It’s only been 2 weeks since we’ve become a family of 5 but somehow it feels longer. Liyana has just fit right in. She eats, poops and sleeps like a trooper and according to her brother’s she is “lame and boring” LOL!!! They want interaction. They constantly smother her, I actually feel sorry for the poor kid. I suppose this is setting the tone for a life with older brothers who will always be in your business. It’s taken Rameez a week or so to warm up to her. At first he would play with her but then say that she’s not his sister, its Anees’ sister. Until today. He ran in the room while I was feeding her and started trying to hug and kiss her and then asked if he could hold her. When he did he kissed her on the forehead and said ” I love my sister”. My heart melted.
While my heart has been melting at the way these 3 have been bonding my head has been hurting from the incessant talking and bickering and fighting over who gets to do what with their sister. Yes its endearing but FEK I need a break from these kids. It’s just getting too noisy in my head. I’ve been feeling claustrophobic because I havent been able to drive and recovery has taken longer this time than previously. Yesterday I felt like I was let out of jail as I took the car and drove the boys to school. Rameez went to school yesterday for the first time and he Loved it!! You know how they say there’s a time and place for everything. After chatting to him the night before I could hear and feel his excitement and I could feel that the right time was upon us. I took him to school with clear instructions to him that he is not allowed to go to Anees’ class. He had to stay in his own class and make his own friends. I always wanted Rameez to establish his own identity. I felt like he needs to learn to be his own person and not just live in the shadows of being Anees’ brother. This was the main reason for not sending him to school earlier. I also felt like Anees needed his own space and I didn’t want Rameez to infringe on Anees’ personal space by being at the same school and being a tail. So things worked out great! Rameez walked into school and was taken to his own class. I explained to him that if he wanted to come home he should ask the teacher to call me. He looked at me timidly and asked “Mom, Can I go?” I thought he was going to burst into tears and say the he wanted to go home. I asked him where would he like to go and with a huge smile on his face he pointed at the other kids and when I said Yes, he had run off. I was so proud. I said Good-Bye and told the school that I would not be checking in on him later and that they should call if there were any problems. I didn’t hear a word from them and Zaid went to pick up the boys at lunch time and Rameez couldn’t stop talking about his day at school. So Anees will probably be taking the rest of the year off and spend some QT with me while I’m on leave and we will happily send Rameez off to school.
I’m contemplating going back to work in December. Staying at home feels so unstimulating. Yes, i know I need 6 weeks for my body to recover! I’ve already started counting the days until I go back to gym. I need more than this though. The cooking, shopping, mani’s, pedi’s, coffee dates and lying on the couch is a tad overrated in my opinion. You can only do so much of that before it too becomes monotonous.
I’m so glad to have had Zaid at home with me for the last 3 weeks, his leave is unfortunately coming to and end on the 12 November. We will be squeezing in quite a few fun dates before then. I’m so relieved Liyana took the bottle with formula (gasp, what a bad mother am I? LOL) like a champ. I can leave her without the stress of worrying that I need to be back for her next feed and its been such a relief, there’s no pressure or stress this time around and I’m sure it will be in the best interest of my mental well-being. I wish I could bottle up all of this “3rd time mom” wisdom. I do whatever feels right and not what the books dictate is supposed to be right. With all due respect to the authors of Baby Sense and the likes of “What to expect in the first year”. The problem with those books is that the baby hasn’t read it so she doesn’t know whats expected of her so if she doesn’t do what the book said she would do after I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to do (according to the book) I would go batty!!! LOL 😉 I know to works for some people and that’s great but in my case it did more harm than good.
I had a friend of mine up from CT for the weekend and boy was that good for my soul. She GETS ME!!!! She gets my mothering style and my need for independence and to be seen as an individual. I missed her! Look forward to lots more visits and laughs together 😉 We had so much fun as I helped her choose an outfit for her night out, I was trying to be fashion consultant while breastfeeding Liyana. Poor kid choked on some milk and we giggled as I apologized to Liyana and explained to her that one day she would understand the fashion emergency and the need to find the ‘right’ outfit LOL!
We had the most gorgeous party for Liyana and I look forward to uploading the pics soon.
Until then…
xxx
From Nasima, with love 