I'd love to say that life with two children is just as easy as life with one, and that Joseph's arrival has fit seamlessly into our life. However, that's not entirely true. It also isn't true that life with two is more difficult. The truth is, we really don't KNOW what life is like with two children because we haven't had the chance to truly experience it.
We brought Joseph home from the hospital on Saturday. Stephanie didn't get home until 6, and went to bed at 7. On Sunday, we had friends visiting, which kept us all distracted. On Monday, my Dad ("Grumpy" to Stephanie) spent the morning with her while Dan and I took Joseph to the Dr. That night, Stephanie came down with a cold and fever, so on Tuesday we sent her to stay with my parents in order to keep the germs from Joseph. She stayed there until Thursday afternoon.
As much as I hated to send her away, I knew it was the best thing to do for little Joseph, who really shouldn't get sick at such a young age. My emotions were all over the place, and making the decision to send her to my mom's caused a lot of hysterical crying. But she was THRILLED to be going back to her Nana and Grumpy's house, and was actually able to get a lot of rest and TLC. At our house, things were really peaceful. Taking care of one newborn was a piece of cake, since we have a lot of "been there, done that" feelings. Dan and I each even took one morning to sleep late! Unheard of when you have two children at home.
Last night Stephanie came home. Major tantrums occurred, but I really couldn't blame her. She has had no time to adjust to her new lifestyle, and is confused about why she's sometimes home and sometimes at Nana's. Plus, there's this new little person living in her house. (She loves Baby Joseph though...she asks for him when he's not in the room, and gets concerned when he cries.) She slept awful last night, and therefore so did we. Joseph slept like a champ for the first half of the night. Then when Stephanie finally settled down, Joseph was awake. Needless to say, exhaustion has set in for this family.
Today we took both children to the Dr. It turns out that Stephanie has an ear infection, which explains the not sleeping thing. She still has her cold, too, so we need to continually keep her away from her precious baby, and we're washing our hands constantly. With the withered, dried skin to prove it. Yet, despite the fact that she's sick, and we're all exhausted...today was a good day. We all went to the Dr, then Dan and Stephanie took a nap. Joseph and I cuddled and bonded during that time, and when Stephanie woke up she and I ran some errands. The evening was semi smooth, with only a few meltdowns on Stephanie's part. (Due mostly to exhaustion, since she was up all night.) Right now both kids are sleeping soundly, and although Joseph will be woken up soon to eat, i'm hopeful that the night will be peaceful and we can all catch some zzz's. And once Stephanie is better, we can really work on life as a family of four!
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