The Hansens: Life with 3 kids after 6-8 Weeks

I wrote the following little synopsis of our day to day life when Tanner was 6 weeks old. I meant to post it but forgot so I will now.

Tanner is 6 weeks and 2 days old. He is such a sweet, mild mannered, adorable baby. He is very patterned. I have been noticing patterns in his sleeping and eating habits since he was brand new. He is a great eater. We figured out nursing! I am so grateful and excited about it. Nursing and pumping is kind of time consuming but we have fallen into a good routine. The girls are really patient. I'm really glad Jenna has afternoon kindergarten because our mornings are filled with feeding the girls, feeding Tanner, changing diapers, feeding myself, pumping, washing bottle and pump parts, doing dishes, usually the girls watch a show after breakfast. I also freeze pumped milk in bags in the morning from pumping the day before, SOMETIMES we throw baths and showers in there, snack time, lunch time, getting ready for school and then we barely make it on time for school at 12:40pm. Haha Its fun though, I LOVE my littles and am having so much fun!

The girls like to play with their baby dolls, play in the toy room in the basement, draw and color, and play outside. Jenna likes Ivy to come with her everywhere. Ivy is a little more independent and doesn't mind going downstairs or outside without Jenna. She does like to follow Jenna and repeat what she says though, it's pretty cute. Even though we have a play set with a slide and swing set, the girls rarely play on it. I think because Ivy is still pretty small. They mostly play with dirt, wood chips, leaves and flower petals and make dirt pizza and mud soup. :) Jenna is a great helper and Ivy is as sweet as ever. Naptime conveniently happens while Jenna is at school. Ivy sleeps the whole time. Tanner usually takes his longest nap during those hours as well. I eat lunch, feed Tanner a couple of times, sometimes pump, get bills paid something else family business related done and something cleaned. And then I usually get to hold Tanner and snuggle with him while I take a little nap as well. It’s awesome! Its a very enjoyable stage of parenthood. I'm loving it. Our day starts around 8 or 8:30 am. I'm spoiled! There is usually a large pile of unfolded laundry on the small couch and the house is often a little in disarray despite my efforts. But it's all good. We are doing our best, having fun, and are happy.

Andrew has been sick a couple times. But when he is well he has been holding Tanner while I get girls ready for bed and having bonding time. He does fun hyper things with girls before bed. Other times Tanner lays on blanket in girls room while I put them to bed. Or I hold and snuggle and feed Tanner while Andrew puts the girls to bed. Tanner is still just starting to smile. His eyes smile but his mouth is still figuring it out. Super cute. Haven't run errands by myself with all 3 kids get. Usually go in the evening with just Tanner or with Ivy and Tanner when Jenna is at dance. Tanner can lift his head pretty well he is strong. He doesn't mind tummy time. Likes to look up at living room fan. (not during tummy time). Likes the wrap. As do I. I hold Tanner in one arm and push Ivy in the stroller in the other when taking Jenna to and from school and get a good arm work out. :)

Girls take a long time to fall asleep at night. If girls wake up early when Andrew is still home he gets them breakfast and turns on a show so I can sleep a little longer which is nice.

Today Tanner is 2 months old! Our schedule is a little different now, it is still evolving. Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed. Sometimes I feel like I got a lot accomplished at the end of the day, and other times I feel like I didn't really get anything accomplished, besides providing for the very basic needs of my kids, which is most important anyways. But I still feel the same way, SOOO blessed to have this sweet little family of mine. I am so grateful that I get to be a stay at home mom. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with worry, feeling like maybe I'm not doing enough. But then I look at all of the happy moments we have and the quality time we DO spend together, and I feel better. I am a lucky wife and Mommy. Andrew is very sweet, appreciative and helpful. Jenna is also very sweet and helpful, and maturing so much lately, she helps me a lot. Ivy makes us all smile and laugh and likes to help as well. And Tanner is pretty much the most easy, pleasant baby of all time I think. He is a great nurser, and he takes a bottle great too which is awesome! He always gives me sweet, reassuring smiles. He doesn't cry very much, and is a pretty chill little dude. He takes great naps during the day and follows a pretty consistent pattern with when he wants to eat, be awake, and then sleep. He is really fun to play with during awake time. The girls like to entertain him too. He smiles and coos, and is just so sweet and fun. He is a wonderful snuggler. He has a rough sleep patch between about 7 am-ish til 8 am-ish and during that time, he and I both sleep better if we are snuggling. He still wakes up in the night, but I don't mind, I would probably miss him too much if he slept through the night! Life is good.