Our new baby gives me time for reflecting and it’s a perfect time of year to do so.

We welcomed a little baby boy to the Dyer family in December!  We are thrilled and big brother and big sister are both being rock stars as is my husband. 

I watch my husband running around getting the two older kids dressed for their activities, brushing their hair and teeth, getting their meals, keeping them occupied and think wow, I do all that on a daily basis, that looks exhausting.  Well, that thought comes right after, hubby you’re a superstar, thanks babe. 

Our new baby has given me time to think back on what I’m supposed to be doing with a newborn, albeit my thoughts are somewhat clouded by sleepless nights and I’m in a bit of a stupor. It helps to have a blog to refer back to and wonder what I’m missing and what I should be doing next.  I’ve now been blogging with ModernMom for over 2 years!  So I have quite a bit of material to use as a reference.  I’m actually a bit of a geek too and kept a journal of the two older kids’ milestones, in my previous marketing life I did a lot presentations and reports so the kids growth progressions come complete with charts.  Wow, that’s really embarrassing to admit. 

Anyhow, I have found them helpful in knowing when to expect things to happen, like sleeping through the night, first teeth, sitting up, crawling etc.  My mom is quick to point out that I shouldn’t compare kids, and I don’t, but I find it fascinating that the first two were generally within a week of each other in acquiring their different milestones.

As I said, I’m in a bit of a sleepless stupor; my son is 2 weeks old.  That means I’ve only had two weeks of not sleeping through the night and already I’m a mess.  I can’t help but wonder how on earth Brooke manages her crazy busy life and she never sleeps through the night.  I so wish I was like that.  But I’m not, I’m me and I’ll just have to revert to what I know works for us and focus on getting this little one sleeping through the night.  Which brings me to my book to live by, Babywise, I just pulled it out today to see what I need to be doing to establish a routine and it is right in line with what our pediatrician recommends.  Check out my previous blog for details on getting your baby to sleep through the night.

I’ve also gone and pulled out all of my newborn books, I know I’ve done this newborn thing before but it is kind of like school tests.  Once I took the test all the information seemed to be gone from my brain.  These are some of my favorite books for newborns.  The most useful reference for me is by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is called Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, 5th Edition: Birth to Age 5.

I wrote a blog on the best strollers that I’ve used and fortunately now that my oldest is 4 I’m hoping he will walk everywhere instead of needing to be in a stroller.  Because frankly the Phil and Ted’s stroller that I have is the best that I’ve used and I’m not sure I’m willing to commit to a stroller that will hold three kids.  That just screams, I have too much on my plate, and if there is anything I like to portray it is self-reliance, whether it is true at the time or not, I prefer to have it appear as though I have my shit together.

I followed my own advice on Bringing Newborn Home to Toddler(s).  My oldest seemed to take it all in stride and has handled the new addition to our family really well.  My daughter found it a bit more of an adjustment, she’s turning three so it could also be her age but we’ve found that giving her responsibilities to help with the baby has really made her happy and she’s in love with the little guy so I think we’re all going to be ok.

Finally, while I may not be thinking clearly, I’m thinking with enough sense to know that while this may all seem extremely overwhelming right now, I know that it is only a blip in our life as a family.  These are long days but short years and the more I can keep that in mind the more I’ll savor every minute of it.  One day when I’ve forgotten how exhausting this all is, I’ll be longing for the days when everyone was little.  Hopefully I can come back to this blog and remember that it wasn’t all a piece of cake but we all did our best and we were all happy.

Wishing you and your families a very happy and peaceful 2012.