Baby G is four weeks old on Monday. Amazing how having a newborn is simultaneously exhausting and also mind-numbingly boring. It helps to know firsthand that they do eventually become more like people and less like blobs, but man, time sure does drag during these first months.
My blob baby right now looks like a sad blend of hormonal teenager and elderly man. (He has acne, greasy skin, and a receding hairline.) He's not going to win any cute baby contests. And when I say things like this, the baby people look highly scandalized. I'm sorry, baby people! I respect the fact that you enjoy everything about these little blobs, but that doesn't mean I understand you. I do love my baby, I just don't think he's super cute or interesting right now. Sue me.
(Secretly I think people who really love babies have tyrannical souls: what sort of person so enjoys having complete authority over totally helpless blob creatures?)
Other than the boredom, the most trying thing about having a newborn is having a newborn and a toddler. Someone on Instagram somewhere said that having a first kid is an existential crisis, but having a second kid is a logistical crisis. This rings quite true so far. The hardest part of the day is toddler bedtime, because it inevitably coincides with the baby having a meltdown while Josh makes adult dinner. I only have two hands! I cannot feed the baby in a dark quiet room while also giving Jonah a bath and reading him a book.
So far in these scenarios the baby loses, because the baby doesn't really know the difference and he can cry for 15 minutes without it being a huge problem. But once the baby becomes more like a person I think this will become even harder.
To his credit, Jonah is taking all this like a champ. He's not super interested in the baby, because the baby doesn't do much, but he clearly likes him. He's always giving him hugs and "helping" me give him a bottle. So far he's a very good big brother, but we'll see how it goes when the baby is old enough to want to play with his toys!
Nights aren't great, though he did give me a five hour stretch a few days ago! It was amazing. I have no idea what caused it, but I'm hoping it gets repeated soon and often.
2 comments:
"(Secretly I think people who really love babies have tyrannical souls: what sort of person so enjoys having complete authority over totally helpless blob creatures?"
I feel this about a lot of parenthood well after babyhood! I don't want to have so much authority over other people- I want to live my life and not constantly monitor and correct people and I find it exhausting. One of my mantras before parenthood was "not my circus, not my monkeys" and now I'm like OMG these are all my monkeys, this is all my circus, why.
Yes, definitely agree! I find babies to be particularly hard, though. Maybe because Jonah is able to express himself now and I at least don't have to guess all the time what he wants/needs. He is capable of a lot more destruction, though, so that's the definite downside.
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