I have a second guest post this week from the lovely Kat at Kat Sighs.
I am a Mum of three boys. The Big One is 12 yrs and firmly rooted in tweenager-dom. He is a lovely lad and I am sure he will emerge the other side of his teens equally as lovely. Who knows what will fill the gap!? (He is from my previous relationship) Next up is Chaos who is 2 on Sunday. He is a regular whirlwind and entertaining to boot. He fills a room and steals your attention, however much you try to ignore him. Then there is Squish Pot. He is 10 months and completely adorable! He is the angelic, cute, quiet one - at the moment!
Having kids is a total lottery, you never know what you're going to get. Even with a box of chocolates the options are limited! I was 22 when I had Big. I was naive enough to think having a baby wouldn't be that big a change - PAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Stupid girl, I know. I didn't really consider what this lump I was sporting, would turn into. I just didn't want to get too big as I was struggling to ride my horse every day. Once again, Stupid girl, I know!
When I was pregnant with Chaos, all those years later, it was a totally different story. I knew what was coming this time. Another bundle of grinning, puking, cuddly, poopiness that I would fight to the death for. I knew that number 2 would be different to number 1. They were two different people so of course they would have different personalities. They would like different toys, foods, colours and clothes. I realised that. What I didn't realise (and nobody told me) was that EVERYTHING would be different!!
Big was a healthy breastfed baby - Chaos dropped weight like a hot potato and was readmitted to hospital at 7 days with Jaundice.
Big was a great sleeper - Chaos had undiagnosed reflux and would scream for ages if we led him down but slept instantly on us. He also used to gag in his sleep (terrifying!)
Big would eat anything - Chaos was still eating puree at a year due to his reflux (any lumps made him gag and vomit)
I suppose I thought the fundamental things would be the same. I thought they would sleep and eat the same. It was a total shock and I remember saying "Big never did that" a LOT in the early days.
Now we have Squish as well and he (curiously) looks and acts like Big. They are both blond haired and blue eyed, quiet, easy going and happy. Squish slept through the night from a few weeks old, eats everything within reach and has had no problems at all. He is the most infectiously happy baby you could ever meet. He is always smiling and has a collection of hearts he stole from every health visitor he ever met!
It is interesting watching how they get on together. Big always wanted a little brother so I thought he would be made up when he got one and he was. He soon realised his little playmate had a lot of growing to do before they could play football together! He was worried about breaking him initially but watching them now you wouldn't believe that was ever a concern! They wrestle and muck about to the point I have to remind Big he is playing with a little boy not a rag doll!! Chaos never seems to mind and laughs his head off. Stupidly, I thought Big would be more tolerant of the time the little boys require as he is old enough to understand. He may well understand but it doesn't stop him feeling left out. This is something we are working on at the moment.
Chaos and Squish are very cute together. Chaos loves his little brother and gives him kisses but he also gets a bit rough with him, usually when he takes his tractors! They are starting to play together more now as Squish becomes more mobile. It is lovely to watch the three of them playing together. Squishs little face lights up when he sees his brothers, he follows them about as fast as he can crawl, bless him. I am glad when he was born that I tried really hard to involve Chaos so he didnt feel jealous or left out. He was quite heavy handed so I got him involved in other ways. He used to fetch nappies or wipes for me. He would pick up a dropped toy or dummy. Carry things to another room or just sit next to Squish if I had to pop to the kitchen. If Squish cries, Chaos still comes running to see if hes ok from where ever he is. He tells me if hes hurt or what happened if I wasnt looking. Squish doesnt like being on his own so I taught Chaos to just sit with him so I could make his bottle. I suppose that has stayed with him and he still sits with him if I pop out of the room for a minute.
Boys will be boys but I love my boys, they are great!
I may be a little scared now as big one sounds a lot like Dylan but I have my fingers crossed for another hungry little sleeper (can you really be that lucky twice?)
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