Meal Planning Week 29

This week has been a little more challenging. Oliver managed to catch his first cold and while thankfully it's been a very minor one he's been much more fussy and clingy, wanting to nurse constantly. Also Derek returned to work full-time (he had been working half days) so I'm adjusting to having both boys to myself all day. I've found it to be much easier if we can get out somewhere but am still working on getting all 3 of us ready in a timely manner without meltdowns on all sides.

At the same time though it's been lots of fun too. Yesterday we took the boys to the local farmer's market where they had a petting zoo and free train rides for kids. David loved it and Oliver was content to sleep in his stroller. Getting out to have fun is one thing that really is easier with the second baby. When David was an infant I always felt a bit out of place when we went to the park and other family friendly activities because he was still too young to participate so we just sat on the sidelines and watched. Now that David's older though there's so many fun options for him and while Oliver tags along for the ride.

Last week I did manage to cook more than I have been though I never quite got around to cooking the chicken poppy. It really has been nice to have a stock of frozen meals ready to reheat. This week I'm continuing to ease back into normal life and hope to gradually get things around here running more smoothly.

• Sunday: Swedish pancakes with cream cheese filling, fresh berries, and nutella
• Monday: Chicken poppy with salad
• Tuesday: Vegetable soup (from the freezer) and BLT sandwiches
• Wednesday: Pulled pork salad with corn on the cob and Raspberry pina colada smoothies
• Thursday: White chicken chili (from the freezer) with corn chips
• Friday: Family reunion
• Saturday: Tuna melt sandwiches and salad

Meal Planning Weeks 26-28

The past couple weeks have involved very little cooking on my part. We've had some meals delivered by neighbors, some from our freezer stash, and a few frozen or take-out foods. Also my sister and her boys have been in town and eaten a few meals at my parents' home. This week though I think I'm ready to start easing my way back into some of our old routines. I was extremely anxious at how we would handle the addition of Oliver into our family mix, but so far it's been relatively painless and I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. There are some challenges of course, but caring for Oliver and David together is less challenging than I remember caring for David alone as a newborn being. I'm sure that it will get more complicated as Oliver gets older and is awake more, especially once he's capable of causing mischief of his own, but at least for now life is manageable. Here's what I have in mind for this week (if you can't tell we're starting to pick some zucchini and squash from our garden).

• Sunday: Derek blessed Oliver while my sister was still in town and we had pulled pork with rolls and various sides. Unfortunately I came down with a stomach bug that morning but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.
• Monday: Derek and David ate at my mom's while I was still recuperating and warmed up some leftovers
• Tuesday: Chicken poppy and roasted zucchini and squash
• Wednesday: Taco salad using frozen taco meat from our freezer
• Thursday: Potato soup and grilled zucchini
• Friday: Broccoli fettucini alfredo using frozen alfredo sauce from the freezer
• Saturday: Hamburgers with grilled zucchini and squash

Oliver Robert Weil

was born on July 2 at 8:27 am weighing 8 lbs 12 oz and measuring 20 inches long. David is pretty excited about being a big brother (often a bit too enthusiastic) and we are all adjusting to becoming a family of four. So far my hunch has been right on about this baby being much mellower than David ever was. I know that it may not last past these first couple weeks but so far I'm really enjoying it. Here's a few things so far that have made all the difference these past few days.

• Oliver will allow us to set him down from time to time. David never would, even while sleeping unless he was tightly swaddled. In fact merely holding him was rarely sufficient. He constantly wanted to be walked or driving in the car. Occasionally he would settle for being rocked or bounced. Oliver on the other hand happily cooed away in his bouncy seat this morning while I took a shower and dried my hair. Pretty amazing, huh.
• When he is fussy Oliver takes a pacifier to calm down. We never had to go through weaning David from a binky because he never took one in the first place. I know it might be a pain later down the road, but there's only so many ways to soothe a newborn and it's pretty convenient in the here and now.
• Oliver is a deeper sleeper. I know this is likely to change in coming weeks as he becomes more aware of his surroundings but it's nice at least for the time-being. David was a super light sleeper from day 1 but Oliver will sleep with other people coming in and out of the room, talking, and even David's tantrums.
• I feel better. For the first week with David I had a horrible spinal headache from the epidural. Not having that this time around has made a huge difference.
• I'm mellower this time around too. I've learned by now to trust my instincts as a mom and that most issues with infants are really just phases that will resolve themselves in time. It's a lot easier for me now to just relax and enjoy my kids without fretting that I'm doing something wrong.

At least in the first week of life Oliver is hands down an easier baby but fortunately David has so many perfectly delightful elements of his personality that make up for being a little higher maintenance at times. In fact as thrilled as we are to have Oliver joining our family part of me aches just a little bit about the fact that David can't be my whole world anymore and that Oliver never will be my sole focus as David was at his age.

Then and now

As most of you already know little Oliver was born on July 2 and I will be posting about that very soon complete with pictures. In the meantime I thought I'd finally publish this post I wrote a few weeks ago comparing the 2 pregnancies. I was waiting because I'd intended to have Derek take some pregnancy pictures of me so that I could post comparison photos but we were never able to get to it with all the last minute rushing around. I suppose that's another difference with this pregnancy. I don't have a single photo to document it. So here it is for all who were curious about how this last pregnancy went (probably no one, but I thought I'd better at least document it for myself). Without further ado:

I've posted very little about this pregnancy and figure that since we've only got a couple weeks left I'd make a note of a few differences between this and my last one.

With David I poured over pregnancy books, websites, baby books and anything else I thought might prepare me to become a parent. I had his nursery completely finished at the start of my second trimester and carefully compared strollers, cribs and various baby gear. All his little clothes were washed and put away months ahead of time. This time around the books are sitting untouched in the basement and we just got around to starting a nursery last week. I still need to find David's old baby clothes and get them washed and put away. The one thing I have done is to stock up our freezer with reheatable meals. Something tells me that might be more helpful than all the pregnancy books in the world.

With David I was more nauseous and seem to remember more aches and pains although I was way more exhausted in the first trimester this time around. I've been more active this pregnancy and managed to keep going to the gym up until about halfway through the third trimester (though it's been a very long time since I've done anything more than walk on a treadmill). I've eaten better this time and gained less weight (and hopefully will have an easier time losing it).

David never held still even in utero. With him if I even went 15-20 minutes without feeling him kick I'd worry that something was wrong. That held true after he was born too. David's always been very energetic and fairly high-strung and even in his sleep would continually thrash and flail. I remember watching him next to other babies his age and thinking that in comparison it looked like David was hopped up on caffeine. This little guy moves and kicks plenty but there are also stretches where I don't feel much movement at all. Also I haven't really felt him startle at things such as the shower water hitting my tummy which I remember happening all the time with David. Obviously it's really hard to get a sense for personality while still in the womb but I so far I seem be be getting mellower vibes from this little one. I'm really curious to know if that holds up to be true.

Finally while I am excited to meet this little guy it's tempered with a lot more apprehension. With David I obviously didn't expect parenting to be a cinch but was blissfully unaware of just how demanding and overwhelming caring for a newborn could be. Now I know better and even still have days where I feel like I'm stretched past my limits caring for one child. I certainly didn't feel this ambivalent with my last pregnancy and when I did worry my fears often centered around birth defects, complications with the birth or other catastrophic events. This time I'm so concerned about adjusting to a healthy baby I can't even consider the alternative.