Happy six weeks, Nugget

Nugget is six weeks old.  This means my maternity leave is half over.  Sigh.  After the twins were born, I was okay with returning to work at the end of my maternity leave.  I believed I was a better mom as a working mom.  I think it will be harder to return this time.  I've settled into being a mom, and I'm really enjoying the extra time with SB and BW.  I still ultimately believe that I am a better mom as a working mom, and SB and BW are in a great place socially and intellectually because of the wonderful daycare that they attend, but I wouldn't mind being able to take summers off and spend extra time with them. 

Nugget's reflux started ramping up, and she was starting to be very fussy in the evenings, very gassy, and had some projectile vomiting episodes, although not a ton.  At her one month appointment, upon discussing this with the pediatrician, the pediatrician said that the most common culprit for gassiness and reflux was dairy, and recommended eliminating it for two weeks to see if these improved.

I love milk. I love cheese. 

This was going to be difficult.

I drug my feet for a few days, as Nugget's symptoms didn't seem to be as severe as what I read a milk protein allergy would entail, but Nugget's evening fussiness, reflux and spitting up seemed to be ramping up, so I finally committed to cutting out dairy.  Within a few days, Nugget's baby acne, which had covered most of her face, completely cleared up literally overnight.  She was settling easier at night.  On Father's day, I decided to experiment with goat cheese, as I found a source on the internet that said goat milk protein was easier to digest that cow's milk.  Big mistake.  Nugget was agitated from about 6 pm to midnight the next night.  So, I'll continue to avoid the deliciousness of our cheese door (sigh) and work through the remainder of the two weeks, but I expect I will be committing to dairy free.

Reflections on three under three - a few weeks in

Since a few weeks have passed since my last post, I thought I'd do an update.  We've switched SB and BW to daycare just two days a week for the remainder of my maternity leave.  Things are still going fairly well, although we've decided we need to focus a bit more on getting SB and BW more one-on-one attention if possible.  SB in particular seems to be struggling a bit to gain attention from the hubs and I, even if it is negative attention.  Although I know defiance and independence is par for the course with her age, I think her defiance is connected more with wanting more attention.  She is still, all in all, a great kid, so I try to remind myself to be patient and work through these difficulties.  True one-on-one attention is difficult, especially for me, because Nugget is still so new, but hopefully an individual overnight with grandma will give both SB and BW some special time with me and the hubs.

I am still enjoying the ease of one baby versus two babies.  I feel like I am truly learning Nugget in a way I wasn't able to do with SB and BW when they were new.  I love being able to pop her in the Moby and still be mobile and get out with SB and BW.  She still is a relatively easy baby and is napping in her crib as I type this - a milestone that was really difficult to accomplish with SB and BW.  I think things will get more difficult as she gets past the newborn stage and is more alert and needs more stimulation

I am also really enjoying not having the stress of work hanging over my head all the time.  I feel like I can participate more in my household in the evenings, help clean up, not worry about SB and BW going to bed so I can get some work done.  I am less stressed and feel like I am able to more fully participate in my family.  I'm not looking forward to returning to work and shouldering that workload again.