Schedules for Two

I think Bumpus actually cares for his baby brother. Last night as I was singing B his good night song ("Now It's Kinda Time to Go to Sleep", TM) and T was in the carrier on my chest crying, B leaned in and gave him a kiss and patted his head. He often pats his back (as he sees me doing when I burp him), wants to touch his feet and hands, and pet his hair. It's really quite touching. I'd like to think I've done something to foster this in him - but I think it's just B's general kind nature (my former posts bitching about him notwithstanding). Believe me, I've spent a lot of time around other people's two-year-olds the last few days, and yeah...I may think I have it tough, but relatively - not at all. One boy was throwing sharp sticks angrily into kids' faces at the playground today. I don't picture B doing something like that. He may tantrum when I make him do something he doesn't want to do in that moment, but he's not aggressive and mean. For that I am truly thankful!

We have developed quite a nice and manageable routine around here, one that I pray continues, because it's pretty awesome and will be pretty important once my real work kicks in. 

Amazingly, my dream has come true - Bumpus is playing alone in his room in the morning, and likes it! So Operation Bumpus Plays Alone in His Room has finally come to fruition, through no effort on my part. So I get myself up around 8-8:30 and shower and get dressed and ready for the day, then get the baby fed and changed and dressed, before even going to get B out of his room, which I do at 9 AM. I get B changed and dressed and then we all have breakfast; I clean up the kitchen, B and I brush our teeth, then I make the beds and tidy up his room before piling us all in the car for whatever our morning activity is. 

In evenings I keep B's dinner/bedtime routine pretty much the same, except with a baby strapped to me; then the baby and I hang out in the living room while I have dinner and do work and then finally go to bed around 11. 

The whole "middle part" of the day is a bit troublesome - keeping B occupied all day until dinner time is an ongoing challenge. I dread the days much like today when it's only 2 PM and we've done everything we could do and now we just have to sit around the house for four hours...but who knows, maybe I can muster the energy to get us to the farmer's market or something.

On the physical front - have fit into non-maternity jeans today (just). Graduated to just panty liners, and the terrible engorgement is completely gone, thank God. As I had hoped it just sort of went away on its own once my body figured out I don't have an army of babies to feed. There is some soreness but nothing like it was. It's amazing how much better you can focus without chronic pain!