Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Sleep

This is one of the hardest things to give up when you have children. Little or no sleep does VERY BAD things to you. That was the biggest slap in my face when I had Dillon. The good thing about having baby #2 is you know it gets better. Brodie was better about sleeping through the night, but he will only sleep about 8-9 hours before he needs to eat again. Dillon (once he was 4 to 5 months old) sleep from 8 pm to 8 am. Funny how they are both so different.

My biggest advice is sleep when the baby sleeps and try to always remember, it DOES get better. Jason told me that ever time I got up to feed Brodie this time around. Get a cheerleader! If you don't have one, let me know - I will do it!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Sibling Rivalry

I think sibling rivalry is kicking in at our house. Dillon is playing with all of Brodie's toys - even taking them away from him. We are monitoring it and trying to defuse it, but this is a hard one. Brodie just wants to play with brother and brother just wants his toys. And so it begins...I am sure we have many years of this to come.

I have heard many good things about having kiddos spaced about three years apart. Hopefully, this will ring true for us too. I used to think that having them far apart was good, but I like three years. I would have liked them to be closer, but my husband did not want that. Yes, it would have been HELL for the first couple years, but after that I think it would have been good.

After having children I found that people are VERY set in their beliefs about anything that has to do with raising children. It is sad because they end up pushing their beliefs down your throat. I have tried to take the approach of giving advice because the one thing being a parent has taught me is there are many ways to raise children and it is trial and error. I would NEVER wrong someone for how they are raising their child (unless it was abusive or unsafe)!! I have eaten my words more as a parent than I ever have!!

For example, we never let our boys sleep in our bed unless they are sick, scared, etc. But, I have friends that sleep with their children. Is that ok? You bet! Whatever works for them. Just cause I did not do it doesn't mean it is not best for their family.

So remember to support your friend's child rearing practices and only give advice.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Welcome!

For some time now, I have been wanting to start a way to talk to others about my experiences with my babies and with breastfeeding. It kills me that we as women do not talk about these two issues enough. We are here to help support one another and many times, we do not offer support with something that is very hard to do. So this is my attempt to break down some of those barriers and get women talking about these things - as ugly as it may be.

Feel free to post topics and conversation starters. Remember - I am not an expert - I just want to pass along my experiences and thoughts behind them.

I love my children with all my heart, but they are difficult at times to say the least!!