Week One, A Success!

It's almost been a full week of me and the two munchkins alone during the day. I didn't know what to expect for this first week. Noelle had been an angel (well, angel is a term I use very loosely at this point in time), taking the big life change with stride, but for all we knew that might flip flop as soon as Tom headed back to work.Tom was met with tears as he came out of the bathroom Monday morning. I wasn't ready for him to go, but after he assured me it would okay I reluctantly released my iron tight grip from around his neck and he headed off to work. 9am came and I could hear my very vocal child screaming from her room "daddy bear, no-well wake up!". I went in to get her and she was very upset to see me. I did my best to calm her down and hype up all the fun we would be having together. She eventually calmed down and all seemed fine. Thinking that her needs would be first and the concept of waiting until I was done would go way beyond her mere two years, I was worried as the first feeding period with Max approached. Noelle did very well and when she asked for some more milk I explained that she would have to wait. "More melk after Max eat mommy booby" was the response I received (I'm trying to teach her say something besides "eatin' mommy booby", we'll see how that goes!). Obviously, the concept of waiting was not over our tater-tots head, thankfully. When Tom came home I was feeling pretty good and didn't want/need to immediately pass off both children and dive into bed. Things continued to go well Monday night and into Tuesday.

Wednesday, Max's umbilical cord fell off. He was relaxing on his boppy pillow in only a onesie and I picked him up. Noelle spotted the little dried up stub and with a look of sheer shock planted on her face asked, "was dat mommy?" and her little hands reached out to pick it up. I explained what it was and she was very nervous and let out a whimper. I quickly disposed of it and tried to distract her but I could tell she did not like that one bit! Later in the evening Max received his first full bath and didn't seem too bothered by it. Screaming was kept to a minimum, only expelled when I took him from the warm water and exposed him to the chilly air. I can tell that many fun times will be had in the bath with him just as we had with Noelle.Today, we watched an episode of Barney in which they celebrated Barney's birthday. When lunch time rolled around I asked Noelle what she wanted and her response was, "birthday cake and blow candles!". I promised her that when she got up from her nap we would bake a birthday cake together. She went down for her nap very easily and when she woke the birthday cake was the first thing on her mind. I quickly fed Max and went to put him into the baby Bjorn carrier. As soon as I got it out Noelle wanted to wear it. I folded and put it on her and inserted Bear. They helped me bake the cake, and let me tell you that a two year old and a strapped on teddy bear offer a lot of help!

The week is almost over and I'm not dead with exhaustion. I am pleasantly surprised how well the week did go. Both children are still alive and might I add, happy! It gives me so much strength and helps me during the last stretch of recovery. I still have a rash covering my arms and legs, but I can deal with the itchiness as long as I take a few minutes each day to scratch the itch. I have found that the battery cover from our TV remote has just the right sharpness around the edges to totally satisfy me! Yeah, I know that sounds gross, but trust me it feels so damn good and frankly, after what I went through I feel that I am entitled to some good scratching once a day!

That's it for now...this weekend we have Grandpa Roehrig and Aunt Mary coming to our house to meet Max and see Noelle, it will be wonderful to have some visitors.