Adjusting

Well, adjusting from one "baby" to two is harder than I thought, I have to admit. Kallen has really done an awesome job at being a big brother. He's nothing but sweet to Kolya. He did tell me that he wanted me to put her back in my tummy though. When I asked him why, he said, "So she can still kick me!" That's a much better answer than the one I was expecting.

Kolya seems to be an incredibly easy baby. She sleeps so well at night that I actually got mastitis (plugged ducts in the breast that lead to fever and flu-like symptoms) because she wasn't waking up in the middle of the night to nurse. I guess there's no win-win situation in the sleep department. After the first few weeks of breastfeeding though, Kolya and I have learned together and figured out how to make this thing happen. I really want my breastfeeding attempt with Kolya to be successful since I was never fully confident with Kallen and he eventually weened himself at 6 months. Kolya only seems to cry if she's hungry or wants her diaper changed. Otherwise, she sleeps a lot or is wide-eyed taking in her surroundings. She's already started to smile at us. Three days in a row now she's looked me straight in the eyes and gave me a huge smile. She's such a pretty girl!

Our sleep schedule is horribly messed up! Kallen's bed time has changed from 10:00PM to midnight and not much seems to get him back on schedule. He's also waking up at 5:00AM every morning and coming to our room fussing. Some nights, he wakes more than once. Before Kolya was born, he was fairly easy to get to sleep and he slept the whole night in his own bed. Kolya sleeps well, but sometimes she doesn't go to sleep until 1:00 or 2:00AM. If you figure I'm going to bed at 2:00, dealing with Kallen's night waking once or twice each night and then nursing Kolya when she wakes up around 7:00 or 8:00, I'm getting some pretty chopped up sleep. I've ended up sticking Kallen in my bed in the mornings and turning the TV to Noggin so I can go back to sleep for a few hours. My poor child has fed himself breakfast and even gotten himself dressed several times in the past few weeks because I'm literally too wiped out to do it. I'm trying hard to drag myself out of bed in the mornings and get going for the day. It seems to help me if I plan an outing for Kallen to get us motivated to get up and dressed. Unfortunately, this means daily trips to Tyler or Longview since I haven't found anything fun for Kallen to do in Henderson other than play with our 3-yr-old next door neighbor. Our main day trips include: Pump It Up Jr. in Longview followed by Chick-fil-A for lunch and then playing in the play area or going to Tyler to play at the McDonald's on Broadway with the cool, indoor play area followed by an afternoon at the Discovery Science Place. We've actually been to DSP two days in a row this week. I'm still on the hunt for fun kid things for Kallen to do. I've called some local churches about part-time childcare for the fall just so that Kallen can keep on socializing and understanding school procedures and routines. He's told me twice this week that he misses his friends at Nana's Playhouse (his school in Beckville by the school where I taught.) I'd also love to find some kind of soccer, karate, gymnastics, etc. class to get him into just so he can have something to look forward to learning each week.

I keep saying "once we get back into a routine, I'm going to..." well, this list is getting long so let me sum it up:
Once we get into a routine, I'm going to...
1- work with Kallen at home on some type of school-like workbook/activities
2- help Sasha in the clinic
3- find more friends in Henderson
4- join some local organizations to meet more people in Henderson

Highest on my priority list right now is to start going to church in Henderson. I told my whole family that we were going to go this past Sunday, but then after a night of very few hours of sleep, I was the one who was perfectly content to sleep in come Sunday morning. Once these kids get on some kind of schedule, I'm sure I'll be able to muster up the energy to get us going in the mornings. I have to find that energy soon. And in saying that, let me add that with our move to Henderson, we've given up coffee and sodas and started buying as much organic food as possible. What a horrible time to give up caffeine!