The first month with two kids | Life with a Toddler & Baby

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Baby B is 4 weeks old, she’s passed the 1 month old milestone and I’m shocked. Where has the time gone? It feels like she’s always been here. Yes I do remember when H and I toddled around on our own, when she was everything. When she got her own way and we lived on Toddler H time. Now, she has to play herself more, and only play with mummy when baby is sleeping or content. Life with two kids is very different, life with a toddler and baby is tricky and at times hard on each of us. Hard on hubby and I, hard on Baby B who doesn’t get as many cuddles and has to wait for milk at times, and hard on Toddler H who has to wait, play herself and share her mummy and daddy. She’s started saying “mummy play with me please?” Which is so cute, but I feel terrible saying no, and love the time we do spend playing. Some afternoons this week we’ve had 2 hour stints in the afternoon to play between feeds, and on other days I feel like we’ve not played at all. It seems there is a wonder week about to happen and I think Baby B might be doing it early, just like her sister always did. She’s been clingy, oh so clingy! She been grizzly, she’s fed all day and she’s just wanted to be held. 

We can see Baby B change every day, her face is getting longer, her chin more pronounced again, she’s more alert, she’s heavier and longer. Her eyes follow us more, she’s turning to face shadows and loves starting at our bedroom curtains at 4am. She absolutely loves her big sister, she looks at her when she runs into the room and let’s Toddler H hold her hands, stroke her tummy, give her cuddles and hold her (under supervision). 

Toddler H just loves being a big sister, for all the reasons I’ve just listed. She is just so affectionate it makes me love her even more. Something I didn’t think possible. 

In saying that, yes she’s been amazing, and she’s fabulous at playing herself while I feed. However, for the first 3 weeks her bedtimes suffered. It was hard on us and really really she was shattered on waking, and miserable by lunch time. She just would not nap unless we had some luck in the car or in the double pushchair which we had to buy because she was a just so tired. She even fell off her buggy board she was so tired!

The other ‘issue’ in the first week was accidents of the wee wee variety. She had quite a few. We think they were mostly due to tiredness from all the refusing to go to bed malarkey, the excitement and just the huge change that had occurred in our lives. She even had an accident at her friend’s house. We felt terrible, seriously it was their brand new wooden floor – so glad it wasn’t on their new carpet! 

We’re mostly through that now, but still have the odd accident. We’re also having issues with her going to the toilet a lot, I mean A LOT. I think it’s for attention and this week she often she seems to need when I’m feeding, and tellingly wants “mummy to come with me” again, a bit of a telltale sign as she was wanting to go on her own before Baby B was born, and in the first week or two too! Hopefully we’ll get through this phase soon. 

On the other hand hubby is finding her newfound habit of screaming (fake crying) for everything and making a baby sound “ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh” for everything really annoying. I do too, but he’s really struggling with it. I suppose I deal with it every day and he has normal conversations and a normal life at work so the screams feel more pronounced. She was also screaming the house down when she woke in the morning, but we’ve had words about that and I think she understands she has to shout for mummy and daddy, at least she has been doing so the last few days. Hopefully she’ll soon be over this ahhhhhhing stage too. We’ve also changed her blind so it’s now backwards and hopefully keeping more light out, so that might be helping her wake later when she’s ready. 

What about me? I think I’m in a bit of a bubble. I’m fueled by coffee, Pepsi and chocolate/sweets/cake and strawberries. 

Night feeds – not too bad, I seem to sleep really really deeply inbetween feeds. Feeds are every 1.5-2.5 hours. We did have a two nights this week where she did a 3 hour stint, but they didn’t last! I tell myself everything’s a phase. I’m up three times usually around 1am, 3am, 5am. I did have a couple of nights similar to the first week when I was up from 3-6am as she just wouldn’t settle, but I assume it was to do with this wonder week as she’s been super clingy etc. since. 

Routine – we’ve been to Toddler H’s classes, dancing and yoga-ing away and also to playgroup. We were a bit late to some as H was refusing to wear pants. I even used the naughty step got the first time ever. It worked! On another occasion I said I was going to play with her friends bye bye and opened the front door. She shouted “wait for me” and got dressed in record time. So, it’s been a tiring week but we got through it.

We have had lots of fun though, walks, playing, play-doh, drawing and puzzles. 

 

After birth – yes that was a bit icky and very different to with Toddler H. With H, I was very sore and sitting was rather painful for quite a few weeks, this time I was pretty much pain free before two weeks were up, actually even after one week sitting wasn’t really a problem. I’ve had a few random stingy pains so am waiting to swim until after my 6 week checks as my stitches haven’t been checked since they were done. I’ll write about Baby B’s birth and after birth separately. On the whole I had lots of cramps (worse than with H) for the first week, but not much since. They were really painful, but on the bright side my stomach has gone right down. 

  

Baby stats – 4 weeks

Weight – 4.7kg / 10lb 5oz (Friday 30th June) (birth was 8lbs)

Length – 55cm (birth was around 51cm)

Temperement – Baby B is so content most of the time, happy to be put down, feeds quickly and sleeps well. Yes we have instaces like this last week where she won’t be put down, but I’m sure it’s a wonder week phase. 

Growth – she’s grown so much since birth. She was in newborn clothes for the first week, up to 1 month clothes until 3 weeks and now is in 0-3 months on the whole. 

Achievements – within the first week her eyes were open and wide. She was following us and looking at shadows and windows across the room. Her alertness just keeps increasing and she really does like staring at our bedroom curtains at 4am every single morning, much to my frustration. 

Now at 4 weeks old she also loves to look at her big sister, she cranes round to see her when she’s led down, she’s grabbing toys (perhaps not on purpose) but she definitely swipes in their direction and at me if I’m not giving her milk fast enough. She ah ah ah’s away when she sees she’s going to be fed. She sometimes smiles at me when I pick her up to feed her (a couple of hours after her last feed). She’s happy for Toddler H to hold her hand or give her cuddles, much to our held breaths. 

We’re loving being a family of four, yes is tiring and a bit crazy, but it’s still such early days. 

  

Still loving being a big sister | #MySundayPhoto & #SilentSunday 

4 weeks – a happy time, I love seeing how much Toddler H loves her sister, I can’t imagine life with out our little tiny Baby B, a time of not wishing the days away – we’ll never have a newborn again to see these moments, and, tiredness (semi-cured by coffee, chocolate, cakes & friends). #happydays