Me and My Gang

On one hand, the first few weeks of Anneliese's life have been a fog. That's par for the course with a newborn -- walking around in a sleep-deprived daze, wallowing in poop and breastmilk. But on the other hand, it's been a honeymoon. Mark was off work for a month, so that fog is all I've had to worry about. And it's not too hard to live in a sleep-deprived daze when you don't have to think about anything else. Right?

Well, the honeymoon has ended. The good part is that the fog is lifting -- Anneliese is becoming a little more predictable for us, sleeping for longer and longer spells, and I am very definitely feeling human. The bad part is that Mark is back at work. Which is scary for me.

His first day back was Thursday, and it was... hard. For some reason being alone with both kids is kind of intimidating for me. It's all new and scary and stuff. But I know tons of moms do it, and once I get used to it and get into a routine, things will be fine. But in the meantime, Thursday was bad. Nathan was defiant and into everything, Anneliese didn't nap all day, a security guard at wal-mart tried to tell me that by nursing my daughter in the pharmacy I was guilty of indecent exposure (it worked out fine, he was actually as nice as possible about it considering he was wrong, and the manager was extremely apologetic... but seriously I feel like this happens to me a lot; what's the deal?), a diaper leaked in the dairy aisle, Simon would not stop barking, Bowden jumped on Anneliese's head twice (and mine once), and I'm not gonna lie -- I cried before the afternoon was over. My mindset at the time: Life at home with two kids -- doable? Yes. Miserable? Also yes.

But the day actually wasn't a total failure, despite how I felt Thursday evening sobbing in the bathtub (where I retreated to within minutes of finishing dinner). I did get Nathan to preschool on time, and picked him up on time. I went grocery shopping, and even though it was an adventure, our cabinets and fridge are now stocked... and within budget, even. The house stayed relatively clean. I got lunch on the table, and I got dinner on the table, and we even ate as a family. Both of my children survived my rookie day, and that's the most important thing.

No, I take it back. The most important thing is that Anneliese slept more than 8 hours that night (from 9ish to almost 5:30). Clearly my ineptitude exhausted her.

And today is Mark's second day back, and things have gone much better. Both children are acting rather angelic. We were able to run some errands, play at the park, and eat lunch... all as a happy threesome. Both of them are now napping. Which is frankly kind of awesome.

It's also easy to feel optimistic when the weather is this gorgeous. So right now I'm actually feeling pretty capable of managing this at-home-mom-of-two thing. I kind of like the idea of spending my time with my new gang: these two amazing creatures.