Saturday, May 14, 2011

Happy Due Date to Eve


It's crazy to think that today is Eve's due date! While I didn't necessarily think I would still be pregnant today, I didn't anticipate having a baby who was nearly 3 weeks old, either. As I mentioned earlier, I kind of got the inkling she would stay put a little longer than Eden, who was born 2 weeks early. Obviously I was wrong about that! On the other hand, when I found out I was pregnant this time around, I had a hard time getting my head around having a baby in May (much the same way I couldn't quite imagine having a baby in July--and didn't). April seemed more appropriate, somehow. And that's when Eve's birthday turned out to be.

Things are going pretty well around here.
One thing I've found is that we definitely need to be sure we make sleep a priority. This past week was kind of crazy, with lots of errands to run and having to have both of the cars serviced, so we wound up getting up early and missing out on naps. We've realized it's not a good point in time for us to be doing that! In addition to just barely dragging around, sleep deprivation also makes us much less patient parents, especially to poor Eden. So we've gotten back to taking parenting shifts and sleeping shifts, and overall, everyone seems to be doing better.

Matt is also getting back to eating more primally. I'm trying, but boy, the early days of nursing are a hard time to make any kind of major dietary changes! I'm constantly hungry, and the several pounds of amazing Trader Joe's dark chocolate I have in the cupboard (compliments of my lovely mother-in-law) are more often than not calling my name. Not to mention the ice cream. And peanut-butter-and-strawberry-jam English muffins, which were a weakness when I was first nursing Eden, too.

On the whole, I think we're settling into a pretty good rhythm for the time being. In the morning, Eden is our alarm clock, usually waking up between 6 and 7 and piling into bed with the rest of us. She and I snuggle for awhile and read a few books, or play Legos, until Matt gets up with her around 7 or so--leaving Eve and me to sleep for another blissful couple of hours, since we're still up quite a bit during the night. Eden and Matt play outside, or she follows him around his workshop. Eve and I often get up between 10 and 11, and then I often take a shift with the girls while Matt either naps or gets some other things done. We usually eat lunch sometime around noon, then Eden goes down for a nap by 1. We all catch a quick breather/rest if not a nap while Eden sleeps (usually only a half hour or so), then we get Matt ready to leave for work by 2:15. The afternoon usually involves some combination of playing outside, getting dinner ready, baths, and/or running errands with my mom; then, dinner with my parents, and it's almost time to get Eden ready for bed. Once she's asleep, I catch my breath, hang out with Eve, and work on whatever household chores or business tasks I'd like to accomplish for the day until Matt gets home around 10:30. We catch up and fill each other in...then head off to bed, and it all starts all over again. Obviously things will change considerably once we're living in Coralville and I don't have so many extra hands to help out, but for now, this is what's working for us.

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