The Smith Family Adventures

It’s funny after you have a baby. You’d think that since Caleb is our third, we’d have it all down by now. But we still have to relearn how to do everything. How do we do bedtime now? How do we get out the door in the morning? When Nathan goes back to work, I’ll have to relearn it all again…how to do it all by myself.

I decided that today was time for our first outing (other than going to the pediatrician). Elias had basketball class, we needed a few things from Target, and I remembered at the last second that I really wanted Simon to get a haircut before our family portraits tomorrow. Since I have Nathan home with me, I decided those three tasks sounded doable, so we packed up the whole family and went out for the first time.

Basketball class was fun. Elias always has a blast, and Caleb slept through the whole thing so that was easy. Then we headed off to get Simon a haircut. I fed Caleb in the van while Nathan took the boys inside. Caleb finished up just in time for me to get inside and approve the haircut.

Then we went to Target to get things we needed like diapers and a stocking for Caleb. Everything went really smoothly. No meltdowns from anyone. It was a great warm up…a great first outing. I know I’ll be able to manage just fine, but I still am dreading Nathan returning to work. He is such a help and the boys love having him home. I think they will miss him too!

We’ve got three boys. Three brothers. Every time I see Elias and Simon playing together I imagine what it will be like with Caleb in the mix some day.

For now, we are just sticking with kisses and hugs. Occasionally the boys will still try to show Caleb a toy, but they seem to have given up since Caleb hasn’t shown any interest yet. Elias did say he wants to hold Caleb standing up…we’ll have to wait a while on that one.

Here is Simon “holding” Caleb:

And Elias giving a kiss:

This morning Elias and Simon were having fun with their Christmas hats. Simon had a tuba Christmas hat, and Elias had a Santa hat. They begged for me to let Caleb join the fun, so we had a mini photo session. Here are just two of the many shots.

I was glad to finally get a good picture of the three brothers together, and they were very proud of their Christmas hats. It’s fun having three boys!

Well, we’re closing in on the end of another day, and I just got Caleb down for what will hopefully be a couple of hours. I should probably be sleeping too since it is so hard for me to come by sleep these days, but I just felt an overwhelming need to just sit and do something I wanted to do in the quiet.

Tomorrow Caleb will be one week old. It’s hard to believe a week has already gone by, and at the same time I can’t believe it has only been a week. Our lives are so different from what they were, and even what they will be in just a few short weeks. The first few weeks of a baby’s life are such a whirlwind, and I just want to write down a few things about Caleb’s first week. I probably won’t remember them later.

Caleb has started to follow a bit of a routine. He is relatively happy in the morning and afternoon. He sleeps most of the time, but if he has happy quiet alert time, it is usually in the morning following nursing. He likes to look around in the bathroom at all of the bright lights and reflections in the mirror. He generally likes to be held upright over being laid back. Caleb has a rough time in the evenings. He has been grumpy from late afternoon/dinner time on, and often cries most of the time until bed. This is stressful for me and Nathan, and is hard on the older boys as well. Caleb doesn’t sleep well for the first half of the night, but often sleeps very well the second half. Last night, he slept from about 5:30 a.m. to about 9:00 a.m. in the bassinet. That’s a great chunk! Unfortunately, we have to wake up at 6:30 in order to get Elias to school on time so we hardly got to sleep any of it.

All of this will change soon, I’m sure, but it will be fun to have this written down. I just stared at Caleb as he was falling asleep tonight, trying to take in every little detail. The shape of his tiny ears. The feel of his skin. The sound of his breath.

Yesterday we took Caleb to the pediatrician for his first visit. He is up to 8 pounds, 13 ounces, which is still down from his birth weight of 9 pounds, 3 ounces, but is up from his discharge weight which was 8 pounds, 8 ounces. It’s great to know he is gaining weight and seems to be as healthy as can be. Here he is on his first outing:

We’ve been trying to get Caleb to enjoy tummy time, the swing, or the bouncer chair. Anything that gets him out of our arms. We love holding him, but sometimes we just need to set him down and it would be nice if he wouldn’t cry when we do so! He enjoyed tummy time for about a minute this morning. That’s up from the twenty or so seconds it was last time….

Tonight Baba and Ama brought us a delicious meal. We got to have broccoli chicken with white rice. We discovered that Baba has the special touch. He was able to get Caleb calm during his fussy evening grumpiness. It was great to have an evening free of the sound of baby cries.

We are one week in, and we are adjusting pretty well to life as a family of five. I am slowly but surely recovering from surgery. Elias and Simon are adjusting to having a baby brother. Elias appears just fine on the outside, but he’s got a lot going on inside that he tries to hide. This evening he asked Baba to take Caleb home with him, and when Baba said he couldn’t do that, he asked to sleep at Baba’s house. Because of that I spent some extra time with Elias at bed time. We lay on the bed in the dark and just talked. He said he likes having a baby brother, but he feels frustrated having a baby brother. He sounded like he was holding back tears as he said it. I talked him through his feelings, and tried not to cry myself. Although this is nothing like the tough time he had when Simon was born, it’s still hard to know that my child is going through so many tough emotions. I know in the end everything will work out, but it doesn’t make going through it any easier.

So…one week in and we are simultaneously celebrating life and just trying to survive!

I’m sitting here a week out from my due date and feeling both very excited, a little nervous, and mostly just tired of waiting. I remember from my previous two children that the last month of pregnancy feels like a year. But it doesn’t make the waiting any easier.

Things have gotten very uncomfortable for me. Simon and Elias have gotten fed up as well since my belly is so swollen. They have a hard time hugging me and I pretty much have no lap for them to enjoy.

Change is a comin’ for us. I know it is a good change, but I feel like I look at Simon with pity every time I see him. I predict he will be quite jealous. He is a willful fireball of a child, but he is so sensitive. I love him so much and I dread having to see him upset. Of course, he almost always follows Elias’ lead, and I think Elias is going to be our strong one this time around.

I’m not really saying anything new in this post. Mostly I’m just procrastinating. I’ve got a lot to do to be ready for this baby. We haven’t packed for the hospital or set up the bassinet. And there is a lot of other stuff that would be really nice to get done…like going to the post office or paying bills so I don’t have to worry about those after baby comes.

Or…maybe I could go drink a glass of water and read a good book and try to take my mind off my aching body. We’ll probably be fine either way.