Sanity Update and 2nd Time Parent Thoughts

For some reason, I thought the transition from one child to two would be MUCH easier than the from none to one. Well it wasn't quite as difficult, but you have to learn to balance more. You can't just focus on the child, then the husband, then yourself. It's the child and the baby crying for attention at the same time. As an example, after much trial and error I learned that it was best to put Jacqueline down for a nap, then I could help Asher.

Did I mention that Asher only took two naps in the first month after Jacqueline was born? He was overly tired and would literally bounce all over, had no self control, and started waking up multiple times at night. All sleep related I promise you. As soon as I made him take a nap in a pack 'n play with a wood board angled on top (so he could stand up but not get out) hope and sanity came back. After crying for 20 minutes in the pack 'n play he wanted to go in his bed and promised to sleep, he laid down and slept for 3 hours. The next day all I had to do was threaten him with sleeping in the pack 'n play and he took a nap in his bed. Things weren't perfect nap-wise for awhile but they were much better. He is now back to taking a nap every day and my happy son is back.

I have a friend who is about to have her 7th child and I emailed her for infant sleep and balancing multiple kids ideas, knowing that she is a professional. Just the encouragement and personal stories helped me have a better perspective knowing that someone as awesome as her had struggled. It also helped me have a change of attitude as to how short of a time most babies are terrible sleepers. In the end, we started getting more than 2 hours of sleep when we pulled her into bed with us, something I swore I would never do. I'm glad we have a king size bed so we are not too cramped. We now get 3 to 4 hours of sleep at a time.

I am happy to report that Asher loves his sister.

Jacqueline at 1 week

Thank you to the many friends who brought over food and prayed for us!