(no subject)

[rivka]

Okay, I got through my first singlehanded day with both kids, and all three of us were alive at the end of the day. So I did my job.

The saddest moment came shortly after Michael came home. He volunteered to take Alex outside to play in the (minimal, as it turns out, but still exciting when you are three and a half and live south of the Mason-Dixon line) snow. Colin was asleep in the sling, so I had high hopes for a few moments of actual time for myself.

The instant the door closed behind Michael and Alex, Colin woke up and started to cry. I mean the very instant. The sound of the closing door was still ringing in my ears.

But the day itself didn't go too badly. We did things. We all got dressed and fed, although lunch didn't happen until 2pm. I broke out a new chapter book I had picked up at the library book sale, and we read five exciting chapters of The Enormous Egg. We got Colin to go down for a nap in the Pack-n-Play and went outside to shovel and play in the snow. Alex turned a tiered mug rack into an apartment building and populated it with characters from her creche and her Fisher-Price schoolhouse, which is how I learned that Mary and Joseph decided they couldn't take care of baby Jesus anymore, so they gave him up for adoption, and now he lives with two of the Magi.

TV: Moderate. Alex and I each watched one show. For all that I'm grateful that people gave me permission to overuse age-appropriate educational children's programming, what I really want to do right now is put on shows for me, because nursing for hours and hours is pretty boring and I'm still not that great at holding a book while keeping Colin properly positioned. Most of what we have on DVD is not even remotely preschooler-appropriate. Which leaves daytime cable. Which is why Alex can now quote pithy little bits from Stacy and Clinton on What Not to Wear. (We all prefer Ace of Cakes, but it doesn't seem to be on during the day.)

Things I completely failed at: staying hydrated. That alone is pretty much a fulltime job right now. I keep one-liter water bottles by my upstairs and downstairs nursing chairs, but I really need to make sure that they're full at the beginning of the day, or I'm not going to get around to filling or drinking them.

Other things we are failing at: keeping Colin remotely dry. Anyone who disposable-diapered boys have a recommendation? Pampers Swaddlers just aren't cutting it, and I'm tired of having to strip off and launder not just his undershirts and sleepers, but also his swaddling blankets.

How parenting the second child is different from parenting the first: I feel totally okay about Colin fussing and crying a little in the sling while I finish making myself lunch. (I then ate my lunch one-handed, while nursing.) I have learned that you have to put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting other passengers.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

My nephews' diapers had Muppet Babies on them. And velcro-ish strips attached. They might've been Huggies, I think, but the Muppet Babies are probably a more reliable signifier--I never bought them, but boy did I change them. ;-)

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Try the Huggies equivalent if the Swaddlers aren't doing the job.

Ah, yes, the oxygen mask comparison. How I wish I'd grokked that with #1!

[naomikritzer]

Huggies, or the Target knock-off, which has a similar design.

I had two skinny babies and Target or Huggies worked great, while Pampers fell off or leaked like crazy. My friends with chubby babies had the opposite experience.

You're pointing his penis down as you put the diaper on, right? I've never had a boy, but I picked up that tip while babysitting for a friend.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Your last paragraph reminded me of an airline prep speech that said that you should put on your oxygen mask before your child's and continued "and if you are traveling with two children, choose now which one you love more."

I hope those zingers aren't too pithy. My three year-old niece apparently suggested to one of her playmates that she "suck it up," and nobody's quite sure where she picked up that particular piece of vocabulary.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

He might have had an interesting youth, growing up with Magi instead of this ordinary family that didn't know what to make of him when he was found off teaching in the temple. I know, it would be like wizard school! Harry Potter and ... that other guy.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Yay for surviving!

I can't offer any recommendations that are boy-specific for diapers, but generally speaking, we always preferred Target brand diapers above and beyond all other diapers available.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I used Pampers exclusively; don't know why. I also had a little tucking maneuver that kept the aim more down than up. If yaknowwhatImean. Also, in case you haven't run into it yet, I got really good at taking the diaper off and throwing the washcloth on before the cool air stimulated a fountain event.

Good times, good times :).

[redbird23.livejournal.com]

It can take a few brands to find the one that works for your baby. For us, everything leaked except Pampers. I would try Huggies, and a couple of the more reliable store brands (I've heard good things about Target's and Costco's Kirkland brand). It can be an issue, but we've found that once we stumbled on the right diaper brand, it remained the right diaper brand and every time we try to change it we pay with wet clothes.

Wait till you figure out how much easier changing boys is than girls (after they stop peeing in your face, which was about 8 weeks for us).

[redbird23.livejournal.com]

Oh, almost forgot. For a long time we folded the top of his diaper in, forming a little tent over his penis. This helps a ton until he gets big enough that you can point his penis down when you diaper him. Pampers had a soft bit at the top of the diaper, so there wasn't anything rough against his skin even folding the top in. Our pediatrician actually showed us this trick. I don't know if other diaper brands would allow you to do this though, if that top strip isn't soft on the outside.

[drelmo.livejournal.com]

I purely loved The Enormous Egg as a kid. Always loved dinosaurs, always will.

[selki.livejournal.com]

It's such a charming book!

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Mary and Joseph decided they couldn't take care of baby Jesus anymore, so they gave him up for adoption, and now he lives with two of the Magi.

I want to read this story.

I may need to write it first.

[pbrim.livejournal.com]

"Jesus has two Daddies"?

[trope.livejournal.com]

I just lived off of TLC (particularly What Not To Wear in the first days of nursing. That and Veronica Mars, though I see how it may not be Alex's thing.

I'm sure there are others who have won at the dry-newborn-boy game, but we failed at it too. Pampers, Huggies, prefolds, pocket diapers, WHATEVER... it just didn't work. Then he began peeing less at around 12 weeks and life was good. We got a whole bunch of waterproof pads and put them underneath Bonzo wherever he went, and got cool with the idea of changing his clothes three times a day. (We had a summer baby, so that involved a somewhat smaller volume of clothes.) Sorry I cannot offer good advice...

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I found myself watching hours on end of The History Channel while in the hospital -- I'm so glad they've stopped doing their All-WWII-All-The-Time schtick, and now have large blocks of sciency sorts of programs.

[erbie.livejournal.com]

Supposedly Huggies fit boy shapes better and Pampers/Luvs fit girl shapes better.

Also, Seventh Generation are good. They don't fit my girl well, so maybe they're more for boy shapes.

[telerib.livejournal.com]

My friends with two boys and their first girl have also said this.

Spud has been in Huggies the whole time, except for in the hospital, because the grocery store only had the Huggies with belly-button cut-outs. They worked so we never switched. (If it ain't broke...)

[aendr.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a problem with eco nature babycare (except when he's just about to grow out of one size and into the next, overnight, when he's sleeping 8 hours), but I don't know if they're available over there. Huggies leaked horribly and Pampers were okay. I think it really depends on baby shape.

Do point the penis down, it's possible even in the first days, though a bit tricky initially. Boys wet the front, girls the middle. It could be that with your Alex the wet got absorbed by the back of the nappy as well as the front, kind of had more time to spread out forwards and backwards before leaking, whereas with Colin see if the back is still dry but the front is leaking (that's what happens with my Alex) - too much wee at once to spread to the back so leaks out of the front. Some brands do a boy/girl version to allow for that.

In the meantime, consider getting a wrap for cloth nappies and putting that over the nappy with a microfibre cloth (from the cleaning aisle) in the wettest bit. That means you only have to change the nappy and cloth and not the clothes each time (two wraps and you can rinse the one that comes off and it will dry by the next change). I like Motherease Rikki wraps (which are from the US, so you ought to be able to get them). If you don't manage to find something that works now, that may change in the future as he begins to fill out and then grow.

Oh, and I've been warned, as soon as boys start sleeping on their fronts, the wet through problem gets worse as then gravity doesn't help!

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

You might need to up a size in the swaddlers? Swaddlers were the only ones that didn't leak on us, and when they *did* start leaking, it seemed to be the sign to move to the bigger size. I don't know if they make Pampers Baby Dry for newborns or size 1 yet, but if they do, they were our night-time go-to diaper.

How parenting the second child is different from parenting the first: I feel totally okay about Colin fussing and crying a little in the sling while I finish making myself lunch. (I then ate my lunch one-handed, while nursing.) I have learned that you have to put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting other passengers.

If somebody could figure out how to bottle perspective and sell it to first time parents, they'd make a mint. In my experience, it was something I could only figure out the second time around!

Needs illustrations by Dr Seuss.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

We'll take the frankincense, you take the baby
We can't cope and we don't mean maybe.
His halo's hard and it shines so bright
We can't get to sleep for half the night.
The star was scary, the angels worse!
These animals talked! Is he under a curse?
The shepherds brought lamb, which is good to eat
But the myrrh that you brought doesn't smell so sweet.
You say he's special, some kind of king
If you're so wise, you do this thing!
Bringing up babies is really tough
Bringing up god-kings is much too rough.
Just leave the gold, you can take him for free
You know all this stuff about destiny.
If Herod sends soldiers they won't notice us
We'll go back to the workshop without any fuss.
You can bring him up special, it's all down to you
We're stumped, but you're wise men, you'll know what to do!

Re: Needs illustrations by Dr Seuss.

[bosssio.livejournal.com]

This is awesome. Truly awesome.

Re: Needs illustrations by Dr Seuss.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

And then he grew up to be King of Persia, conquered the Roman empire, and ushered in the two millennia of peace and prosperity that have seen mankind spread out among the habitable worlds of the galaxy...

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

Hey! I just wanted to send my virtual support as someone who has just had her first day alone with the newborn and the 3.5 yr old. I was not sure we were going to make it, honestly. There was some crying from me at least. But, trite as it sounds, almost every day has gotten a bit easier (excluding the days where either it was to cold/rainy to be outside or where Alistair was up all night) and now we spend most days together...Royce isn't in preschool so I get breaks from my mom a couple of times a week and another friend takes Royce once a week. But I know exactly what you mean about the nap and nurse--it's the thing I miss the most about having more than one kid--with Royce I could snuggle him in bed and nurse and nap and chill out all day, but with Alistair it's a rare treat. And eating and hydrating seem much harder this go round... I'm not drnking nearly enough either--the liter bottles in likely places are a good idea though...

As far as the diaper goes, others have covered that pretty thoroughly...but I'll second the ideas about trying a size up and then trying another brand--pampers were the only thing that worked for Royce but whenever we had a peeing out problem it was almost always solved by going up a size. You might also try fleece pants which is what we use with the cloth diapered boy--keeps the pee off his clothes if not in the diaper.

Anyway, just wanted to say, "rock on, sister! you can do this!"

[kaitiana.livejournal.com]

I think it just depends on the child. You may have to try a few different brands. For us with Zack, we HATED Huggies because he soaked through them constantly. What worked for us were the Pampers Cruisers diapers. LOVE them!!!

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

The "pointing the penis down" is important -- nay critical!

I used Pampers with both of my boys.

Finally, two things. First, you often have to make the diapers very tight around the waist. I overlap the sticky straps with Thane now. If the diaper isn't full but his clothes are wet, pointing penis down and tightening the waist will help. Second, babies outgrow diapers between one night and the next. The way I can tell is that suddenly every outfit is wet, when I wasn't having a problem before. Going to the next size up will help.

I suspect Colin may already be ready for size 2 diapers!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We're using "size 1/2" diapers which are supposedly for 8-15 pounds, and Colin must be somewhere between 8.5 and 9 pounds. You wouldn't think he'd really be ready to move up.

We may not be making them tight enough, although the sticky straps are overlapping for sure. Colin has had a little bit of irritated skin around his waist, in the diaper area, so I've been slacking off on making them super-terribly-tight, but maybe the price to pay is wet clothes.

[ailbhe]

You could maybe shorten them by rolling them over at the back and front so he wears them low-slung, away from the irritated skin but tighter? This will depend hugely on baby shape.

[kate_nepveu]

Does your cable co. do DVR? Might be worth it for the next little bit, having a store of recorded _Ace of Cakes_ and whatnot whenever you want.

Hooray, everyone alive!

[kate_nepveu]

Or, do you still have a Palm, and can you read one-handed? I go through a _lot_ of novels on my Palm because it doesn't require two hands to turn pages. I can send you e-books if you want.

[shandra.livejournal.com]

I ditto the Huggies; I think you either have a Huggies or a Pampers bum. We also tented them as someone else posted. And point the penis down once you can. :)