Easton has certainly changed things around our house, in a
way that is hard to explain. There is less time, less money, certainly less
sleep ;) But there is so much more love, happiness, and blessings since his
arrival. Tucker is much more mature, and even though the first few weeks with
Easton at home were a struggle, they were a struggle in ways that were
perfectly expected….more work, little sleep, Tucker learning how to share his mama and
daddy with a little person, Chris and me having less time for ourselves and one
another.
We didn’t prepare Tucker for Easton’s birth the way that I
would have suggested to any other mom with a young child. I didn’t get him a
baby doll to play with, or tell him that he’d be a big helper. But we did talk
about babies a lot, and I’m pretty sure he was expecting another baby like
Kinley….as in, an 18 month old that he could play with J I was in the hospital for 6 days on bedrest,
and Tucker only visited me once. Having too many visitors could have raised my
BP, but my heart hurt to see him. So one night he came up with Chris, and he
walked in and said “change the diaper.” I said, “there’s no baby yet!” At home,
he told his teddy bears “mama’s comin’ home” over and over. Poor baby missed
me!
During the first few days and weeks after Easton’s birth and
homecoming, I asked God for strength constantly….the strength to get through
the next few hours, or the whole day….the strength to not go into my sleeping
husband’s room and demand that he not get any sleep either ;) (The poor man was
probably only getting 4 hours of sleep and then going into work in industry
where he needed his wits about him….but hey, that was 4 more hours than I was
getting!)
I just knew that whatever we were doing, we were doing it
wrong…because Tucker stopped progressing in therapy. He had a few pee pee accidents, and one poop
accident so I had to pick him up at school. I was exhausted and I was so
worried that the other KG kids had made fun of him (he started KG the day that
I was admitted to the hospital). I
worried about what impact Easton would have on Tucker’s therapy and his
abilities to move forward. I had devoted so much energy and thought to Tucker
for the last 6 years, surely things would slip now that there was a new little
person to tend to? Time and time again,
his therapists, his pediatrician, and even his mito doctor reassured me that it
was perfectly fine for Tucker to regress a little. It was actually a blessing
because it meant that he noticed “wow, something is very different here! This
little bundle of blankets has a person inside it!” It was also great that Tucker
was upset to not spend as much time with Chris and me. It meant that he really
valued his time with us, and we couldn’t be replaced by other caregivers. This was actually news to me, as I thought he
preferred his Mickey Mouse videos to my singing and rocking any day ;)
There were several times that we felt downright awful
because Tucker noticed that Easton didn’t have to follow the same rules. Easton
got to stay up late with mama and daddy, but Tucker had to go to bed early to
be ready for school the next day. Of course, we had to keep Easton up until at
least 10 pm to hope that he would sleep until maybe 4am…but Tucker didn’t
understand that, he thought Easton was up playing with us. One time we put both boys in the tub, and
Easton immediately pee peed. We laughed at him, so then Tucker stood up and
peed in the tub, too! He got a spanking and we had to of course empty the tub
and clean it.
Having Tucker’s therapy sessions was such a blessing because
he was out of school for over a week when Easton came home due to Hurricane
Isaac. I couldn’t drive us anywhere or play outside with Easton, not that I
would have wanted to. So Tucker spent a lot of time inside with Easton and me
except for therapy. Then he got his routine and his rewards, including going to
the mall and playing outside. I was so
nervous to be home with both boys alone, but really Tucker was very good. He
was very patient while I fed Easton his bottle, and during pumping sessions. A
lot of the time, he’d get a book or a music toy and sit next to me on the couch
while I was busy. I would sing to both boys and Easton would stare up at Tucker,
it was very special quiet times with both of them. The problem would be on the weekends when the
therapists were making up the sessions from all of the hurricane time. Chris
was home, and at first Tucker was even more attached to Chris. So one time
Tucker asked Chris to rock in the rocking chair, and Chris said no, he could
rock after therapy. So Tucker listened and went to do his therapy. Then when he
came out to potty, he glanced at Chris and saw him rocking Easton……well if
looks could kill, Chris would have been dead in the rocking chair!
Tucker wanted to do anything that Easton did, and whenever
we gave Easton attention for something, Tucker did it too. So when we’d try to
get Easton to burp, we’d pat his back and say “come on, Easton, burp” etc. and
Tucker would burp. Easton wore the all
in one pajamas that zipped, so Tucker tried to put on the newborn sized PJs! I
found him a few size 5 all in one PJs with the footies (they even sell them in
grown up sizes!) at Wal Mart, and he was thrilled. The problem was that he couldn’t get them off
quickly enough to get to the potty. One night, Chris and I were up late
watching Duck Dynasty (well, we would have been awake with Easton anyways!)
cracking up laughing at Uncle Si. Tucker shuffled out of his room rubbing his
eyes, saying “potty, potty, potty,” so Chris and I ran to help him unzip his
PJs. Well, we were too late, he peed all over the floor. I put Easton down in
the playpen to help Chris calm Tucker down and clean the floor. When we were
done, we got Tucker back to bed and checked on Easton. He was screaming and completely covered in
puke…..so the baby was changed and cleaned, and the play pen sheets were changed.
And Uncle Si kept us laughing the entire time. It was such a “normal” night for
parents of two kids, and we laughed hysterically….maybe we were delirious or
maybe because it really was pretty funny.
Tucker is a baby expert; in fact, I can’t imagine raising a
baby without a Tucker to tell me what I am doing wrong. He knows when the baby
needs changed well before I do. The Huggies cover up the smell of poop pretty
well, so sometimes Easton has a diaper full and I don’t smell it! But Tucker
does! Anytime we get ready to leave the
house, he reminds me to “get the baby! Put him in the carseat” as if I have
ever forgotten the baby! And as if I’d ever put him somewhere other than his
seat ;) He helps me pick out his clothes (almost always the clothes with
firetrucks on them). When Tucker is tired of sharing his toys or parents with the baby, he even puts him to bed. He says “put the baby in the bed” “put the baby to sleep.” He turns on the music box, turns off the light, and waits for one of us to put Easton in the crib. Tucker
believes in the Cry It Out Method. You put Easton in the crib. If he cries, you
shut the door on him. If he cries louder, you turn the TV on to cover up the
noise….seriously! Most of the time he wants Easton with him, but when he has
had enough, he will let you know! During
the first few weeks, Chris and I struggled to figure out what Easton’s cries
meant. One night we couldn’t get him to stop crying and Tucker just stared and
stared at him. Chris asked “what is
wrong with him?” Tucker replied “he won’t stop crying.” LOL
We have had many more adventures over the last 9 months,
including medical ones. I hope to find more time to update everyone on all of
it soon!
