New Normal

One year ago today we brought Griffin home from the hospital, and our party of five was together in the same room for the first time! It is really hard these days to not feel nostalgic and a bit weepy when I think of just how far we've come in the past 365 days. One year seems like a lifetime ago, but in other ways it feels like just yesterday that we were dealing with our new role as parents and round-the-clock caregivers of 3 newborns. As we ease into their 2nd year of life it feels like we are once again adapting to a new normal. It's certainly not as exhausting, stressful, and overwhelming as where we were a year ago, but there are certainly days when the adjustment feels easier than others.

We have a tendency to change up the boys' routine just as soon as we get comfortable and adjusted to a particular schedule. The past couple weeks has been no exception. We've basically rocked all of our worlds by drastically changing their daily schedule. We dropped all their bottles cold turkey right after their first birthday, with the exception of their bedtime bottle, which we continued until we ran out of frozen breast milk. Admittedly, we went through the frozen stash much, much quicker than I anticipated. I had hoped that we could make it to 13 months with the frozen milk...we didn't even make it 2 weeks past their first birthday.

We gave them their last official bottle on July 1st, and that was it. No more bottles. We've replaced their bedtime bottle and books with bedtime books and teeth brushing. The first few nights went relatively well- there was a minimal amount of crying when we put them down for the night, but they slept all night like champs. I think they were enjoying their new toothbrushes and it was a good distraction from the missing bottles. But it seem like the novelty has worn off. The past couple nights we've had more tears than usual when we put them down and the tears have lasted longer than this mama is comfortable with. We try to let them self-soothe and they generally can calm themselves down on their own within a few minutes. But Cooper especially has been wailing for extended bouts of time the past couple nights. It's been especially tough for me, I admit. We have been lucky, fortunate, spoiled- whatever you want to call it- but our kids don't cry at night when we put them down. At least not for more than 5 or 10 minutes max. So when Cooper cried and fussed for 30+ minutes without letting up, I had to go in. Last night I brought him back out to the play room and rocked him for a bit before putting him back down. He still fussed a bit when I put him back in his crib, but he was able to fall asleep on his own pretty quickly. But tonight was a different story- even me holding him wasn't cutting it. He was NOT happy at all. We finally caved and gave him a 6 oz bottle of whole milk...and he went right down after he finished. Clearly we are all working on this abrupt adjustment to our schedule. I'm sure there will be more frustrating evenings like this as we battle through the transition, but we'll get through it. I will have to start toughening up my skin because I can't keep teaching Cooper that I'll come in an rescue him if he cries loud and hard enough!

Speaking of adjustments to a new normal, it feels like I have endless amounts of free time now that I've finished pumping. I truly have forgotten what it feels like to be able to relax at the end of the day and enjoy some downtime before bed. Before it was a mad rush all night from the moment I walked in the door to the moment I laid down to go to bed (get home, get dinner prepped for both us and the boys, have dinner, clean up dinner, diaper and change the boys into PJs, prep lunch for the next day, prep bottles, bedtime bottles, bedtime books, put the boys down, wash dishes, prep pumping bag for next day, shower, and pump). Nowadays, it is a little more relaxed. There is still the initial rush for the first few hours to get dinner prepped and the boys fed, changed, cuddled, and off to bed. But once they go down for the night I don't have to rush straight into the next thing on the to-do list before bed. I have noticed that my blogging has suffered since I did the majority of my writing while pumping. It will take some focus to sit down and write updates at night now. But the call of the couch and mindless television has been far more enticing the past couple weeks!