It has now been a week since my parents left and I’ve been looking after the kiddies on my own. I wasn’t worried about how I’d cope but knew juggling a newborn and a toddler certainly wasn’t going to be easy. Tate was used to being taken out and about most days – to child friendly activities like storytime, the playground – or sight seeing. When he was at home he was also used to being entertained by someone else when I was busy doing something with Knox. Seeing how he would cope having to share Mummy was going to be interesting.
Given that my parents left on a Wednesday, we only had two days before the weekend when Richard would be home. Tate did very well for the first two days and didn’t mind too much when mummy had to feed Knox, change is nappy or settle him in his cot. I even managed to cook dinner on at least one of the nights. I was very proud of myself for juggling two kids and dinner that first night. Sadly though, I wasn’t so succesful the next night and had to resort to microwave meals. But that’s ok, that’s what my dad and I made them for! Anyone who has a baby on the way whether it is their first or not, I’d highly recommend freezing some microwave friendly meals- spaghetti bolognese, chilli, soup etc. They all work a treat!
On the weekend Tate struggled a bit. The poor thing is teething. He’s getting all four of his eye teeth and he’s in a fair bit of pain. He has normally done reasonable well with teething but these eye teeth seem to be killers! We had to get out the chew toys (which he hasn’t used for over a year) for him to bite on. We’ve also had to do our first run to the chemist for pain medication for him. Pain medications have different names here, but luckily we worked it out and bought him the US equivalent to Nurofen. It certainly helped bring down the temperature he had on the weekend, which I believe was teething related.
This week so far has been more difficult. Whilst, at 7 weeks, Knox has been getting into more of a routine (which is great), Tate has continually struggled with these teeth. Yesterday he was crying hysterically for a lot of the day. I tried many things to help/distract him – reading, using his easel, playing with blocks, cuddles, panadol and bonjela. Nothing worked for more than a minute or two.
I felt so sorry for Tate, wishing I could fix it for him. Even the nap in the afternoon didn’t quite help completely. Though he perked up for an hour or so, he was quite upset by the time Richard got home and I was having immense difficulty feeding Knox and tending to Tate while he cried. I tried offering cuddles and kisses and tried distracting him to no avail but it wasn’t until Richard got home and could entertain him that he really picked up. My question is: was he struggling with his teeth, having to compete with Knox or both?
Lets hope today is a better day!