Life With Easton: 10 Weeks In

Oh my gosh. Has it already been 10 weeks with baby number two in my house?! I didn’t even type out his birth story! I just figured, you probably didn’t want to hear another birth story…correct me if I’m wrong…

So Life With Easton posts will start with 10 Weeks In! 

Ok, so let’s jump in.

Our little Easton is TEN weeks old. He is seriously the happiest baby ever. I feel so lucky and relieved. Just talking to him, he’ll burst into a huge smile and try to talk back! He’s already trying to keep up with brother there.

The cold weather plus a newborn has been just miserable. With Canaan, I was able to get him out for a lot of walks and fresh air, but now that we’re up North, we are all cooped up. It’s just not cool trying to get a toddler and a newborn out in below-freezing temps. Not gonna happen.

I can’t stop describing him as “easy going,” because he truly is. He loves his mamaRoo rocker (something Canaan wouldn’t sit in at all until he was closer to 4mos), just wants to be talked to, and really only cries when something is WRONG. He yells when he’s sleepy, but otherwise he just smiles and babbles and sleeps.

I think the big questions people have had for me so far are: how well does he sleep at night; how is Canaan adjusting; how is breastfeeding going; and are you able to work , cook, and workout now that you have two kids? Let’s tackle these.

How well does he sleep at night? I really can’t complain here. He sleeps a good 5-6 hour run when we put him down around 7:30 or 8pm, then he’ll wake up every 2-3 hours until I wake up. Some days I’m lucky and he’ll sleep 3 hour jumps, other days I draw the short straw and he starts waking up every hour. Those are the days I call my mom begging her to come over so I can take a nap.

I don’t know why, but I seem to have the gassiest kids ever. Gas drops really helped his belly the first few weeks, but I’m trying not to use them too often. He wakes up the most when he’s having tummy troubles and that’s just miserable for all of us, so I’ll use them then.

At the moment, Easton is in our room in a basinet. I’ll switch him over to his own room eventually, but I’m not feeling in any rush. And I’ve been getting better about trying to lay him in bed when I can tell he’s going to pass out for a nap, but otherwise he’s napping in his lounger pillow, the car seat, my arms….

Canaan. Canaan is actually doing wonderful with the baby, if you ask me. He is SO sweet and couldn’t be more proud to be a big brother. He has a few “big brother” tees and he insists on wearing them in rotation. Canaan also asks to hold Easton everyday, mimics me saying “I know, I know, it’s ok baby” whenever Easton is crying, and absolutely has to help with every diaper change. So, he is under foot a lot, but because he has nothing but good intentions, I try to be patient and accepting of his help.

Canaan is also two. So, when he’s a complete pain, it’s aimed at me and it’s definitely something that has nothing to do with the baby. His fits usually revolve around snacks or insisting I turn on Moana. Again.

As you may or may not know, I breastfed Canaan until 15 months. It was a huge victory for me, emotionally and physically, to be able to do that for my baby. And so far, Easton is eating just as well. I don’t have any goals as to how long I want to go, I just want to make sure he’s healthy and well-fed and that I’m doing well too.

I think a HUGE relief has been that Easton will take a bottle. My husband and I were able to go on a date and leave the boys with my mom, which was just amazing. Canaan would scream his head off like you were poisoning him if he were offered a bottle, but Easton just chugs like a pro. That’s a huge weight off my shoulders.

The big cooking, working, working out question…I have no solid answer for you. My mom did all of our cooking for the first month. No lie. And after that I eased back into cooking. Some nights I have it together and can make dinner (hello Instagram stories), and then some nights I text my husband to warn him that it’s just not gonna happen tonight. I try to keep dinners to simple and under 30 minutes, because if Easton is suddenly needy while I’m making it, I want to know that dinner is “finishable” within the next hour. Make sense? Also, when I plan something like tacos, enchiladas or pasta sauce, I make double and we have an automatic dinner already in the fridge for another night.

I’m not working a ton, blog wise, which is really hard on me. I’ll think of a million things to make or photograph or type, and then just can’t find the time that day. Or I’ll reach out to a company and never hear back, and I know it’s because I’m not pumping out posts like I used to. That’s just life now. But it’s slowly starting to fall into place for me. Slowly. I even attended the International Home and Housewares Convention in Chicago with Easton strapped to my front in my Solly! Making it happen.

I do try to get in 2 posts a week, which means I work on a lot of content when either boy is napping and at night time. My mom watches the boys for a few hours some afternoons just so I can finish whipping something up or edit photos. Like right now, my parents are playing with the boys in my living room while I’m finishing this post. I couldn’t do it without tons of help!

I quit my other job as a Stroller Barre instructor. It was a decision I shed a lot of tears over. But it wasn’t going well for me (to put it succinctly and to not stir trouble there) and I needed to walk away with my head high. I’m hoping the time I’m no longer pouring into that is now going to serve me better.

BUT since I’m not a fitness instructor anymore, I’m having to find other times to workout. If both kids are ever napping at the same time, I make a point to drop everything and workout for 20-40 minutes. Otherwise, I’ll do it at night after Canaan is asleep and my husband can keep an ear on Easton’s monitor. I’ve also been leaving the boys at my parents’ house once a week to go to a yoga class and keep my practice going. That is just a priority to me. 

Ok! Quick rundown of the things I’m finding most important, product-wise:

Stroller: BOB duallie

Wrap: Solly

Carseat: Chicco KeyFit

Rocker: mamaRoo

Basinet: Nuna Sena Mini (with the insert in)

Lounger pillow: Leachco Podster

Toiletries: NoseFrida, Gas Drops, Vitamin D drops, Boudreaux’s butt paste (natural), anything by Earth Mama Organics

Lactation goodies: Oat Mama bars and teas (discount code at checkout for you: TWIST10 )

 

Thanks for reading my rambles on my boys! If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below!

 

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