Life with a newborn third time round

A neighbour dropped round the other morning and brought with her every new Mum’s most desired gift – a large coffee. As I gratefully sipped the fuel of latte we chatted about life with a newborn third time round. She also has a baby – a few month’s older, as well as two other children around the same age as Charli & Sophie. We both agreed it was fabulous; despite the sleep deprivation. At this tender age of snuggles and milk spills the sleepless night’s are a little easier to bear thanks to baby slumbering most of the day peacefully away. There’s no food to make and clear up, it’s all ‘ on tap’ (so to speak), teething has yet to make our wee ones grizzle, they can’t move yet or talk back and they simply reward us with windy smiles and eyes full of adoration and love (after all, we are the givers of milk).

With our other children being a little older and out for part of the day at school and kindi, we get some precious one on one time with our newborns. It’s like those quiet times as a first time Mum, but without the anxiety. I feel so relaxed this time round. Long gone are the days of needing to read baby books at every opportunity. Restless night’s will soon pass and each phase of a child’s life comes with its joys and challenges – this I simply accept and embrace. The joys I treasure. The challenges I face head on. Sometimes I do well and give myself a huge hi-5; other times I fail miserably with an over-tired mind and short-fuse. I forgive myself and move on.

I’m loving that Dan is starting work a little later; so that after the school and kindi drop we can have a peaceful coffee together, whilst Alice sleeps. It reminds me of the early days when Charli was a baby and I used to meet Dan for lunch or frequently drop him into work and then take a walk along Oriental Parade with Charli in her pram.

Of course, it’s not rosy all the time. I have my moments when the tiredness gets to me and my patience levels aren’t as good as I’d like them to be. But on the whole we’re doing pretty darn well. I am thankful that my body has recovered from the birth so quickly and I feel so fit and healthy. I’m loving being able to exercise easily again and roll around on the floor with the girls. Yesterday I was doing various yoga exercises, with Sophie alongside me. She was mostly showing me up with her superior stomach muscles!

I am thankful to my family and blogger friends for the super supportive comments, e-mails and cards we’ve received over the past couple of weeks. They’ve really put a smile on our faces and touched our hearts.

I loved having my folks here for the last few week’s of the school hols made life so easy and we had the most incredible time. My Mum being here to share in Alice’s early days and ‘shadow’ my every move with her immense love, patience, understanding was fabulous.

And I’m loving my Natures Sway sling. Alice falls asleep within seconds of being placed in it and I can type blog posts and e-mails with two hands – now we’re talking!

Finally, I love having this blog to look back on and remind me of all the good times; when on the rare occasion it all gets too much. Last night I sat up in bed, at least four times, feeding Alice and watching the minutes tick over on the digital clock. I forced my eyes away from the ugly, red glare of time ticking on and focused on my precious bundle feeding in my arms. Her small, velvet soft head, her shell-like ears and her grasping, tiny hands. I shall look back on the quiet moments in the midst of the night and forget the feeling of sleep-deprivation. I shall remember only her little squeaks, grunts and murmurs; her soft head brushing against me whilst she feeds; her sleepy smiles of windy bubbles which I pretend are happy dreams.