#1 vs #3

Baby number three, being the angel that he is, has still been a slap in the face for me. I am tired, my house doesn't stay clean for longer than about 30 seconds and I look like a disheveled mess. So I have been thinking a lot about the differences between baby no. 1 and baby no. 3. Not the differences between them specifically but me and life as a mother. Here are a few of my observances:


Monitor usage: With McKay I would turn on the monitor when she was sleeping and I wanted to take a shower which seemed so logical and good mother'ish at the time. But we lived in a one bedroom, 700 square foot apartment. Now, monitor? What monitor? When I take a shower I ask my 4 yr old to keep an eye on Luc and make sure Kimball doesn't sit on him!!!

Bath frequency: McKay must have been the cleanest baby in town because she got a bath almost everyday. Luc is Pigpen from Charlie Brown, except he can't walk or crawl so the dirt just kind of piles up around him. I swear I feel like the best mom in the world if he gets two baths a week. (Please don't hold this against him, he's still cute and snuggly and wonderful to hold and he really doesn't smell all that bad, I put lotion on him periodically to cover up the spit-up smell)

Diaper changes: This has been a progressive change. McKay used Huggies Supreme (they really do work better but come on who can afford to pay that much for diapers?) Along with wearing "high end" diapers, I think we changed her every hour or so. Kimball wore normal diapers and got changed less frequently. Luc sometimes goes half a day and I realize that not only is he still in his pjs but he is also still wearing the diaper from the night before. (Which just makes his lack of baths even more dire a situation.)

Pictures: Ok this is one where Luc finally gets the upper hand. We didn't have a digital camera with McKay. So we definitely have more pictures of Luc than of McKay. The only issue there is that McKay's are in a little photo album and Luc's are in files on the computer. I haven't printed one yet... oh so sad.

Sleeping quarters: McKay slept in our room in a bassinet. Kimball slept in the walk-in-closet with the door shut. Luc sleeps in the next room with a fan on in my room and the door closed so I can't hear him unless he really really needs me. The next child will have to sleep in the garage I guess.

Clothes: Ok this one might be a boy/girl thing but McKay and Kimball both had really cute clothes. Luc wears onesies and pajamas A LOT! He's cute enough that he doesn't need fancy clothes.

Time limit on crying: McKay made any sort of noise and we were by her side. Poor Luc has to be screaming to get picked up and even then I try to finish what I'm doing before I get him. But I must say he is much needier than McKay or Kimball were. McKay went to work with me for the first 10 months of her life and she could lay in her chair or on a blanket for a long time, Luc can only go about 10 minutes.

So am I a worse mom now than I was with McKay? Is Luc getting the short end of the deal on this? Should I feel guilty? Maybe. But who has time for any of that? I barely have time to get a shower myself. Luc's got the whole "look at me I'm a cute little newborn" thing going on so it's probably more important that I get a shower than that he does.