The Dietrich and Truttschel Boys Meet!

Joe and I took a road trip with Nathan yesterday to Appleton to visit Paul, April, and their new son Jackson. Nathan and Jackson are 10 days apart. We've decided that since Paul and Joe have been best friends for 20 plus years, our boys are going to be forced to be friends. They have no choice! :) We hung out for a few hours, watched the Packers, fed babies, changed babies, and got very sleepy on the couch. It was so nice to be with our friends for a few hours though. It was also nice to talk with April about newborns, motherhood, and sleep deprivation!

Ella's daycare provider is on vacation this week, so that means I have both kids all week. So far, so good...but, it's only Monday! It was 70 degrees outside today, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and got outside for a walk and some time at the park. Tomorrow I may get together with my sister-in-law and her son, so he and Ella can play, and then Thursday, our friends Alison and Sean are coming over to watch Nathan for an hour or so, so Ella and I can go to open gym at Tumbling Tykes. I think we'll be okay this week.

Nathan continues to sleep for about 3 hours for the first stretch, usually from 10:00 or so until 1:00am, then wakes up 2 more times after about 2 hours, until he's up for the day. I feel pretty good until about 4:00pm, then I start to fade. But, I'm hanging in there!

Here are some new mother (again) observations:
When you visit parents of a newborn, offer to help in any way you can, be it cleaning a bathroom or making a sandwich. Anything is appreciated! When you visit new parents, don't expect to have a relaxing afternoon/evening. The kid's gonna cry, poop, spit-up, and cry some more, and the mother will be frazzled and about to pull her hair out. Don't take this personally. Don't try to take a leisurely afternoon nap unless the mother and father can take one too. Don't, under any circumstances, talk about losing baby weight! (These are just random thoughts, after visiting new mothers recently.)

And finally, my friend Stacey and her husband Josh welcomed a baby boy, Alexander, on Halloween. After 4 plus hours of pushing, Stacey had to have a C-section. Baby Alex weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces. I'm hoping to visit them next week when Ella is at daycare.

Ps...Nathan is sleeping on my chest in the awesome sling that Christine sent me. It's like a hands-free cell phone while driving!