It's been three weeks since our new little bundle of joy (and hiccups) entered the world via the quick route. Three weeks of easy recovery, three weeks of little sleep, three weeks of an edgy 3 year old, three weeks of a messy house, three weeks of cluster feeding, and three weeks of pure bliss. I honestly feel a little guilty that I didn't enjoy my first little bundle as much as Alma.
Guillermo's first year seemed like forever to me. I was always second guessing myself, and looking back, obviously suffering from postpartum depression for much of his first 18 months of life. I look at him now, how intense he is, how emotional, and I'm sure that his being a first child somehow molded (at least a little bit) parts of his personality. While they can be a tad bit trying for his rather passive parents, I try to tell myself that these parts of Guillermo's personality will serve him well in life. By far, my biggest challenge with adding a new family member to our household for me has been watching this little kid who days ago was my baby change his role from only child to oldest child. Surely this stems from my own inability to understand sibling-hood, but it makes a little bit sad seeing his little face while he tries to understand all the feelings welling up inside of him. He is at once filled with love and loathing for his sister. Luckily, the loathing is short-lived and never taken out on Alma (mainly he's just PO'd at mom and dad).
I recently received a parenting magazine in the mail that includes a little blip of an interview with Mark Consuelos (yes, I did spend a bit of my younger years enjoying his role on All My Children!). Anyway, he was asked what he would entitle a parenting handbook, and his answer was all I needed to realize that my feelings entering into the family of four routine aren't all that weird: The First Kid is Like the First Pancake: Burnt on the Outside and Raw in the Middle, But the Rest are Really Good. I can relate to the first part, but I think sometimes burnt on the outside and raw in the middle works, and this is especially true of my firstborn! He "rocks this party out"!
2 comments:
well it's a hard lesson we all learn eventually...that the world does not in fact revolve around us. I like the idea of him taking pics of Alma. That's a cool way to get him involved. It's always fun seeing things from their point of view.
I think it must be hard to, to not have friends and family be able to give G extra attention, so that you can take a break from being the "audience". We should set up Skype chats where he can share with us.
That would be lovely. The Skyping, I mean. He is a little on and off with Skype (sometimes he's into it and other times, he's a freak). Anyway, yes, just let us know when/if you want to chat and we'll get online!
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