Family of Four | Our First Week

I can’t believe a week has already passed since Alder was born. We have had a crazy busy week and have really had our ups and downs. Luckily we have had a lot more ups than downs but let me tell you the start of our week as a family of four was a real struggle.

Friday (8.1.14) was a pretty crazy day considering we started our morning off as a family of three and by 11am we were a family of four. The midwives had cleaned, done their check ups and were gone by 12:50pm.  We were all a little tired out from our whirlwind morning and Edith went down for a three hour nap (!!!) around 1:15pm.  Then it was just Neil, Alder and myself hanging out on the couch, which in itself was a really weird and amazing thing. That night we had BBQ and just hung out as a family. I don’t really remember what we did besides sit on the couch and Edith held Alder for awhile.

Saturday and Sunday (8.2.14 & 8.3.14) were two more difficult days for us. Neil and Edith spent a lot of time together going for bike rides, to the park, to the market and just playing together at home.  While Edith seemed to enjoy these activities and we kept her normal routine we were facing a new challenge, a rebelling child. Edith is generally a pretty mild mannered child who has her feisty side as well but generally she is a pretty happy, relaxed kid but last weekend she was the complete opposite. While we knew that this was just her way of dealing with the life changing event that had just occurred we were just not prepared at all to handle her acting out.

Monday (8.4.14) this was easily the hardest day of them all. Edith was miserable and doing everything and anything to push our buttons. At one point Neil and Edith were heading out go somewhere (maybe the park? I can’t remember) anyways Neil asked her to say goodbye and I love you to me and she looked at me and said goodbye and then gave me a look and said I love you Alder, which was nice for Alder but in the moment was a stab at me (it’s really hard to put this whole event into words). Anyways that broke my heart and I just broke down.  That day she also skipped her nap and Neil had scheduled a hair appointment during her naptime so I was home with her and Alder for a few hours by myself. By the end of the day Edith’s acting out had exhausted all of us and Neil and I were so happy for bedtime.  We spent two or so hours post bedtime routine just talking about the past few days and trying to prepare ourselves for more acting out and discussed ways we could take a more positive and relaxed approach.

Tuesday (8.5.14) I swear we woke up with our old toddler.  Edith seems to be (knock on wood) back to more of her normal self with a side of sassy two year old. We had our first outing as a family this day to the pediatricians office for Alder’s appointment and Edith and I stopped in the craft store to pick up an afternoon art project.  Our appointment went well and despite it happening in the middle of Edith’s naptime we did make it home in time for her to take a nap.

Wednesday (8.6.14) Edith and Neil spent the morning at Oaks Amusement Park for their preschool morning.  She had an absolute blast and I hope we can maybe make it once more before the close for the season and I’d like to go down as well.  In the afternoon we had our first non-doctors appointment outing to the farmers market.  I have to say that I did a little too much walking this day and was feeling it by the end of the night but it sure felt good to get out.

Thursday (8.7.14) We didn’t do too much on Thursday morning but after Edith’s nap we headed out to Target to pick up some things that we were out of and some clothes for Alder. Again too much walking for me but it was great to get out.  We then decided to stop at Native Foods for dinner since it was getting late and we had a nice family meal out on their patio.

Friday (8.8.14) We had our normal Friday morning play group at our house despite everyone thinking I was crazy. It actually ended up being great for all of us. Edith and her two girlfriends played while us moms had time to chat and since Neil was home too he entertained the little girls for awhile. While Edith napped Neil and I ate BBQ because we had an oven mishap that resulted in needing to do the 3 hour auto clean and lots of fans and open windows. After Edith’s nap Neil took her for a bike ride while I rested with Alder. The day ended with Neil and me on the couch with Steven’s cold brew cinnamon vegan ice cream <–AMAZING.

Now it’s Saturday and we are getting into a new version of our old routine. We are preparing ourselves for next week which includes moving and Neil going back to work. One plus is that Neil will be working from home which means a little extra help before I am fully on my own.

Check out more photos from our week on our Instagram accounts: here, here and here.