What I Did At School Today

Walking the line

May 15, 2008

We finally bought the toddler his first pair of "real" shoes. He's stylin' in a pair of velcro Chucks now. Before these, all he'd had was soft soled Robeez. Truthfully, we hit the Converse outlet and bought everyone in the family new shoes except me. I still don't know whose feet those are; they're definitely not mine. We even got a tiny little pair for the baby.

Hubby headed back to work at the beginning of this week, so I'm learning how to manage two kids at home by myself. In some ways it's been easier than I expected, but in others it's been more challenging than I thought. I have yet to cross the bridge of what to do with a screaming baby when it's time to put the toddler down for a nap; I've managed to have a sleeping baby for nap time each day so far. But we are starting to see some frustrating behaviors during the time I spend nursing the littlest one. I think the thing that's bugging me the most is the fact that I can't be myself right now. There's very little playing chase and no trips to the park until I'm completely healed. It's a thin line to walk trying to keep the busy 22 month old entertained while not over-exerting myself, all the while holding a baby. It's led to this baby spending a lot of time in the swing.

I'm also slowly making progress on pieces for the show. I managed to get a few minutes of sewing time tonight while the toddler was out with his aunt and Grandmother and the baby slept in the swing. Hubby and I even managed to eat dinner just the two of us; we were even able to have a conversation!

That's life, isn't it? Somehow managing just enough of what you need to stay sane and still take care of everyone and everything that you need to take care of. It makes me think of a line from an Indigo Girls song, but my sleep deprived brain can't think of the song. The lyric: "It's a thin line between pleasing yourself and pleasing somebody else." Somehow, I'm hoping to do both...

Wow. My oldest was about seventeen months when he got his first shoes...little teeny Nikes...it was pretty fun. Now he wears a thirteen! Ah, for the good ol' days!!

One day at a time....yep, yep, yep!

Some of the moms on a message board I used to frequent suggested using nursing time as a special time for the bigger kid, where they get to choose books to read or do a specific "nursing time" activity that you reserve just for those periods. I think it is a pretty common problem that they act up the worst then.

(I guess it depends on how adept you are at breastfeeding though. I am not sure I could have managed breastfeeding and holding a book and reading to another kid at all once! LOL)

Jack used to go through those long talking periods too. He would talk for hours in there. It always passes.