C. is six months old this week. It marks a good time to take stock of how the whole working-mother-of-four-including-an-infant thing is going.
All in all, it’s going very well. She’s an easy baby who has slept pretty well from the beginning. She had a fussy period at about 4 - 8 weeks, but she really has turned into just a very happy, mellow, laid back girl. She keeps a pretty regular routine. She nurses well but also takes a bottle just fine. She’s eating solids regularly now. She’ hasn’t yet been sick with anything more serious than a cold, and she’s only had 1.5 of those (the first when she was only a few weeks old and the second one barely registering on the charts). In fact, she’s only been to the pediatrician once beyond her well-baby check-ups.
Yes, we are very, very busy. And there is no way we could be pulling this off without HUGE help from Jon’s parents. They do much of our childcare and Jon’s father, who is also his boss, lets Jon bring C. to work as much as he needs to.
The other children seem to just adore their baby sister and she clearly thinks they are the most fun thing that exists. She just lights up and wiggles all over when one of them reaches out to pick her up. The big kids are also very helpful; J. and E. are always willing to hold her or feed her. I try to keep my requests for help to a minimum, though, and let it be something they want to do. But sometimes I do ask and they are very willing and nice. H. is beginning to interact with her more. He smiles at her and she giggles. I think he’ll enjoy her more as she begins to chatter. He’s actually very good and sweet with all his little cousins.
There are crazy times when Jon and I feel a little overwhelmed. Mornings are the hardest - trying to get everyone ready and out the door and Jon trying to get bottles and diapers and snowsuit and carseat ready. Some very busy evenings when we get home late from various afterschool activities can also get a little nuts. But I try to just take a deep breath and realize that pizza for dinner for one too many nights or a night without one kid getting a shower isn’t going to kill anyone.
The best news is that now that C. is big enough that I am very comfortable co-sleeping with her, I am essentially getting a full night’s sleep every night. We put her to bed in her own bed next to ours and she sleeps ’til the middle of the night. Then when she wakes up, I just pull her into bed with me and nurse her while half-asleep and then we just fall back asleep til morning. I have to say that it was the lack of sleep I was most worried about when I considered trying to work full time and mother a baby (with my others, I worked mostly from home when they were babies), but overall it’s gone pretty well.
So far, so good.
Ask me again when she starts teething or crawling over to eat catfood or garbage….
