The swallow study was pretty uneventful, which I suppose is a good thing. I guess I didn't realize that the test itself was them-a Speech Pathologist-simply watching her eat! Olive was pretty congested when we were there, so she wasn't at her best, eating-wise. She wasn't super interested to eat even though she was hungry, likely because she couldn't breathe very well. They also asked me a TON of questions that made me feel woefully unprepared. How long does it take her to eat 3 oz? Umm.....with or without crying siblings and/or barking dogs? I don't time the girl! We're just aiming for no screeching! We came away from the appt with a recommendation to thicken the formula (again). This time with baby applesauce! Uh, what? Need to chat with her Pedi about that-seems kind of crazy, but what the hell do I know??
So her screeching periods are *really* ill-timed, if nothing else. I'm not going to lie; nights and weekends are stressful around here. Maybe some day I will be thrilled to have 3 kids so close in age after only 2 pregnancies, but right now when in the trenches, it's often hard to see the big picture.
Weeknights are periods of time that generally can't go fast enough (for me). Between trying to eat dinner and trying to get Liam to eat dinner, keeping the babies calm (not screaming) and doing anything else, it's a complete clusterfuck circus some nights. Liam is apparently a wonderful eater at school---he has SECONDS almost every day, but he is finicky at dinnertime at best, and it's often a battle. Lately, it's a battle we are not willing to fight. You want 2 cereal bars for dinner? WHATEVER. You are not on fire, or outside naked (neither of these things has ever ever happened!!), so I'm going to shovel in some food while holding and carrying around Crabby #1, while D shovels in some food and then walks around with Crabby #2 in hopes that she will eat something without screeching. Or both babies might sleep all night and then be wide awake at 9pm. Or Liam may throw a tantrum about something ridiculous and have a time out. Or he might be completely charming and everything is calm. It's a total crapshoot. But the totally calm nights? Not very often. It's often a sign of bad things to come. Then Liam will refuse to take a bath. Or he will refuse to go to bed. Or he will argue about which pajamas to wear (All things he never had an issue with previously). D has to lie with him in bed to get him to sleep since the big boy bed came into the picture. While this is happening, I change the babies, swaddle them, and make their bottles. Then I prop them up in their bouncy seats and attempt to feed both of them until D comes out to join me. Then we each take one and finish the feeding/burping. They will either fall asleep too soon without eating enough, or eat a lot too fast (Jude) and then spit up and squirm around uncomfortably wide awake.
So needless to say we (I) really have no "me" time at night at all, since I generally high-tail it to bed as soon as the babies go down, and D usually isn't far behind me. We do still have the night nanny twice/week, but I still bust ass to get to bed ASAP, as I'm going to damn well get some sleep if we are paying her to be here! I have slept in the guest room on those nights, as I can still hear the babies from our room since we have to leave our door open since Liam comes to our bed EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. (I really miss his crib). We recently converted 1 guest room to D's office though, leaving only the guest room right next to the babies' room. So last night I slept in the basement, on the floor, in the playroom. And it was glorious. No lie. This is my life.
7 comments:
((HUGS)) I bet it is super hard. In a total non bragging or trying to rub it in your face way CJ is a pretty easy baby but LD sounds quite similar to your Liam and somedays eveb dealing with a single easy newborn and an increasingly difficult 2.5 year old nearly breaks me. Soooo my heart goes out to you. And the cereal bar for breakfast is completely allowed. Its food right? Our ped says look at the bigger whole week picture with regards to toddler eating. And the baby applesauce would make me say whuck too. Since her digestive system is still forming I'd be afraid of making it worse with food. Of course I'm no doc. I hope the babes get through their fussy stage soon. And your 2.5 year old adjusts to his sibs. I think that is what is making mine an animal. And sorry you slept on the basement floor, but hey sleep rocks wherever you can get it.
That swallow study sounds... strange.
Liam's behaviour sounds so normal. Noah is like that, too. He'll put up a stink over something for NO REASON. And man, brushing his teeth every night is a 20 minute long affair, full of crying. And getting him into the bath afterward is a huge challenge sometimes, even though he loves the actual bath. And he's suddenly got this huge aversion to getting his hair washed, so there's more crying there... Thought it might help to know you're not alone in the toddler behaviour area :)
Also, even though Isaiah is a pretty good sleeper and only wakes up once or twice a night, I still go to bed as soon as I can after the kids are asleep, so I don't have any me time ever. EVER. (As I type this Isaiah is sleeping on me in the mei tai and Noah is a couple of feet away playing with trains and watching Thomas... that's my new definition of "me time"). And the only time I get to hang out with the dear hubby is if we get my parents to babysit, which we've done TWICE since Isaiah was born, but the dates were only 90 minutes long since the little squish is exclusively breastfed. So you're not alone there either. I've adjusted my expectations, remind myself that it's all temporary, and I find that helps enormously.
Yay for having a good sleep in the basement! Did you at least sleep on a mattress on the floor? Or just the straight floor? lol
I literally just read today that toddlers get most of their calories from all other meals besides dinner and that dinner is mostly for socializing with family and maybe tasting some things. So if that's true (and it sure seems like it with my kids) then I wouldn't worry about the dinner thing. You have way too much else going on.
It's a hard life ... I know! But you can (and are) doing it, one day at a time. That's all I tell myself, just get through this day .. I even split it up into segments of the day like a little checklist so I can cheer myself on for making it to 10AM! haha
Thinking of you.
Oh my gosh...this literally made me laugh out loud. My husband thought something was wrong with me... I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing with you!! This life is so damn crazy sometimes the only thing you can do is embrace the craziness (embracing with a side of wine helps). It' will get better right? That's what everyone says....
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