Let's see, what's kept me away from all but the basic email checks this week?

That's right! The family! The latest set of settling in pains that swept through us as we adjusted to life with two small kids and a full schedule of doctors and education specialists. I find myself envious of families who don't have to run their kids and themselves to doctors every week starting at this age. Don't they normally get a year or two "off" to learn how to adjust to having the infant? But for all of that I really can't say as I am having the troubles now that I had the first time through this phase of parenthood. I'm just learning how to survive, again, on fragments of sleep snatched here and there.

I'm doing well at it, as witnessed by the fact that I haven't given up all my leisure activities. I'm still carving time out of the day to sit and read, to make sure the kitchen stays tidy, time to play with my kids and really experience the joy that comes with all that sleep deprivation and screaming. We're weaning the infant off his NG tube and all the way to bottle-feeds. He's now taken everything by mouth for five days. He hasn't lost any weight, although his gain has been minimal. More importantly, we're managing his reflux and his feeding issue without losing our minds completely or pushing the Toddler off to the side the whole time. Making sure she gets equal time in the day is hard, but that's a priority for us and we'll make it happen somehow.