Newborn Energy and Preschooler Regression

There is a lot going on in my house with my two youngest.... heck, even a lot going on with all three of my children but it just seems like the majority of my energy is expelled on the youngest.

I am dealing with issues that I never had to deal with when I had my second child. I guess that has to do with the fact that my daughter was twelve at the time. I did see jealousy issues with her though and we talked about her feelings with her. She seemed to be able to understand and accept her new position as a big sister.

These new issues are rather interesting and I never anticipated them. My educational background should have been considered and reviewed when it came to my son and how this was going to affect him. I am seeing all kinds of behavioural issues, from not listening to regressive behaviours of wanting to be the baby.

I am having a hard time reasoning with him so he understands that he is still loved, but at the same time needs to listen and at times keep his noise level down. I am also trying to remind him that he is not a baby and has not been for some time. I understand that this change of becoming the big brother is hard on him. I wish there was some way of making it easier on him. We have tried to plan special events for him that will keep his interest at his age level. At the same time, I have been taking him to daycare still so that he can have some normalcy in his day like he had prior to the wee lass arriving.

While dealing with my preschooler, I also have the little lady to look after. During the day, she is a dream. She sleeps well and eats ok (she has become very fussy during a feeding and will work herself into a frenzy). At night though it is a different story. She is so wide awake, I have no idea where she gets this energy from. Makes me wonder if she has her days and nights mixed up and how in the world will I fix this issue?!

My lack of sleep is starting to get to me!

On demand feeding... blah!

Feeding on demand with my first child really sucked. She ate every hour on the hour which made my breastfeeding experience a living nightmare. I was home alone with her five out of seven days of the week so, I was also very sleep deprived. It was not until I put her on soy formula (after trying regular formula) that things turned around. She started eating every three hours or so. She even started sleeping through the night but was the queen of power five minute naps during the day.

Feeding on demand with my second was a dream come true. He came with his own schedule right from birth. He would eat every three hours and during growth spurts he would eat more during the feeding and sometimes moved to every two hours. He was the king of the naps during the day and had a lot of sleep issues at night. Eventually, I just stopped feeding him during the night unless I felt he absolutely needed it. He was on regular formula until he started vomiting after almost all feedings around three weeks of age. We moved him to soy formula and he stopped vomiting and was more content.

Feeding on demand with my third child, so far has been an interesting adventure. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to her eating demands. I find myself questioning if she is even really hungry and I am over feeding her. She is currently 13 days old and when I think I know her feeding schedule she throws it out the window so to speak. Her first week she was eating every three to four hours. Then sometime during her second week she changed it to every two to three hours. Making sleeping very hard to do. Right now she is a mix if every two to three hours during the day and every three to four at night. Now I say that, but I must also add in that she sleeps like a dream during the day. At night though she goes for marathon wake sessions.

For my second and third children, my husband is home everyday, but gets up super early. He works hard all day and is exhausted when he gets home. I hate asking him for help during the night out of guilt and guilt that is placed on me by other family members concerning his job. He helps when he can, but really feeding on demand sucks!

The great and powerful melt downs...

I have no idea what is worse...

An 11 day old's melt down?

A 34 month old's melt down?

A 14 year old's melt down?

As I sit here writing this entry, I am trying to wrap my brain around the outcome of this afternoons events and the melt downs I have endured.

I an trying to figure out which one is worse though. In retrospect though I would have to say the 14 year old's melt down is by far the worst as she knows better. The preschooler is trying to gain back the attention he lost with the arrival of his little sister. As for the newborn, she was hungry and I was dealing with her big brother and sister.

Hopefully, things will soon calm down and the older two will not be trying everything imaginable to gain positive or negative attention.

Coping with different needs

Never in my wildeat dreams did I think having children at various age levels would prove to be so difficult.

When I had my oldest, I thought many days were difficult as a new mom with very little help from others especially my husband as his job had him away from home for five out of the seven days. I got very little sleep until she started sleeping through the nights.

When I had my middle child, my oldest was 12. She did not require much from me and spent a great deal of time at her grandparenta house. She helped a lot when she was home with small things and I was able to meet her needs and the little ones needs at the same time. Sure there were days when I was overwhelmed, but it was managable.

Now throw into the mix a newborn. My oldest is 14 and my middle guy is 2. Wow is all I can say. Three years later and I am feeling like I am a first time mom trying to juggle the needs of the hoard. What happened between the birth of my son and our newest addition?!

I am struggling to cope with the needs of my teenager; who takes everything to the extreme and is only willing to help when it suits her. I am struggling to cope with needs of my preschooler; who is dealing with his own emotions as a big brother and wanting my attention. I am struggling with the needs of a newborn; who really needs me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and cannot be told to wait two seconds while I tend to her older brother.

*sigh*

I am struggling with my own emotions at the sametime. Again I am feeling like a new mother drowning in the needa of the many and neglecting the needs I also have.

How does one cope in such a diverse environment as the one I am living in?

Slowly but surely I am certain things will fall into place and everything will work itself out. Until then, I must remember that I am the mom and they are my children. I need to remain level headed for my own sake!

Why this blog?

A few years back, I decided to create a blog depicting my adventures as a mother of two lovely children who by chance had a 12 year age gap between the two of them. I never, not once, wrote a post though. Here we are now almost three years since I created that blog page and not only have my children become older and more independent, but we have just added in another addition to our family.

Why am I now writing this blog?

Why not!

I am doing this more for my children, so they can look back at the memories we create together.

I am writing this as an account of what it was like to be a mother living in "two different" worlds, as I raise a teenager, a preschooler and a newborn.

I say let the adventures, the tough times, struggles and laughter flow.

Now we are faced with the digital age, where our children will be more immersed in technology then we were as children. They will more than likely never read the journal entries I write at the end of the day in my notebook (I know who uses pen and paper anymore these days), but I do know that they will surf the Internet on a regular basis and will more than likely take some time to read to this little blog (or I am strongly hoping that they will.)