Life With a Newborn, Round Three

Little Hatch is now twelve days old. For a relatively short period of time, he'll be a newborn.  And I love the newborns.  I've been asked several times how hard it is now that we have three kids.  I will tell you this: not at all. Yet.  The boys still take a lot of naps, Hatch especially, and I spend the majority of my day doing what I am used to - taking care of my older two boys, chasing them down, cleaning up spills and toys, and trying to keep valuables (including baby Hatch) out of reach. Their naptime is my snuggle time with my smallest son, usually with the TV off in near-silence. It's almost like meditation, healthy for my soul.

I know things will get harder. I have Leo as a constant reminder. (In his defense, he is also way more fun and outgoing than he used to be.)  In the meantime, I am loving our growing family, especially the newborn part. I love breast-feeding, love waking up to his face in the early morning, love the way he smells and how he practices smiling and laughing in his sleep. I love this baby. Of course, that's a given, but I really love this baby.

What I also love is the number of things I have learned that I can do one-handed, while either simply cradling or breast-feeding my tiny man. I refer to this multi-tasking as Mothering 312 (upper-level, you see.)  The list includes:

1.) Making dinner (specifically, assembling BLT's and ingredients for chili in the crock pot)

2.) Helping Leo with his yogurt (read: spoon-feed one child while breast-feeding another)

3.) Vacuuming

4.) Making the bed

5.) Brushing my teeth

6.) Reading a bedtime story AND giving a back rub (to/for the same kid)

6.) Scolding and pointing with purpose, using my mom voice (extra points for not un-latching or startling the baby) 

So...yeah...things are good. Great! As of two days ago, I had eight pounds left on the scale, which leaves me only a little discouraged, but also a little hopeful. I'm not ready to leave the boys in two weeks, but we'll get there. Reluctantly, but it still counts. Life will go back to normal, but even normal is still pretty good. No complaints here. (Important to note: Speaking of complaints, the angry pregnant woman who lived inside me along with Hatch has finally moved out. I can see the relief written all over Adam's face.)