My little Shaw is 7 weeks old. Things are going well. He is still sporadic, however like I have said before I don't know if it is him or me. With your first child you are able to focus solely on that child. With the second one, things just are not the same. I have a 2 year old running around who is also demanding my attention so I don't have as much time to focus on Shaw's behaviors and leading him to a set schedule like I was able to do with Emma.
Mornings he is the most awake--with little to no naps from the time he wakes up (around 630) until noonish. Then he sleeps a lot in the afternoon. He wakes up usually one time through the night. That time ranges from midnight to 2am. With Emma it was pretty much 2 am every night, like clockwork. One thing that is different now is that I work with Corey in Maple Lake (for my dad) and we leave our house at 520 am for work....so if I can slightly tweak his schedule to wake up at 3 then 4 then 430 we will be good. I returned to work on Monday and Monday night was fantastic....Shaw slept thru the night. We put him to bed around 8pm or so and at 4:30 I had to go and wake him up. It was great....and also a fluke. I am writing right now at 4am..and woke up with him around 2:30. It's ok..one step at a time. He is still eating about 5 oz every 3-4 hours. He still loves to be swaddled and loves to be wrapped in blankets. This usually means he is sweating but he doesn't mind.
I think Shaw is looking more and more like Corey. His eyes are a darker blue right now. Corey has hazel eyes ..but Shaw's could always lighten up. I feel like his face structure and features resemble Corey...for sure more than me. A little side story--he also sweats like Corey...so I don't know if anyone else (or their husbands) have this situation but Corey's side of the bed is several shades darker than mine. Yes, it doesn't help that we have white sheets..but anywhere that his skin connects with the sheets is darker. I don't know if it is sweat or just body oils or what. Whenever I wash our sheets (and bleach them) Corey tries to switch the sheets around so he doesn't have the 'dirty' side. I say no way, because then our sheets are going to look dingy everywhere rather than just where his body falls...because my side is still very white. It's an ongoing joke at our house. Well, Shaw has the same thing going on...only since he is clothed/swaddled, the only area that connects with his crib sheets is his neck/head...and where in that spot a dingy circle has formed. It's just kind of funny and I think Corey probably likes to see more of 'him' in our kids...although Emma doesn't look like him..she is sure turning out to have his temper---yippee!
Emma is still fantastic. She recently has learned to give him his nuk and also feed him. She loves him so much and we enjoy watching her interact with him. The downside is when I lay him on the couch or on the floor so I can do laundry/dishes/etc I have to keep an eye on her because even if he is content..or even sleeping..she will still attempt to feed him or shove the nuk in his mouth. She is a very eager helper.
As the end of summer comes around the corner, our racing season is also finishing up. Corey has traveled the last two week-ends to visit new tracks that he has been thinking about. This coming week-end is the Wissota 100 in Huron, but we will not be going. This means the entire week-end is open--its a crazy thing that never happens, literally first time this summer! Next week-end he will only race on Sunday in St. Cloud. The following week-end is the triple header in St. Cloud at the all new Granite City Speedway (formerly Golden Spike). We love it there so we are excited about that. Then we will finish up our season in Alexandria for the Fall Classic the first week-end in October. What is in store for next year? We haven't made the final decision. When Corey came home from Iraq and wanted to start racing we made a 5-year deal saying we would race for 5 years, after that we would re-negotiate if it still fit in our lives or if it would be family time. This year was our 5th year, so we will be negotiating and see how racing fits in to the next chapter of our lives.
I think that is about it. Enjoy these last warm days that we have before the cold comes!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Saturday, September 1, 2012
2 parents + a 2 year old + a 6 week old= the Eystads
Wow, I really (truly...) need to keep up with this. Last time we touched base Shaw was 10 days old and that was weeks ago. He is going to be 6 weeks old on Wednesday. This is so bittersweet since I know that I am going to be returning to work the following week. Just one more week at home with my bundle of joy.
I have learned (or re-learned) some things about myself through this maternity leave:
1. I am not stay-at-home mom material.
2. I am not daycare material for children under the age of 2. I think 2+ would be fun to do projects but I am not running to the nearest county office to sign-up for a daycare license
3. You can't get much done around the house when you have a 2 year old and an infant...and some how you have to adjust your way of thinking that this is ok!
We have went through a few changes with Shaw. Last time I posted I said he was a good baby and slept a lot in the afternoon. This is all still true..however he went through a time where he was very sparatic. Sometimes sleeping for 5 hours at a time and other times waking up every 1-2 hours through the night. The last week has been much better....he goes to bed around 8pm..wakes around 1-2 am and then not again until 5-6 am. I like this MUUUCH better. Once the kids are in daycare they will need to be up and out of the house by 5:20am so Shaw will actually need to wake up around 4:30 in order to get fed and allow me to get Emma and myself ready as well. On the feeding side, Shaw is eating 5-6 ounces every 3-4 hours. He has been very tough to burp so I changed him to the gentle formula and that seems to be working. I also changed up the way I burp him which has also helped. A few people have recommended getting the gas drops which I am also going to try. Shaw also has thrush. I asked my doctor about it at his 2 week appt and she wasn't sure since he was so young but she went ahead and wrote a prescription..I waited to give it to him to see if it would get worse and it recently has..so now he is being medicated.
Even though I am on maternity leave, I have been helping out and clocking in a lot of hours at work. In fact I worked Tues-Fri at 12pm this past week. Corey was home with the kids. He got in to a pattern and by Thursday things were rolling right along...I think Shaw may have been better for him than he was for me...and thats great.
Emma loooves her baby brother! Corey and I have caught her trying to feed him, petting his head, and putting in his nuk when we are not around. When he screams sometimes she says "baby crying" and she (very often) wants to hold him...which we allow her to do as long as he isn't eating or burping. She loves when he lays in her bed with her and together they watch Mickey Mouse....these kids are SO cute!
Emma hasn't done anything more with the potty chair but we will be starting that once fall comes and she is held up inside more often. She is saying more words too---our favorites are "sorry" and "bless you". One day I put her in time out and afterwards I was telling her what she did wrong and trying to get her to say 'sorry'...well after many many attempts she wouldn't. Then the next day Corey was putting her in her carseat and he nudged her a little bit and he goes 'Oh sorry' and she repeated him. She definitely does things on her own time. Now she says it more often and even at the appropriate times. When any of sneeze..or even cough..she follows it up with 'bless you' and its super adorable.
On the racing front, we are wrapping up another year. Corey is participating in the year end invitationals now..which are always the most fun. Our last race will be the Fall Classic which is the first or second week-end in October held at Viking Speedway in Alexandria......if you haven't gotten to watch him this year (or ever)..make sure you do so before the end of the year..........plans for next year have not been decided yet!
That's about it for now!
I have learned (or re-learned) some things about myself through this maternity leave:
1. I am not stay-at-home mom material.
2. I am not daycare material for children under the age of 2. I think 2+ would be fun to do projects but I am not running to the nearest county office to sign-up for a daycare license
3. You can't get much done around the house when you have a 2 year old and an infant...and some how you have to adjust your way of thinking that this is ok!
We have went through a few changes with Shaw. Last time I posted I said he was a good baby and slept a lot in the afternoon. This is all still true..however he went through a time where he was very sparatic. Sometimes sleeping for 5 hours at a time and other times waking up every 1-2 hours through the night. The last week has been much better....he goes to bed around 8pm..wakes around 1-2 am and then not again until 5-6 am. I like this MUUUCH better. Once the kids are in daycare they will need to be up and out of the house by 5:20am so Shaw will actually need to wake up around 4:30 in order to get fed and allow me to get Emma and myself ready as well. On the feeding side, Shaw is eating 5-6 ounces every 3-4 hours. He has been very tough to burp so I changed him to the gentle formula and that seems to be working. I also changed up the way I burp him which has also helped. A few people have recommended getting the gas drops which I am also going to try. Shaw also has thrush. I asked my doctor about it at his 2 week appt and she wasn't sure since he was so young but she went ahead and wrote a prescription..I waited to give it to him to see if it would get worse and it recently has..so now he is being medicated.
Even though I am on maternity leave, I have been helping out and clocking in a lot of hours at work. In fact I worked Tues-Fri at 12pm this past week. Corey was home with the kids. He got in to a pattern and by Thursday things were rolling right along...I think Shaw may have been better for him than he was for me...and thats great.
Emma loooves her baby brother! Corey and I have caught her trying to feed him, petting his head, and putting in his nuk when we are not around. When he screams sometimes she says "baby crying" and she (very often) wants to hold him...which we allow her to do as long as he isn't eating or burping. She loves when he lays in her bed with her and together they watch Mickey Mouse....these kids are SO cute!
Emma hasn't done anything more with the potty chair but we will be starting that once fall comes and she is held up inside more often. She is saying more words too---our favorites are "sorry" and "bless you". One day I put her in time out and afterwards I was telling her what she did wrong and trying to get her to say 'sorry'...well after many many attempts she wouldn't. Then the next day Corey was putting her in her carseat and he nudged her a little bit and he goes 'Oh sorry' and she repeated him. She definitely does things on her own time. Now she says it more often and even at the appropriate times. When any of sneeze..or even cough..she follows it up with 'bless you' and its super adorable.
On the racing front, we are wrapping up another year. Corey is participating in the year end invitationals now..which are always the most fun. Our last race will be the Fall Classic which is the first or second week-end in October held at Viking Speedway in Alexandria......if you haven't gotten to watch him this year (or ever)..make sure you do so before the end of the year..........plans for next year have not been decided yet!
That's about it for now!
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