A new normal

2:00 am - Dexter nurses after fussing on and off for an hour from his gas.

2:30 am - back to sleep

5:00 am - Chris's alarm goes off, he leaves for work before 6am today (on his bike)

5:30 am - Dexter woke for a feeding after squirming in his bassinet for 30 minutes (man, babies are loud! I'm thinking of moving him to the playroom tonight).

6:00 am - Dexter fell back asleep after nursing, Frankie's not up yet. I run to the bathroom for a quick shower (triumphant music).

6:20 am - Frankie's up, milk in a sippy cup, and we join Jeff and Hannah for breakfast and to watch the sports highlights from last night on Jeff's computer. Watch Michael Phelps stomp some world records he's previously set. Jeff lets me know the washer is not draining. Sigh. This is not a household that can be without a washing machine for more than about two days.

6:40 am - Coffee. Ahh.

6:45 am - After Frankie finishes her cereal (in a bowl, with milk that she eats with a spoon all by herself), Hannah comes a little too close and Frankie hits her in her frustration that Hannah is invading her space (this girl needs her space in the morning).

6:47 am - Frankie is in time out, doing penance for the hitting, and Hannah comes by to check out the scene. I ask Frankie to apologize to her friend, and instead she hits her again. Realizing that this is not going to be a "Frankie plays well with others" sort of day, we excuse ourselves from the breakfast scene, apologize to Hannah (Frankie gives her a nice "sorry" this time) and head up to the playroom.



8:15 am - Sarah pokes her head in to say goodbye - she and Hannah are headed out for the morning for some errands.



9:00 am - Dexter wakes up for a feeding. I nurse him while Frankie brings me books to read.

9:30 am - We head downstairs. Frankie plays while I start to make shepherd's pie for dinner. Dexter "miles of smiles" hangs out in his bouncer chair in the kitchen with me.

10:00 am - Dexter goes down for a nap, Frankie wanders in looking for her smoothie and I make her one to eat while she watches Sesame Street (her "show").



11:00 am - Sesame Street is over, we make a fort out of the couch cushions.

11:30 am - Dex is up again, looking for something to eat. Sarah and Hannah return home. Frankie says "sorry" several times to Hannah as soon as she sees her - she's apparently really sorry for the hitting from this morning. It doesn't stop her from hitting Hannah again shortly after they arrive at home though, and we work on our "gentle hands" - she gives Hannah a hug, a kiss, and a high-five.

12:00 - lunch time! Frankie eats most of a turkey dog, some rice, and blueberries.

12:30 pm - Dexter goes down again for another nap, Frankie goes down for her nap a little early. She's gone to bed at 8pm the last three nights (her normal bedtime is more like 7 or 7:30) and has still gotten up at 6:00 am - she's a little overtired, hence the particularly short fuse with Hannah.

1:00 pm - I go down for a nap. Ahhh...

1:30 pm - Not so fast, Dexter wakes up looking for a little something again. I nurse him, spend some time burping him, and he goes back to sleep (hurrah!).

2:15 pm - Praise God from whom all blessings flow, all three of us nap.

4:00 pm - Frankie gets a snack and milk, Dexter wakes up and nurses.



5:15 pm - The rain has finally stopped. Sarah and Hannah head out for a walk to the library, Frankie asks for a ride in the wagon. We walk around the block, throw the ball for the dogs across the street, and wave to the neighbors.

6:10 pm - Chris is home!

6:30 pm - Family Dinner (all 7 of us).

7:00 pm - Chris puts Frankie to bed, and then heads out for a meeting with our pastor, Dan Rogers. I find myself in a sudden lull with Dexter sleeping too, and start this blog post.

7:45 pm - Dexter wakes up, I feed him again. He cries for 45 minutes after this feeding until I finally get one last good burp out of him. He's back to Guy Smiley Dex.

He's currently just having some calm awake time in his bassinet, and I imagine he'll be ready for his night's sleep around 9:15 or so. I'll probably try and "dream feed" him tonight around 10pm and see if we can make it past 2 before the next feeding.

Dexter has started sleeping better just in the last few days. I was at my wit's end over the weekend, thinking he'd never go more than about 3 hours between a feed, and suddenly went for gold and slept 8 hours Saturday night. He has only gotten up once per night since then ("night" being 10pm to 5:30 am).

And no, we are not tired of the Murrys! Much the opposite, I love them more every day. I love Sarah's company, and the way we are able to split jobs around the house (we cook every other night, for example). I appreciate the way Jeff empties the dishwasher almost every morning, and is always willing to help out any way he can. I love Hannah's bright spirit and the way she loves Frankie like a sister, and is always delighted to see Dexter.

The girls have had a crash course in sharing, which is sometimes hard, but I think really good for them. Especially Frankie, my ultra-independent-doesn't-like-anyone-in-her-space child. Some days the sharing is too much, like today, and we excuse ourselves to another part of the house to play independently. But I can tell by the way Frankie gets excited to see Hannah when she's been gone for a few hours like this morning, that she really, truly loves her.

And it's now 9:30 pm, Chris just got home, and Dexter is still just smiling at us.