Need a Bigger Lap

 It's hard to hold both kiddos at the same time on my lap. It's not really the size of my lap that is the problem. The problem is that Nadia has no concept of giving Ian any personal space. I have to be very careful or she'd lie back right on top of him. Since she weighs 27 lbs and he weighs less than 7 lbs, she could definitely unintentionally hurt the little lad rather easily. This made yesterday a very long day. There were periods of time were I was successful in holding both of them at the same time, but there were also many points in the day where I was only holding one child, and this meant the other child was crying. It's rather exhausting to constantly hear either a toddler or an infant crying. I admit that yesterday I was wishing Ian didn't need to be held so much as I really wanted to be able to snuggle with my sick little girl more. I tried the nap nanny, and I tried putting him in the boppy right beside me on the couch, but he just screamed. It was usually easier to keep Nadia calm beside me, so he ended up being held far more than Nadia although she definitely was held far more than usual yesterday.

I called Paul and asked him to please come home a little early. He left 90 minutes earlier than usual, but he stopped at Walmart to buy her some Pedialyte and more Tylenol so he actually got home 60 minutes earlier than usual. He bought two different flavors of Pedialyte, but she unfortunately didn't seem to care for either of them. She just wants to drink milk. She attempted to eat one bite of food when I was eating dinner last night, and just one bite of food entering her mouth (she hadn't even swallowed anything yet) led her to start throwing up - you could tell that she has just been consuming milk by what came up out of her. She threw up once more around midnight last night. I hadn't bought a mattress pad for Ian. We had two for Nadia so I had been using one of "hers" for his crib. Since he's sleeping in the Nap Nanny, he doesn't really need sheets or anything right now so Paul took the mattress pad from his crib when he changed Nadia's sheets last night. Whenever we wean him off the nap nanny I should buy another mattress pad so we have an extra one to use when either of them throws up during the night. Nadia hasn't eaten anything since noon on Monday. I wish she's drink the Pedialyte, but I guess at least the milk she's drinking is preventing her from being dehydrated.

Ian spent about 7 hours in the Nap Nanny between the hours of 7pm and 5am. Way to go, Ian! It was still a big effort the first time he went down, but then thankfully he went down very easily after his 11pm and 2am feedings. I was careful to burp him several times during each feeding (rather than just burping him after he finishes each side) because yesterday he was spewing up large quantities of milk - sometimes when I was burping him and other times when I was changing his diaper in the middle of a feeding session. More frequent burping seemed to help as he didn't spit up very much at all last night. Nadia rarely spit up At All so this is a new situation for me.

Paul's parents volunteered to come up today to help, and I gladly accepted. I realized yesterday that it's very hard for one person to care for a sick toddler plus a 7 week old who is used to being held all day long. Nadia only slept 30 minutes yesterday morning, but she took a nice long afternoon nap. Whew. This was a big improvement over Monday when she didn't sleep at all during the day. I did get a little bit of sleep during her afternoon nap. My mom and sister also volunteered to come up and help if needed. I am very grateful that our family wants to help out! I am not sure that my mom or sister would have been able to come up given the snow they got last night and are supposed to continue to get today. Hopefully the snow won't be a problem for Paul's parents. My parents live 3.5 hours away, and Paul's parents live 1 hour away from us. Ironically, my parents (who live in Maryland) have gotten a LOT more snow than we have so far this winter. With Paul's parents helping me out this means that both children can be held as much as they want to be held plus it means I can take a nap (or two), and I also might be able to make a quick trip up to the mall. Now is the time to shop from the clearance racks to buy winter clothes for the kids for next year. I was at the mall on Saturday morning for a haircut, but since this was Paul's first time being home alone with both kids, I knew I needed to get home as soon as possible so I didn't do any shopping that day. It was the first time since Ian was home from the hospital that he and I weren't at the same location.

It had been over 2 months since I had gotten a haircut, which is longer than I usually go. Another reason I wanted it cut was because we have an appointment at Sears this Thursday for our pictures to be taken (Ian's first time). That appointment will need to be rescheduled if Nadia isn't feeling better. I went to a different salon (because I got a coupon in the mail), and although I asked for one inch to be taken off, the lady took off WAY more than that. I believe (especially in the back) this is the shortest my hair has EVER been. At least she left the top layer long. It doesn't take very long to blowdry the back right now, which is a perk of this hairstyle, and to be honest although it wasn't what I wanted or asked for, I think it looks fine. Even though it turned out okay, I still find it annoying that she just did her own thing. Well it's just hair. It grows back, and who knows maybe this style will "grow" on me and I'll keep it this way.