Friday, August 24, 2007

Time flies

It's seems impossible that Lucy is already 9 days old. This past week has flown by. In a few days I'll be back at work and we are both facing that step with some trepidation. If Lucy continues to breastfeed for as long and as often as she is at the moment, it's hard to see how Hayley will get a minute's peace, as Oliver will also want her time and attention. I think from that point on she may have to be fed on a combination of breastmilk and formula. We'll see.

When she's awake she often seems to only be happy when held. She will complain after a few minutes in her moses basket, swing or bouncy chair. So we are looking around for a suitable sling. We already have a Baby Bjorn carrier but she seems to like being cradled, so I'm hunting on eBay for something suitable. They are crazy prices though, so she may have to manage without this additional accessory!

Lucy's arrival has accentuated to us just how grown up our son has become. The contrast between sitting with Lucy on my knee drinking her bottle and Oliver doing the same thing before he goes to bed, really brings home what a big boy he is now. I just hope he isn't forced to grow up too fast now that his noisy and demanding little sibling has arrived.

In an attempt to give Hayley some help this week, we arranged to have Oliver spend some time with some of his friends. Unfortunately this backfired somewhat yesterday. I took him to see his friend Cara, but as soon as he realised I was leaving he became hysterical, shouting for me. So I stayed for about 15 minutes til he was his normal self again. When I came to say goodbye again he seemed fine, but again got upset as I walked out of the front door. This time I left. He was with someone he knew well and liked (Cara and her Mum) and I won't be able to stay all day when I'm back at work. I hate to see him upset but equally I knew he'd settle down once I'd gone and I wanted to give Hayley a lift with Lucy. Catch 22! Sometimes you just can't do the right thing. Later the same day when we dropped by to see Jo, he did the same thing when I went downstairs momentarily, even though I told him I'd be back in a minute.

The truth is that Oliver has well and truly attached himself to me while Hayley has had her time taken up by Lucy. While this is obviously lovely in some ways, it can also be tough, especially when he gets upset if Daddy can't or won't do something with him and he is asked to do it with Mummy instead. I know that when I'm not around he is happy to do things with Hayley, but when I AM around he seems to think I am "property of Oliver".

One day having two of them will make life easier, allegedly. It's certainly made things a bit tougher for now.

2 comments:

Donna said...

Re. Oliver getting upset when you leave, here's what happened with my sis! My nephew used to cry, really heartbroken, when she left him at nursery. One morning she was so upset she couldn't drive off. The owner saw her, and took her in for a cup of tea to calm her down and discuss the situation. She sneaked Sis in the back way, and she saw that HE was having the time of his life while SHE was too hysterical to drive!

Steve said...

I can entirely believe it Donna. Having been around many mornings when parents dropped off their kids for Hayley to child-mind them, I know that they would cry heart-wrenchingly as they went, but be happily playing within 5 minutes. Then they'd be happy all day 'til the parent arrived , when the tears would start again!

Post a Comment