We have been blessed with a wonderfully happy baby girl. Some things have fallen right into place while other aspects of our life have struggled.
Sleep- I would say this is one area where I have been doing pretty well. Wohoo- and probably due to the co-sleeping (see previous post). Baby T has yet to sleep in her crib at all... now she is often sleeping in the pack n play or baby rocker by our bed. She has also started feeding only about 6 times a day and usually at about the same times. It has really helped me be able to get out of the house and go to activities without always having my shirt up... or down. ha And start doing The Shred.
Most of our problems have had to do with the boys... at this age they don't exactly tell you that they do not like sharing mommy with a baby, and they don't even understand their frustration. But I could tell when J started crying for mommy every night and staying up crying for an hour or more till someone came to lay with him and all the sudden having separation anxiety at church when he NEVER faced this before. He did not have separation anxiety when we moved to San Antonio or here to Las Vegas, only since he has had a baby sister. J is doing better as he gets used to having sissy around and sharing mommy, but it has just been gradual. And we have put J in some soccer classes which we all go and watch, and he feels like he is getting to shine. He can dribble the ball all the way across the field!
And D, oh my 4 year olds - I never thought he would try us so much... he was stubborn at 2 and so sweet at 3, but 4... He has learned how to talk back and to get his brother to do the 'dirty work' anytime he can to not get the punishment himself. We have been exasperated with him and he with us, but we have begun to make a dedicated effort to teaching him about respect and obeying right away with a happy heart and he has really does well with boundaries that are enforced. We have been re-reading "Don't Make Me Count to Three." We left Fort Worth right in the middle of reading this book and it was a perfect time to pick it back up. We have had to force ourselves to have more energy and not let our discipling slide now with having a newborn around. With this D has started karate, which he loves. I never thought of karate as an activity for my kids, I don't know what I did plan for them... I really don't understand boys! D loves it and mostly because he wants to learn to spar with other kids. Oh my- I guess at least it is controlled well.
