It takes two, baby...

I wish paternity leave was longer. I'll have had 3 weeks with help by the time Adrian has to go back to work - my mum came to stay for the first week and Adrian started his paternity leave after she had left. Theo so far is proving to be a calmer and more laid back baby than Freyja was, but he's still a newborn, he still has a bit of a fussy time in the early evening (at around Freyja's dinner time), likes to be held and he feeds pretty much every 2 hours during the day and 3 hours at night and for at least half an hour each time (and often longer). Having an extra pair of hands to help with Freyja or to hold Theo has been fantastic. Theo was quite unsettled last night and I didn't get much sleep - being able to stay in bed this morning while Adrian got up with Freyja was wonderful. I'm not quite sure how I'll manage on my own.

Yesterday I had my first taste of it. Adrian was playing cricket and due to still having no car and it being in Chiswick, I decided not to go. That left me a whole afternoon and bedtime to get through. And it was fine - luckily, as long as he's fed, I can generally put Theo down in his chair or the travel cot (which has now taken up a permanent place in the living room) at least for a little while. But I saw straight away that I'm going to fall into bad habits. Freyja has survived the transition to being the big sister with rather a lot of chocolate, television and her dummy. I've just started reigning it back in again - but yesterday I have to admit I did resort to putting the telly on quite a lot - though I managed to keep the chocolate and dummy a bit more in check. Also, Theo loves his feeds and whenever he got a bit fussy I ended up giving him a quick feed just to settle him so I could get back to giving Freyja her lunch/dinner/bath or whatever it was I was trying to do. I ended up feeding Theo at the same time I was giving Freyja her dinner and then had to give him a quick feed again while Freyja was in the bath - just so he was zonked out enough for me to get through the rest of her bedtime routine. But I did manage to get both of them down for a 2 hour nap at lunch time - and had one myself.

The thing is, I didn't really have time to enjoy it. I've absolutely loved these last 2 weeks - with someone always on hand to help it's been wonderful looking after a newborn and feeling more confident about it than last time round. But yesterday I didn't really stop to think - one or the other, or more often than not both at the same time, needed something from me the whole day. I suppose it must get easier once the newborn phase is over, but I don't want to wish it away - after all, it may well be the last time I do it. An extra pair of hands for a bit longer would be lovely. Actually, an extra hand of my own would be very useful - maybe then I wouldn't have dropped Freyja's dinner on the floor trying to get it ready while carrying Theo in the other arm...

At least I will have 2 days a week when Freyja is at her child minder - though how I'm going to get us all up, fed, dressed and out the house by 8am, I'm not quite sure...