Well hello there! It’s been quite a while since my last blog post and I guess you could say I have been enjoying my time at home with Bradley & Ava and it has also taken Marc and I some time to adjust to being a family of 5.

The title of this post really should have been ADJUSTING TO BEING A MOM OF 3. Cooper is absolutely one of my children and requires almost as much attention as Bradley & Ava do. I have to feed, walk, play and give Cooper cuddles just like the other two, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

These past few weeks have been crazy busy and I can’t believe how fast the time is going!!! I have had my hands full with Bradley’s baby duties, keeping Ava entertained 24/7, getting Cooper his exercise, taking care of myself during my recovery, making meals for my family, and finding time to sleep in between. Moms have the toughest job right?? Well dad’s do too and Marc has been a tremendous help with EVERYTHING from jumping in to do a late night feeding so I can rest, taking Ava to the store or park so I can get a break, to walking Cooper daily so that he is tired!

Right now I have both Ava and Bradley home with me until Ava starts preschool on September 1st, so I haven’t really had a chance to do anything for myself besides shower and eat. I miss blogging but to be honest any 30-60 minutes of free time that I’ve had, I pretty much spend resting. Ava hasn’t been napping consistently during the day anymore which doesn’t give me much of a break!!

My first 2 weeks of recovery went pretty smoothly. I had some really good days where I felt like I could tackle everything and then usually the good days followed with a bad one and I would feel crampy, tired and pretty much useless. That’s how I know I overdid it!!

Week 3 I was sleeping a little better and moving around easier. I went for several walks with Marc, Cooper, Ava & Bradley. They weren’t long or strenuous walks but enough to get some fresh air and get Cooper his exercise.

Week 4 had been my best energy and my most active since having Bradley. I didn’t want to sit still, but come night time I was ready to sleep whenever Ava & Bradley fell asleep!  I haven’t been crampy at all in a while and I would say that by week 5 I’ll be itching for a workout

My recovery with Ava was slow and I started feeling good around 4 weeks postpartum but this time with Bradley I felt like I could do things around 10-14 days after. My body definitely isn’t ready but I guess when you have a toddler you have no choice but to be playing outside in a kiddy pool, squirting the hose, making trips to the library while lugging a car seat, playing at the beach in the water even when you probably shouldn’t be, and doing whatever I can to entertain my 2 1/2 year old with boat loads of energy. I swear she could probably do 10 boot camp classes and still not be tired!

Now… A quick update on Bradley. He is just the sweetest little boy with the largest set of lungs! He can scream when he wants something but I like knowing he’s strong and healthy and only trying to tell me something. Ava was pretty quiet as a newborn so it’s funny to see how different they are already!

He’s a good sleeper once he’s asleep. Getting him to sleep is sometimes challenging when Ava is singing, making noise, banging on things, or touching him and telling him not to sleep! Lets just say we are working on her whispering and quiet time. She’s improved drastically this last week and I’ve noticed an improvement in Bradley’s naps and he’s crying less. Clearly he needed more sleep and Ava wasn’t letting him

My sleep hasn’t been terrible, it could always be worse right? I think this time around I knew what to expect so I’m not expecting to sleep in long chunks and it’s been fine so far. I have had some mornings where I wake up ready to start the day with a smile on my face and I have had a few rough ones where I’m like seriously… can’t I sleep just another hour please!!!

I know that it’s just a phase and I will be sleeping longer in a few weeks so that’s how I’m getting through the late nights.

Speaking of late nights, I really do enjoy my alone time with Bradley. It’s special bonding time since during the day I try to split my time between Bradley and Ava. Ava has been handling my shared time pretty well considering it’s only been a month with our new little guy. It’s a learning curve for all of us and I think we are doing the best job we can right now!!!

(Isn’t this picture just the sweetest thing?!)

I miss blogging and I promise my next post will be Bradley’s Birth Story. It was pretty EPIC so stay tuned