Friday, June 19, 2009

Joy to the world

Today I had some real joy. Lately my life has been lacking that. I know I should be overjoyed to be a parent and blah blah blah but frankly I have been struggling this week with bad mood swings and the continuing tummy trouble for Sam. Jeff and I talk about how hard things are but one of the biggest trials is the lack of joy in our life right now. This week I had two blissful moments. One was watching So You Think You Can Dance on Wednesday night. I love that show so much. I literally spent all day Wednesday looking forward to it. Say wat you will about TV rotting your brain but I am pretty sure that show is going to sustain me through this acid reflux issue.

Then, tonight we took the whole family to a carnival. It was so impromptu. We are having Papillion Days which is just a random little festival in downtown Papillion (where we live.) I happened to take a different route home from Target, saw the carnival rides and called Jeff to say we should go. So random. Emelia had so much fun and I found joy in watching her giant smile on the merry go round and her look of surprise when the mini motorcycle lifted off the ground. Surprisingly they had lots of rides for little little kids. It was perfect. We ended with a trip to McDonalds and I am pretty sure it was one of the best days we have had since Sam arrived. Oh, one more terrific moment. I painted Emelia's fingernails and toenails this week. Every now and then she will stop whatever she is doing and look at her hands and exclaim "I look so beautiful." Oh to have that much self confidence. I pray she always feels beautiful.

Monday, June 08, 2009

The beauty of the blog

I have a confession to make. Today during nap time I poured myself a glass of wine and read my blog from the beginning. What great perspective. I did make some observations though. Samuel is a more difficult baby as he is less easy going then Emelia was as an infant. I have also decided (and this should have been obvious but you know...) that it is harder with two. When Emelia was born I was able to do things while she slept. Now, when Samuel sleeps I try to play with Emmy or incorporate her in to my chores. (This is definitely a scam I am pulling on her but hopefully she will forgive me.) I do feel like Samuel is getting the shaft because I do not hold him, talk to him or play with him as much as I did with Emelia. Mostly I just want him to go to sleep so I can put him down and get something done. I need to work with him more. All things considered, I just forget that he is only 3 weeks old today. I feel sort of like he has been here forever so I think he should be going longer stretches at night and organizing his day into a more consistent schedule but he is just not there yet and that is okay. I am trying hard to just be okay with where life is and enjoy the little things as I said early on in my blog. I will hopefully be able to incorporate this new found perspective in to my life because things have been rather joyless of late. No matter what we do someone is not enjoying themselves. It is a tough road right now but I will be thankful for the perspective. I also looked at some early photos of Emelia and I think Samuel looks a lot like her.


Thursday, June 04, 2009

Beautiful Disaster

Here is our week at a glance...

Monday - We had Samuel's x-rays. The good news is that his anatomy is fine, the bad news is he has reflux. Apparently he will outgrow it within the next three months to a year. Yippee. We are also on some meds which seems to have helped with the "I'm hurting" screams. My cousin Amanda watched Emelia which was such a blessing because I don't know how I would have dealt with her at the hospital.

Tuesday - Tuesday was Jeff's birthday. I bought him the baseball package on DirectTV so he could watch his Cardinals. I planned to do baseball night at the Mochal household and bought brats and peanuts to recreate that ballpark vibe. I also wanted to get him a few polo shirts since I pried his ill-fitting ones from his hands last month. I went to Target to buy supplies for baseball night, diapers and shirts for daddy. I left without shirts. Dang it! So I went to Kohl's, found what I was looking for and left. I was also hoping to find a nursing bra but no such luck so I dragged the kids to the maternity store for a bra. Emelia was about over me at that point since I had told her we were going to have lunch with daddy and then canceled without consulting her. Found a bra, headed home with enough time to catch a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before nap time. While I was in the bathroom I hear her scream out in pain and come running out to find her holding her elbow and crying hysterically. We have been through the dislocated elbow twice before so I guessed that is what it was. I called the doctor, they said come on in. So at five minutes till 2:00 (aka naptime) I packed up both the kids and headed to the doctor. I nursed Samuel in the exam room while waiting for Emelia to start using her arm again after the doctor popped it back in to place. We finally headed home at 3:45 with a cranky two-year old and a sleeping baby. I was beyond exhausted and just felt like crap. Everything just seemed to snowball, it was such a bad day. That night we had trouble getting Sam down to sleep so the sucky day turned in to a sucky night and I sat alone in Sam's room and just cried. I felt like I was being punished, like I had ticked off God and here I was reaping what I sowed. I know that is irrational but at that moment that is the best way to describe my feelings. I just cried out "God where are you?" Sure enough he answered.

Wednesday - What a better day. I went over to a girlfriends house and Emelia played relatively well with her daughter while Samuel nursed and slept and I was actually able to sit in the sunshine and have a conversation. I think it is the best day I have had since bringing him home. I also reconnected with an old friend who has twins and a toddler and we spent an hour and a half comparing notes on the difficulties of motherhood. It was nice to know that someone who has such a different life than me still struggles with the same things. Some motherhood conundrums are universal. My bathrooms still need to be cleaned but I at least felt like a human being for a day. Then it got even better when Samuel went 2.5 hours, 4 hours and 3 hours between feeding last night. When I went to sleep at 12:45 and woke up at 4:45 I felt refreshed - sad but true.

Thursday - We went to the zoo with my cousin and Emelia seemed to have a really good time. Samuel ate and slept, his usual routine. Emelia fell asleep on the way home but I stretched the trip in to an hour drive as I went across town to Babies R Us. I nursed Samuel in the car in the parking lot while she slept, got my bottle warmer and headed home in time to play puzzles and blocks before daddy came home. For the first time since leaving the hospital I don't feel like a zombie when Jeff gets home and I couldn't be happier.

I really like the Kelly Clarkson song Beautiful Disaster. There is a line that says"if I could hold on through the tears and the laughter I don't know, would it be beautiful or just a beautiful disaster." Right now I think my life is full of tears and laughter and it is a beautiful disaster.