Toddler and New Baby Time

Playing with my toddler AND new baby (2 months) is a new challenge for me.  How do you juggle playing with both kids?  Did you experience sibling rivalry?  A jealous toddler while you nurse?  Guilt leaving the baby crying while you tend to the toddler (I’m thinking about potty training in particular!) or visa versa (just more guilt)?

These are all things I’m working through and here are a few things I’ve learned so far.  My toddler wants to help but he’s genuinely not sure what to do with a baby.  So I ask my toddler lots of questions about how the baby is doing.  Is he happy?  Is he crying?  Hungry?  This seems to help my toddler interact and be a part of the mommy-baby situation.  My toddler now likes to report the new baby’s behavior, especially in the car when I can’t see him.  My toddler also likes to help by getting things for me such as a diaper or water.  In the pictures below you can see that my toddler also likes to mimic what I’m doing and take care of “his” baby, who he named Isaac.  Since he likes to do everything himself, he can practice doing all the things I do with our little one.  This way if he asks to do something to help that maybe is not appropriate yet, I’ll ask him to do it with his baby!

What are your toddler/new baby tricks?  How do you handle both together?

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Happy 3 Weeks Old!

Baby Bear, you are almost three weeks old!  I can’t believe it.  You’re perfect and I love you!  Three weekends ago I began pre-labor.  (Up until contractions are 10 minutes apart is considered “pre-labor”.)  I did not know that at the time.  I had contractions 45 minutes apart all Saturday.  I went to the gym, cleaned, and even went out to lunch.  The waitress was slightly alarmed by my groans.  By the close of Saturday, contractions were 20 minutes apart.  By the close of Sunday, they were 10 minutes apart.  So apparently, I did not start “real” labor until Sunday night.  Sometime Sunday night, the contractions stopped.  I did not even know that was possible.  In hindsight, I should have gone to bed and rested.  Alas, I was too excited to get the show on the road.  I began marching around the house to help induce labor.  By 2 or 3 am Monday morning, we headed to the birth center.  As soon as we got there, my husband and the midwife took a nap while I waded in a plastic, blown up hot tub.  I ate and drank herb tea to assist with contractions.  The tea tasted horrible, but I would have done anything the midwife asked.  Then, the fun began.  We tried every labor position possible.  Some of them the midwife and I argued about but I eventually gave in.  I actually found contractions on the toilet quite manageable.  From there, nothing went as planned.  My labor was long.  My water wouldn’t break.  Pushing lasted a very long time.  I was very tired at the end and my contractions started to weaken.  Baby Bear decided to poop on the way out.  He came out slightly off-center and he needed a little suction to clear his lungs.  I say all that just to say how perfect it all turned out and how perfect he is now.  I was never concerned or in pain.  We simply addressed every challenge with patience and persevered.  I am so glad we used a midwife and delivered at a birth center.  As soon as Baby Bear was placed on my chest around 5 pm Monday evening, all my energy returned.  We went home a few hours later.  Time for the next adventure!  Three weeks later the newest challenge: to passie or not passie?