While I was pregnant, I pleaded with the baby to be healthy and 'please be a great sleeper!'. I think it worked relatively well. Ava sleeps now for 11 hours at night and gets up once, sometimes twice, to nurse. She only needs to nurse for about 10 minutes most of the time, and she never cries and cries at night for no reason. All the worries I had about Ava waking Rachel up and Jason and I killing each other when we were grumpy and sleep-deprived never came to anything... at least not yet!
We have been so blessed through this journey so far and have so much to be thankful for:
1) Ava is healthy and is a very easy baby.
2) Jason had the summer off to be with us as a family.
3) Rachel has been sleeping quite well and regularly sleeps past 6am now. Jason usually gets up with her and lets me sleep until he needs to get ready to go or until Ava gets up. This gives me the energy I need to deal with Rachel during the day.
4) Rachel goes to preschool Tues and Thurs for the day, which gives me a chance to catch up and have a break from her. It allows her opportunities to socialize and do art projects and songs we don't do at home.
5) Rachel has become much more independent throughout this process, and is a great help to me with Ava most of the time. She has been less needy and less jealous than I expected.
6) Rachel and Ava seem to have some understanding of each other in ways that are wonderful. For example, Ava can scream and cry in the car and Rachel can stay asleep through it in her own car seat. Rachel seems to ignore me if she sees me snuggling with Ava in the middle of the night, and doesn't complain.
7) Rachel is learning to be quiet when Ava needs to sleep. It's a challenge, but Rachel is doing better with this than I thought. And Ava actually naps quite well during the day in her own crib, despite noise around her at times.
8) My phone. I know it's ridiculous, but having an iphone has made life way easier on me this time around. I can check email and surf the net if I need to keep myself awake or entertained while I nurse Ava. A phone is small enough to hold and operate with one hand, and also has games on it. I will admit I have played way too many games on my phone in the last three months.
9) Jason's job. Back in the Spring we weren't sure what Jason's teaching scenario would be for this year. We are so lucky to have him working enough so that I can stay home. It's not a good financial time for us, but we are able to have me home without pay for a handful of months to allow a great start for Ava.
Things that are challenging for us now include:
- Ava won't take a bottle. We're pulling our hair out on this one. It feels like it's trapping me from being able to organize going back to work, daycare, finances, exercise, any hope of a date, etc. We will continue to try and have plenty of suggestions from friends... so please cross your fingers on this one for us!
- Money. I feel pretty guilty being at home not earning any money these days. We won't be able to do it for much longer. We're really trying to trim our spending, which means less travel and less ambitious adventures and outings. It's not as fun.
- Jason is working long hours. He's often gone from 7am until 6pm. He'll continue coaching daily until Oct 26, and then cross country coaching will slow down.
- It's a balance to work out living with one car. We really like the idea of being a one car family... but a second car seems like a great luxury that would make our lives much easier if we had it.
- As always, we wish we had close friends or family near by to help us with the odd night to go out or have fun or run errands together.
There are often times when this time of our life seems all consuming. Our lives are almost all about our girls. We don't go out much. Jason and I don't spend much time together as a couple. We aren't very social. We're not saving up any money. We're not climbing any corporate ladders. We look forward to a time in the future when our girls can be less dependent on us and we can adventure, travel, relax, and laugh more together again - as a couple or as a family. BUT... right now we have the joy of enjoying Ava's soft skin and her adorable smile. Every day we get to hear Rachel make us laugh with a creative story or something hilarious that comes out of our mouth. Our girls are the most precious things in our life. They are so rewarding and so amazing.
There's a country song by Trace Adkins called "You're Gonna Miss This" ... if you haven't listened to it, I really recommend you do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIBediEAcUQ
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