Three Months of Life with Three
It's hard to believe it has already been 3 months since Juliet's arrival. We have managed to find somewhat of a routine in the last little while after a bit of adjustment to life with three kids - just in time for things to change again when school resumes in a few weeks. There's never is a dull moment!
When I wrote my first post-baby post, I was still enjoying the luxury of having both Evelyn and Lucy at dayhome full time. While it was lovely to have that uninterrupted time with Juliet and a chance to rest and recover from the delivery, it had to come to an end. Having all three girls at home during the day was a big shift, but we have all adapted to one another and come up with a fairly laid back routine for most days.
We were still working through the challenges of homeschool in June (which I'm not going to rant about as I think it has all been said!), and just figuring out how to keep some sort of routine when there really wasn't a whole lot going on. That first week on my own, I felt like all I did was prep food, clean up, try to plan activities, nurse/rock a baby, clean up after said activities, nurse/rock a baby, wipe a bum etc etc repeat. The first time I took all three kids to the lake, it literally took me 2 hours to get ready to drive 5 minutes down the street (and the house turned into a disaster during the process of getting everyone ready). Not that any of this wouldn't be expected with three kids, but it was a new level of exhaustion and mess. Babies are relatively easy to please in the early days, but what you don't think about (or at least I didn't), is how much mess a 3 and 5 year old can create in the time that you are taking care of the baby.
After that first week, I decided that Evelyn and Lucy had to learn to clean up after themselves. Since they usually get some TV time in the afternoon, the new "deal" was that if they wanted that TV time, they had to clean up all the messes from earlier in the day. It is not easy keeping them on task (they often just wind up getting distracted by the toys and starting a whole new game), but after two months of doing this, they now realize that they have to clean up and it's part of our "new normal" (is anyone else getting tired of that phrase???). Evelyn was a much easier sell than Lucy - sometimes we hear her up after bedtime, and the next morning she'll be proud to tell us she was up cleaning her room (I'm okay with her staying up late to do that). I feel slightly more sane when at least the main floor can be somewhat in order at the end of the day (the basement playroom is a whole other story....).
Anyone else's house look like this by 11am each morning?
With COVID restrictions in place, we really haven't been up to very much. We have been cohorting with a couple other families, which the kids love - they definintely miss their friends from school and dayhome, and are looking forward to things starting back up in September, even though it will look different. When we told the kids that we were going to start the cohort/bubble process, Evelyn's first question was "so we can touch them?" (very excitedly) - it's funny (and sometimes a bit sad) to hear the thing that kids say as a result of this pandemic. I know mine are resilient and are handling things well, but they still say things like "I hate the virus", and they play games like "fight the virus", and are often asking about all the things they want to do when the virus is gone. Today Lucy spit on her hands, rubbed it all over them, and told me she was getting "hand sanitizer from her mouth"...so not really sure she totally understands the constant pumps of Microsan at the playground :).
Exploring playgrounds and parks has become one of our key summer activities. Normally, I wouldn't drive across the city to go to a playground - but it adds a bit of variety and excitement for the kids to check out some new ones. We've hit most of the top playgrounds in Calgary that are listed on Calgary Playground Review (a super helpful site for scoping out these spots). There are some pretty great ones here.
Evie loves a good tree to climb, especially when it matches her dress (very appropriate park attire)
We have spent lots of time at the lake this year (and my packing has thankfully become more efficient). Our kids' ages this summer make for a reasonably relaxed beach experience. Evelyn and Lucy will play together in the sand and water for hours, and are competent enough in the water and on the playgrounds that I don't have to be right beside them all the time. Juliet is still little enough that she'll sleep in the stroller or my arms very happily. I know next year will be a whole different ballgame with a one year old. We'll be working between two naps, dealing with a wobbly toddler eating sand and faceplanting in the water....so I'll take my relaxing afternoons in a beach chair while I can!
We require both a stroller and a wagon - luckily I can convince one kid to walk.
Other than time at playgrounds and the lake, our time has been spent making messes around the house - be it toys, crafts, games, dirt stews, hot tub "parties", we find ways to stay busy.
Making rock candy....a failed experiment, as the crystals chose to grow on the glass rather than our sticks. Nevertheless, the kids still licked a lot of sugar and had fun. We'll give it another go with a few adjustments.
Evelyn and Lucy play well together for the most part, which lets me pay a bit of attention to Juliet. Evelyn goes into grade 1 this year, so I am a bit worried about keeping Lucy entertained all day at home with a baby. Although they have their fights, Lucy will miss her older playmate. Lucy will attend preschool two mornings a week and is incredibly excited (everyday she asks if it is time to go to school). So those days shouldn't be too bad, but with limited kids activities running now, it will be a very different experience than maternity leave #2, where baby Lucy just came along to Evelyn's sportball, drop in playgrounds, library classes etc. I'm sure we will come up with a routine of our own, but it will take some time. Any tips are much appreciated!
Juliet is a pretty sweet little baby. She loves being held, though mostly by me. This last month she has definitely turned into a mama's girl. It's nice to feel needed, but it would also be nice to have a break sometimes. Evelyn did the same thing as a baby though, so I know it's a phase and before we know it, Craig will be the "fun one" to Juliet like he is to her sisters- tossing her in the air, giving blanket rides, and building obstacle courses....as Lucy says "mommy does all the baby stuff"...
Love my baby cuddles
Three months already - I really can't get enough of making her smile, so excuse me while I post a few cute ones. I'm looking forward to hearing her first giggles - I can tell she's getting close.
As I'm sure you can tell from my pictures, Juliet loves her milk and aside from spitting up on me about 10 times a day, eats very well. She is waking up a bit more these days, but still doesn't really have much of a consistent schedule. The only thing that has been relatively constant over the past 3-4 weeks has been her night sleeping (and knock on wood it continues). She will sleep 7-8 hour stretches after about 9pm - which is pretty amazing at this point. I think it is probably because she is exhausted from being constantly woken up by Lucy all day long - ask me how mad that makes me!
Nothing sweeter than a swaddled, sleeping baby
Lucy is definitely a character when it comes to interacting with her little sister. She will start out being super loving and affectionate (all my cute pics), but then it turns into this weird smothering love that borders on violent - like she wants to get so close to Juliet that she is lying on top of her, or licking/eating her, poking her cute cheeks etc. Anyway, I basically cannot leave Juliet anywhere close to Lucy without me also being right next to them both. Not that I would leave a baby unsupervised with a child or anything, but with Evelyn a few years ago, I could leave the two of them sitting on the floor together with me doing something nearby and not have the same worries. There is definitely some jealousy mixed in, as her behaviours are worse when I'm holding Juliet (though she isn't old enough to express it as such). I'll be nursing Juliet, and it's like Lucy knows that's our most vulnerable point - she'll walk up and scream as loud as possible beside Juliet's face, or start climbing the couch or chair behind me looking like she is going to jump down on top of us....There have been times that I've had to lock myself in my bedroom (the only room with a lock) so I could actually feed Juliet. I'm sure Lucy's stubborn and determined attitude is going to serve her well one day in life, but right now, she knows just how to use it to push my buttons! Perhaps having a little more of my attention in the fall will help, though it will still have to be shared with her baby sister. I'm just trying to praise her positive behaviour and interactions and am crossing my fingers that this phase will also pass.
Life with Lucy is a bit of an emotional roller coaster:
In spite of the challenges, there is nothing better than seeing those loving moments between the three girls. I am so lucky to have each one of them.
Aside from our usual routine, we've been very thankful to have a few family members stop in for short visits this summer, as well as a week in Sylvan Lake with our bubble family. We weren't happy to cancel our Ontario travel plans this summer, but at least we got a bit of lake time in (though Alberta lakes have nothing on those in Northern Ontario). The kids had a blast (and so did the adults!). It was nice to have a bit of a vacation during this time, even if we were only an hour and a half from home.
A short but great visit with Nana during her layover enroute to Nanaimo
I'll leave you with a few of my favourite shots from Juliet's newborn photographs, which were taken when she was one week hold. I am so grateful to Kat, one of Craig's infection prevention co-workers who also runs Kathryn Linton Photography, for masking up and helping us capture these great pictures of our last baby girl and family.
Evelyn and Lucy were significantly more cooperative taking pictures at home than any other location we've used in the past.
I've been asked how I got them to sit for braids and curls....bribes :)
Thanks for reading! Hopefully I can do better than three months from now for my next post, but no promises.
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