My New Reality

Picture this...Life as you know it has completely been flipped upside down!

Anyone who has ever had a newborn knows what I am talking about here.  Sleepless nights, puke stained clothes, days that just blend together.  So, you would think that because this is my third time around, I would not be so "surprised" by all of the life altering things that are going on.  But, how soon we forget how difficult and wonderful it can all be at the same time.

When we decided to have our third child, I knew that things were going to change.  After all, we were going from "man vs. man" now to "zone" play. (My DH is a coach so we tend to talk in coaching terms a lot!)  I had talked to friends that had ventured into having a third child and they told me that it was so much easier than the transition from having one child to two children...but I am still not convinced.  Many told me that because my other two children were older, it would be so much easier because they would be such great helpers.  Well, at week 6, the newness and excitement has worn off for them and all that seems to be left is the jealousy that I wrote about in the last blog and the occasional yearning to hold her if she seems like she will not pee, poop, puke or move while they hold her.

At the same time, this has been the most unbelievably wonderful time in my life.  I know that this will be my last child, so I am trying my best to savor every moment with her.  I hold her more than I should, talk to her more than I should at the wee hours of the morning, and just really try to capture all of the great moments that I can.  That is why I have ventured into this blog and have done the picture of the day!  Reality as I know it is...well...different.

Here are some of the things that part of my new reality:
1.  I change my clothes more than my 5 year old daughter these days.  Not because I just want a new cute outfit, but because I have been puked on again.

2.  I some times go to bed BEFORE my children so that I can get up in the middle of night and be somewhat coherent.

3.  I have colored my hair much darker.  It is supposed to be closer to my "natural" color (whatever that might be) so that I don't have to look at the horrible roots that I would have and know that I cannot possibly find time to go to the salon to get it colored.  We will see how long this lasts!

4.  I feel horrible guilt all day and all night long because I do not feel like I am giving enough to all of the children.

5.  My husband and I have not had a real conversation in about 6 weeks.  Our 12 year anniversary is this weekend...we will see if we get to celebrate or not.

6.  I feel a major sense of accomplishment if I get to shower and apply mascara in a day!!

7.  I was lucky to have heard all of the "Anthony Weiner" jokes on all of the late, late night comics shows!  My TV night really starts with Jimmy Fallon.

8.  I am much to concerned with everyone's bowl movements.

9.  Patience is something that I pray for more of every day.

10.  No matter how hard this is, how tired I am, how frustrated I may get...I would not change it for ANYTHING!!!  After all, who could resist that face up there!!

Sibling Rivalry

Picture this...you are pregnant with your third child.  You currently have a son and a daughter.  This baby will obviously be either a boy or a girl and current children are fighting over whether they want a new brother or sister.  You know that one of them will be disappointed, but really hope that they grow to love their new sibling and don't actually move out to live with their grandparents the way they have threatened.

This is the situation that I was faced with while pregnant with my third child.  My daughter wanted a sister in the worst way.  My son said that he was moving out if the baby ended up being a girl.  He could not even imagine another girl in the family considering all of his cousins are girls and he already had a lovely, yet annoying (in his words) sister.  I really did worry about his reaction if this baby was to be a girl since he seemed so serious.  Plus, I figured that my daughter, who is the younger of the two, would just be so happy to have a baby around that she really would not be upset with the sex of the baby.  Secretly, both my husband and I had a feeling that this was going to be a boy anyway.  In my ever so logical mind, I thought that a little brother would work out really well because that would make my middle child the only girl and that would lighten the jealousy a bit.

On the day of delivery, we were blessed with a BEAUTIFUL little......girl!  We were all a little bit shocked to tell you the truth.  I was feeling like it would be a boy and was being told by every person I knew (and did not know) that I was carrying like I would have a boy.  We had settled on a boy's name, but really never took girl names seriously.

At first, my daughter was thrilled to have a baby sister and I was pleasantly surprised at how my son took the news.  He fell in love with the baby just like the rest of us had.  He took on the role of the protective big brother right away.  My daughter on the other hand began to have jealousy issues about 3 minutes after bringing the baby home.  She has said things like "your eyes are always on her and never on me" and " you like her more".  I really did not think that she would react this way to a new baby sister!

My husband and I are both the oldest children and each of us have younger brothers.  While I guess you could say we each have had our own amount of sibling rivalry in our lives (mom and dad, if you are reading this I know you are chuckling!)  it is nothing like what I am experiencing with my two daughters.  Many have told me that this is completely normal considering her their ages, but I do worry about what this will be like in the future.  I have heard so much about "middle child syndrome" and birth order.  However, I really just hope and pray that these two girls become good friends.  I know that I prayed for a sister as a child (I love you little brother!!) and still find myself jealous of those who have a sister.  I guess time will tell!

Picture This....

Picture this... you are a teacher who is always trying to get your students to read and write more.  You are a mom who encourages her children to write and tries to really get them to like it.  You try to write on your own because you do enjoy it, but never really have the time.  However, you have a PASSION for taking pictures and would like to create a photo journal of your life to have a keepsake and to share with your family.

I have decided to jump back into bogging for all of the reasons above and a few more.  Just recently, with the birth of my third child, I started to take the "picture of the day" of her to send to friends and family that are out of town.  I have gotten such a great response from it that I thought that it would make a great little project.  It has allowed me to dabble in my passion for taking pictures while keeping a great timeline of the growth of my daughter and all of the things that we are doing.

The blog idea come to me when I realized that I also LOVE to write and and really feel like I need to have a project (besides raising my kids) while I am on leave from my job.  So, here I go!  Once again I am going to jump into the "blogging pond" and wee where it takes me.  Whether or not someone else ever reads it, I promise to give it a fair shake!!