AWOL

The whole SuperMommy clan

Hello, lovely readers.

As you've probably noticed, posts have been a bit scarce since RH made her appearance.  There's a good reason for that.

...I am busy.  And TIRED.

You'd think that, what with the constant assistance of Grandmommy or Grandma (or, you know, M), I might be kind of on top of things.

You would be wrong.

First of all, there's the recovery element.  A second c-section is just plain no picnic.  It took two weeks for the anesthesia to finally wear off from my legs, another several days for my feet to begin to resemble feet (they looked like Ugg boots with toes), and I'm still occasionally crippled with abdominal pain for a few minutes at a time.

Then there's the toddler things.  They still need to be fed and cleaned and entertained, but they also need me to make extra time for them so that they know that I still love them, that they're still special to me.  Because so much of their time is wave after wave of distractions from me by other people.  For which I am grateful.  But mostly they only get me all to themselves when they're making bad choices.

And last but not least... there's the baby.

Don't get me wrong, she's a good baby, but babies are hard.  Back before DD and SI were born, I used to tell people that I dreaded the first six months.  I've amended that- now it's just the first four months.  Once they're smiling and interactive and awake for long stretches... I like four month old babies.  And five month old babies.  And six month old babies.  And so on.  I like them all the way up to about puberty, when they become temporarily intolerable.  But newborn babies aren't exactly fun.  They're cute, and they're snuggly, but they don't really *do* anything.  They poop, sleep, cry, and eat.

And this baby?  She requires me for almost all of those things.

If she needs to poop, she latches on an sucks for a few minutes.  It's her version of the crossword puzzle.

If she needs to burp, she latches on and sucks for a few minutes.  It's her version of a seltzer.

Once she's asleep, she's happy to sleep on or near anyone or anything.  But the only way I know to get her to sleep is to latch her on and let her suck until she passes out.

...so I'm pretty much always connected to the baby at the chest.  24/7.

And it's exhausting.

I didn't nurse DD and SI exclusively for the first couple of months- as preemies, we were supplementing them with formula, and then what with there being two of them and all, they kept growing to outpace my milk supply.

This time, I have plenty of milk to spare.  The constant suckling has seen to that.

This, plus a laptop, is me right now.

...and making milk?  Not easy.  Cows must be zen masters.  After every letdown, I just get... tired.

And then DD and SI want me to help them with a puzzle.  Or paint their nails.  Or dress them up like unicorns (that post is coming, I promise).

And so... not a lot of posting.

And I'm sorry.

I have half a dozen posts half written in my head.  Unicorns, SI's Terrible Threes starting in force, a rant about internet "nursing experts" that I think are insulting, how much better (although still not totally fixed) nursing RH has become...

Lots of stuff.

Instead?

I'm going to take a nap with this cuddly baby laying on my chest.