Having a five month old really just is a blast. Julianna is just such a joy – she’s sunshiney delighted most of the time, super easy to soothe if and when she does cry. I’ve had no problems nursing for the past three months, we’re just starting solids – and so far, that’s just all the way fun as well. I gave her rice cereal today for the first time, and she was literally cooing with joy in between spoonfuls. She’s still a nursing queen, and I’m not looking to wean, but she really does like solid food, so I’m trying to give it to her consistently. She loves, loves, loves just about everyone, with special attention for her parents and brother and sisters. At five months, she’s mostly sleeping thru the night, sometimes waking once, sometimes twice to nurse and go right back out. Napping is a bit more of a challenge, but that’s my fault. Sam was (and is) such an incredibly easy kid to get to sleep – and I was able to just nurse him to sleep as an infant, and slip out of the chair and he’d nap for hours in the middle of the living room. Julianna seems to require quiet and calm, so I have to nurse her down, and wait until she’s hard core asleep, and then gently lay her down in the bed and ease away quietly. And even then, it’s got to be mostly quiet in the house to keep her asleep. With a husband at home (an extremely loud husband – his normal speaking voice is just loud) and a rambunctious four year old, keeping the house quiet for naps is next to impossible…. She’s still pretty miserable in the car, but other than that – her life is pretty blissful.
Jess is still doing great at school. Second grade is a LOT harder than first, she’s got more homework, and is graded much more harshly. But so far, she still seems to be happy and content. We’re working on getting into a good schedule re: homework, and I’m not ashamed to say that I totally bribe her. If she does her homework every night, without a fight, then on Saturday, I promised her a special trip, just she and I, down to the coffee shop down the street for hot cocoa.
Still feel mostly okay about pulling Sam out of preschool. He still gets to see Jordyn and Harrison a lot, and has started taking preschool Hebrew classes as well, on Saturdays, so he’s in a vaguely classroom setting as well. Mostly, he’s just loving having his Daddy here.
Marc and I are still adjusting to him being home. Long term, the plan is for him to go back to school starting in January, but for now, he’s just hanging at home with me. And it’s, at times, a little tougher than I anticipated it would be. Marc and I – we have such a strong marriage, legitimately, he’s my best friend and I love spending all this time with him – but the man has a hard core computer addiction and can lose himself for hours in front of it, reading economics blogs and playing some odd warcraft game while the laundry and dishes pile up around him. It’s not that he thinks I should be doing the housework instead of him – I honestly believe that he just doesn’t see it. Somehow. But I get bitchy and cranky when I’m cleaning and nursing and refereeing and he’s lost in Paul Krugman’s latest post. When he was working fifty hours a week, I did 95% of the housework and probably 75-80% of the day to day child rearing. But now he’s home… and I’ll be honest – I freaking hate doing dishes. So I have to work on communicating without nagging and he has to work on paying more attention to the world around him. He’s happy to help out, he just doesn’t think to unless I remind him. Constantly. We’ll get it – and without question – I’d rather have him here than not, but it’s at times a bit challenging. Plus – I miss my unlimited computer access, I used to just pop on to check facebook or send a quick e-mail or update the blog, and it’s rare now that I have the opportunity. So if several days go by with no blog post… I’m still here, and will update as soon as I pry the computer away from him š
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