Keeping it real

Rereading my last post, I realized that I might have made things sound just a bit more delightful then they actually are. As though Teddy, Ferdi and I spend most of our time frolicking and giggling...which would probably just creep me out to be honest. I still have a 2 1/2 year old and a baby, and get to deal with all of the fun which that entails.

I am big on sleep. I spent a lot of time working on Theo's schedule and sleep and I am proud that he is an amazing sleeper now and has been for quite a long time. I'm also already working on the baby's sleep. Right now that means watching wake times and trying to keep him up no longer then an hour stretch during the day. Now with one child this is kind of feasible with two.. not so much.

That means that if the timing is off and the baby becomes a bit overtired we all get to listen to Ferdi scream in the car on the ride back from picking Teddy up from daycare. Then we get to listen to Ferdi scream while we unload the car, and while I convince Teddy that we don't have time for him to "drive" up front. We get to listen to him scream while I convince Teddy to put back his balance bike and to put down the bike pump. We get to listen to him scream while I carry him, the groceries, Teddy's hat and jacket which he no longer wants to wear, and my purse up the four flights of stairs to the flat.All the while convincing Teddy not to ring neighbor's door bells, try on other peoples shoes, or go back downstairs to go outside. Of course my tone stays calm and quiet as I playfully encourage Teddy to keep going while the baby literally screams at the top of his lungs (he is bright red and sweating by this point). My midwife once remarked that Ferdi was pretty loud, uhm aren't all babies I asked? No apparently not, some babies are quiet, probably the same ones who just grunt when they are hungry and sleep 8 hour stretches by the time they are 4 weeks.

Of course we manage to get upstairs and 95% of the time I actually am still a pleasant person to be around. The baby gets nursed to sleep and put in the swing, Teddy gets some one on one attention, and if my husband is lucky I even get started on making some sort of dinner but in those 15 minutes before peace hits there is definitely no frolicking going on.