Still alive and kicking... albeit sleepily

I've been away from the blogosphere - and from my Mac - for the past three weeks, mainly due to lack of time and when that was available, sleep, food or a peaceful moment in the shower or a caffé latte were my priority... So if you've sent me an email or a text and are still waiting for a reply please forgive me and consider this your update for now and know that we are alive and kicking.

It's been tough and it's not over.

Not that I want to over dramatize, but lack of sleep is a killer. A colicky second child is a killer. Add to that an attention seeker first born and Spring that is more like November than May and you get a flavor of my feeling of tired.

I cannot emphasize how grateful I am to have super hubs around and SO helpful with Emma and Will. As things stand, Steph takes Will after I have given him a last double feed at 8 and 9pm so I can catch some sleep. I take over again at mid-night or whenever Will wakes up. We'll try getting on to a E.A.S.Y routine when Will is over a month old.


Oh, and whether you have a super hubs or not, the single most essential thing to have when you've got a second child is a baby carrier so that your hands are free!!!

My view of Will in his babybjörn baby carrier

Other than that, Will is super cute, if resembling Don Camillo from the Panzani commercials (see below) with his bulging absolutely huge eyes and funny nose.

He seems very "here" for such a young one. His eyes seem to focus and he actually knocks his little bells on his pram.

Unfortunately, he sleeps like log in the night to the point of not wanting to eat for more than 10 minutes a pop and hence wakes me exceedingly often. I am so tired by morning I just want to hide under the covers and tell everyone and everything to just go away. On the positive side, during day time he mostly manages to sleep through Emma's singing, shouting, crying, pouncing, jumping, etc. and manages to sleep between feeds for up to 3,5 hours. If only he would do the same at night...

His first visit to the pediatrician last week went well and we were told he had put on 700gr in two weeks and now measured 57cm (what?! 6 cm in 2 weeks?! well, maybe her just stretches out more).

Emma is being very good, giving him a zillion kisses a day and always asking where he is as soon as she wakes up or comes in from the garden or park. Her absolute favorite is when I tell her Will needs changing and she gleefully shouts "C'mon Mummy, let's change Will!" and that he has (no doubt) made a huge caca!

She also quite enjoys bath time as she pours water over his belly or holds his foot to lessen the Moro reflex.
She does, admittedly ask for more cuddles from me and sometimes looks a bit put out when Will is yet again "eating from boobie" but generally she has grown accustomed to having him around. It will be another thing when he starts moving around and playing with toys.

Having gone through a short spell of finding it really hard to tell Emma I cannot run/jump/draw with her while I am feeding Will, I have found ways to do things with her during this time. A book can be read and a song can be sung (she now knows the ABC song!) and questions can be asked - although Emma's focus on answering them is not great - sort of like when I am driving.
The most annoying moments are when she tries to kiss him or do my hair while I am breastfeeding; Emma is the clumsiest, heaviest dinosaur of a little girl and inevitably hits me in the chin, knocks Will, falls over the both of us, knocks over the bottle of water, falls over her own feet, etc. It can be quite annoying when it happens 20 times a day I can assure you!

Actually, I get annoyed at hearing myself repeat "be careful", "gently", etc. over and over again.

Well, that's about it (it's taken me about 4 days to write the above!) - I'm going to attempt a catnap before Will wakes.