trenches, and fun family outings are still slightly out of reach for us. We'll get there. For now, outings consist of the girls/kids accompanying us on any errands we need to run and they don't seem to mind.

Actually, I meant to take Eloise on a "date" before Easter to pick up some bagels and flowers for the table, but life happened and we didn't get around to it. So the other day I took her to the grocery store (where none of my children have been in months because of flu season) and she was beaming at getting some one-on-one time and a special outing all to herself. Time and again I'm reminded that kids don't need every day to be Disney World, they just want love and attention, and if Shop Rite with mom fits the bill, great!