After years of sitting in offices reading blogs, Maggie Cheung became a stay-at-home mom to Jackson in May 2007. She admits her diaper-changing, playground-going, spoon-feeding lifestyle affords considerably less time for blog reading, but she infinitely prefers it to commutes and cubicles. Maggie is married to Phillip, The Devastatingly Handsome Chinese Man, and when they aren't coaxing the boy to eat his dinner, they are hunched over their respective laptops at the dining room table. Maggie strongly believes in the parenting philosophy known as Whatever Works, even if her personal website is all about detailing her many failings in this area. She hopes to do a better job of not freaking out with her second baby, a daughter, who arrived in September 2008. Visit Mighty Maggie's blog.
Like most new dads I know, Phillip took two weeks off when Molly was born. We were really looking forward to this time together with our little family. The two weeks he took off after Jack was born was a really fun time in our marriage…well, aside from the whole tube-feeding / round-the-clock pumping thing. We spent those two weeks snuggling on the couch and staring dreamily into our newborn's eyes. I know. Gag.
I thought it would be the same with Molly, but I failed to factor in the Indignant Toddler Quotient.
There is no children's product I loathe more than the sippy cup. How come none of those Useless and Annoying Baby Things lists you see all over the internet leave out the hateful sippy cup? I understand you have to put your toddler's milk in SOMETHING, and I do see the insanity in handing him a nice tall glass of grape juice, but I am pretty sure sippy cups are out to get me. At the very least, the Sippy Cup Industry is conspiring to take all my money.
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Before Molly was born I made sure to do some research on how, exactly, one transports two children (under the age of two!) by herself. I scoped out double strollers at the playground. I spent hours online reading about slings and wraps and pouches. I studied car seats and infant carriers and for goodness' sake, people, WE BOUGHT A NEW CAR. A bigger car, with more storage and more seats. But now I wonder why I bothered, because leaving the house with two children (under the age of two!) is practically impossible.
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I used to plan our mornings by the hour. Get up, breakfast, bath, shower, out of the house. We could go to Target or a playgroup or the park or the wading pool or Grandma's house – I didn't care. We just had to get out of the house. Lunch time seemed light years away, and I knew my best chance of survival meant getting out of the house.
Now? With Molly? By the time I get everyone bathed and dressed, it's time for lunch.
First, he made sure I was watching. Then, while I fed Molly on the couch, Jack took his plate of little cheese sandwiches and dumped the whole thing over the side of his high chair. "JACK!" I said angrily, but he smiled sweetly and threw his sippy cup over the other side. What could I do? I was feeding the baby.
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Here I was worried about jealousy when I should have been worried about my eardrums.
The thing everyone wants to talk about when you're pregnant with your second is how your first is going to respond. Will he be jealous? Clingy? Fascinated? Adorably helpful?
After an entire day and night of contractions, a shot of morphine, being sent home from the hospital, and getting yelled at by the same anesthesiologist who yelled at me LAST time, Molly Elizabeth made her grand entrance on September 1st at 10:15 pm. At 7 pounds 8 ounces she's a whole lot bigger than her brother was.
So far Jack is not impressed. We're at home now and just beginning to navigate the world of Two Babies, Oh My God What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into?
I have a doctor appointment this afternoon. At my last appointment, she asked if I wanted to be "checked" (and those of you who have been "checked" understand why I use quotation marks because it is quite another thing ENTIRELY) and I was all, "No thank you!" Because why would I want to do THAT?
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As he gets older, Jack's harder to control in public. I'm told this is the normal progression of things. As the toddler learns more about his world, the more he strives to control it. We had our first meltdown in a restaurant a few weeks ago. We now expect to take him out of church halfway through the service.
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