We are OUTNUMBERED!!!

Our parents are gone, and now it's just Paul and me vs. three kids. We were extremely lucky to have near constant help for an entire month after Zoe was born, but the honeymoon is over. And, reality smacked us hard in the face the first morning after my parents left. A newborn spends a fair amount of time awake at night needing to eat. As a result, this leaves Mom and Dad extremely tired, exhausted and zombie-like come morning. When the baby last eats at 5am and parents finally fall back asleep around 6am, it's near impossible to open one's eyes when 2 energetic toddlers come racing into the bedroom at 7am wanting pop-tarts and Dora the Explorer. So, morning 1 without Grandparents to feed and entertain energetic toddlers was ugly. Paul gave them food, turned on the TV and returned to bed for hopefully a little more sleep. But, NO. The pop-tarts were scarfed, the kids now wanted cereal, Dora ended, and they decided it would be the perfect time to antagonize each other by taking the other's monster truck or doll and running around the house. Ugh. Time to get up and face the day.

Well, we made it through that day and the five days since, and each day is a little easier. The kids returned to daycare, and were a little upset about it the first day back, but have since returned to their normal selves. They do much better on a their normal school schedule - they enjoy their friends and activities at school, especially when the alternative is a tired Mommy and crying baby at home.

Zoe is doing great so far. She is very different from Sophia already. She sleeps 3-4 hours at a time at night, and loves to be held and carried around in the bjorn. I am still breastfeeding, but have been supplementing with formula, especially when we are out and about and I can't easily feed her. She was having a hard time with the initial formula I tried, so I tried another kind for fussiness, and finally we hit the jackpot with soy formula. She never vomited (thankfully!!), but would just cry for an hour or 2 after feeding her and seemed constipated. It's extremely difficult to have a baby who just cries and can't be comforted. I feel for every mother with a colicky baby. She's happy and Thomas & Sophia are sweet and gentle with her. They push her on the swing, give her kisses and yell at me to feed her when she cries (You've got to feed her, Mommy!!!).

I am slowly recovering and feel better each day. I"m still sore and am not supposed to lift anything or do anything strenuous for another week, which is difficult, but I can definitely tell when I've done too much. My 6 week appointment is next week, so hopefully I"ll get the OK to start working out again. I'd really like to fit back into some of my clothes so I don't have to buy new stuff for when I go back to work in May.

We are surviving, and are really glad to know that this will be our last go-around with a newborn. Our eyes are heavy, our house is messy, but we know it won't be forever. We are outnumbered - someone always wants something, needs something, is having a crisis or needs a diaper change and between the 2 of us we are just barely keeping everyone satisfied. I"m sure we will eventually find a good balance, especially as the kids get more independent, but until then we are taking it a day at a time. And, above all, we are ecstatic to have the three most beautiful children anyone can ask for, even if it's leaving us a little googly eyed and delirious!