Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Busy......

Life with two kids is so busy! I am starting to feel a little bit less exhausted and overwhelmed each day but still haven't arrived at it feeling normal. Here are some things that have happened around the Pell house:

Crawling........We have a crawler on our hands!! Johnny started crawling a couple of weeks ago and now is following us from room to room. It is a welcome development as he has gone from sitting and fussing for what he wants to just crawling to it. He is so much happier and is content as long as we are in the same room.

Sleep.....hmmmm. Sleep is overrated right? I crave it. I dream (well I would dream if I was ever asleep) of the day that I can have just one night of uninterrupted sleep or a day to sleep in till noon. John and I are surviving on caffeine and the hope that it will get better soon. Inconsistent is probably the best word to describe Johnny's sleeping habits. One day he seems to do pretty well (just wake up twice at night), then the next it will be every two hours. We have had an ear infection, some "cry it out nights" when we lost all patience, and now we are just trying to roll with it instead of resist it. We are focusing on the days instead of the nights and this seems to work. Johnny's tell that he is tired is to grab and pull his beautiful hair. We see this and off to sleep he goes. This has made for a much happier baby during the day which gives me a lot more patience at night to deal with the many wakings.

Attachment.....This seems to have come very easily for us. We "cacooned" for the first couple of weeks and then couldn't stand being cooped up in the house. Emma kept asking, "What we doing today Mommy?" and I would say nothing, very sad about this myself. The Pells like to spend time out and about and it ends up so does Johnny. Those first couple of weeks if we took him out we would cary him in the Ergo and he would get very quiet and just look around. He was definitely overwhelmed with the new sights but as long as we held him, he was fine and didn't show any signs of it affecting him during the day. After about a month, he was cooing and smiling at others and us while we pushed him in a cart or carried him through the store.

We have stuck to John or I being the only ones to give him a bottle or put him to sleep. Within three weeks he was looking to us when he was hungry or tired and ignoring any other adult that might be in the room. Now, he cries and reaches for us. If he is happy and awake he is fine with others holding him. If he is tired, he wants us. And only us. He adores his sister and I think her being with us whereever we go has helped him feel comfortable as long as he is with our family.

Siblings.....Emma and Johnny are learning to be siblings. Emma is doing much better at sharing "her" toys and not smothering Johnny. Emma is a hugger and kisser. She was born to hug and kiss. Luckily Johnny likes this as long as it doesn't hurt. Emma is learning to give out hugs a little less often and a little less intense. She is a great big sister and loves to help me with feeding, getting toys out, and even putting stuff away for Johnny. Other than the normal frustration of a two year old having to share, Emma has had an easy transition into being a big sister.

Stress....The stress level at the Pell house has been unreasonably high. John is working on finishing his dissertation while working full time and being home with the kids two days a week while I am at work. This means that if I am home with the kids and he isn't working, he needs to be working on his dissertation. This means the evenings and weekends are not our own. He has to have a draft turned in by the middle of April so we are just trying to survive the next month until the stress level decreases and we can have more time as a family of four. The couple of days we have had to just have fun as a family have been great. This stress has made the transition these past months much more difficult than it had to be. For all of you adopting or having a new baby, if you can de-stress and slow down life for a while when you bring a new child into your home, do it! As the timing with adoption is so varied we had no idea when we would bring our baby boy home so couldn't really plan around it. John has been amazing through it all to put his family first and be present. I am not really sure how he is doing it. It is now crunch time and he needs to get done. We will make it through but it has been really hard.

I think this is about it for life at the Pell house. I will post some new pictures and videos soon!

5 comments:

JonesEthiopia said...

It is nice to hear how you're doing! You definitely have your hands full right now!

Jenny said...

thanks for the update!!!! still hoping you get better/more sleep soon :\ with this new travel system in place, we're hoping travel works out around matt's comps... ah the life of Ph.D. students! we plan everything in semesters and around writing :-)

Lindsey said...

I had a dream the other night that you dropped Emma and Johnny off (probably so you could go home and take a nap). For some reason I was freaking out about not having a gate for the stairs and I was just carrying Johnny around all day. I woke up smiling and wishing I could call you up to see if you wanted to drop the kids off for the day:) Miss you guys and love you guys.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the Pell's are indeed a busy little household. Sleep will come soon I pray..I wish I was there to play with the babes and let you and John have anight out or even a nap. Love you and miss you Meemaw!!

titushome said...

Glad to hear you Johnny is doing well!!! We are praying the stress and sleep gets better SOON!

Sarah