Motherhood

Motherhood update // 2 months postpartum

4 min read

Last week, little L turned two months old! Time flies, yet it also feels like she has been around forever. We all adore her and are so grateful she is part of our family.

The last month

Unfortunately, we continued our sickness streak during the last month. First, Edd was unwell, then SJ had a bad cold and finally I caught a very persistent flu type virus. Rather miraculously, no one was ill last week but now little L has a snotty nose.

Children are amazing

However, she is still mostly very happy and sleeps reasonably well. So not too had! She is still super smiley and coos and “talks” lots. Yesterday she laughed for the first time – her cousins were making funny faces for her and she started to giggle. She also started rolling over from her belly to her back. It’s all happening!

I am also constantly amazed at SJ – she is so funny and clever. (And is getting more and more cheeky!) Recently, Edd had to tell her off for something and while he was talking she pretended to fall asleep. She started making up words and names a little while ago. Her current tactic to stall bedtime is by asking if we can pray for “Apo-Apo” and “Kuhulututu”.

She asks lots of questions like – does the bus have legs? And does the sun have legs? Can the sun sit? Have boats got wheels? Where do the lizards sleep?

Challenges

To be honest, I felt pretty fed up two weeks ago – it felt like it had been ages where I had a morning with SJ in nursery and I was also well and able to use the time without her in a productive or fun way. I am glad that the weather is starting to get warmer and I am hopeful that we won’t get ill as much in the coming weeks.

Other than that, the thing I found hardest is to balance everyone’s needs well. Especially when we’re not in our normal routine. Over Easter we had family and then some friends staying with us, which has been wonderful. However, my need for connection or desire to be a good host sometimes clashes with Edd’s need for alone time, SJs sleep schedule and Ls preference for calm over chaos. It is difficult to know where to make exceptions, what boundaries to enforce and to whom we should say no. It’s a learning curve!

Please share your advice

Over the last few months it has become more and more apparent that with SJ we have gone through a bit of a transition. Up until recently, our job as her parents was primarily to take care of her. Now, we also need to parent. She is a great kid, but still needs to be taught to be kind and polite to others. To communicate in a friendly manner even when she is tired or emotional. We need to help her learn that the world does not revolve around her but that she also needs to consider others (for example her sister).

If you have any thoughts or advice on how to guide children toward becoming kind humans who consider others as well as themselves, please share! Also, don’t feel like you cannot comment if you don’t have children. Sometimes an outside perspective brings the greatest wisdom.