Holding a full house and showing all our cards {Life as a family of five}


With one change in a family, everything changes. Change is a wind that comes bustling up, tossing everyone up into the sky. We all land in a new spot.  With the addition of a new baby into our family, everyone is taking on new roles….

 

Levi maintains his previous role of ‘Commentator of All Mundane Daily Events’. He has also added some more impressive titles to his resume: Assistant to the Diaper Changer; Tiny Toe Inspector; THE Fastest; Nap Striker; which goes hand in hand with Afternoon Train Wreck. Levi has always been gentle with babies, and to see him kiss and coo at Dawson makes me smile in a way that my face has never moved before. He has moved from Big Brother to Biggest Brother and he is showing Lenayah the ropes. 

 

Lenayah has been promoted from Squeaky Wheel to Sea Monster. Though she can flex between the two like a saloon door, she now leans to the side of sea monster. Meaning she silently and sneakily lurks around the house and then pops up unexpectedly to noisily menace the nearest brother or bystander.  She has followed her older brother’s suit and loves on her new baby bro, but with some mauling and grabbing. There is a high chance she may think he is cross between a piece of furniture, a puppy dog and robotic baby doll. 

 
 

Conor took a few weeks off after Dawson’s birth, he did ALL of the things. From menu planning, to diaper changes, to bedtimes, to ‘lie to me and tell me these bags bring out the colour in my eyes’. Yet, now that I am up through the night I realize he is also our resident White Noise Machine, broaching close to possible sleep apnea territory. I was nervous about adding another baby, after the difficulty we had together with number two – but we seem to have hit an ebb and flow this time around. We are slow learners but the dance of co-parenting is getting less clunky. 

 

As for me, I’ve been plunked back into some old roles that I am enjoying in a new way. Going from one to two kids was like being hit by a bus, for some reason adding a third one has been more gentle and treasured. Maybe because I know it’s the last time, maybe because he’s still so new and sleeps a ton during the day. Either way, I do old things with more fervour now – like drinking coffee, cherishing some stolen moments alone, getting all the kids out of the house, day drinking and of course, an old specialty of mine: lactating. Yes, some of us are blessed with modelesque looks, some of us with brains that can multiply numbers by nine, me – I lactate. 
 

Dawson is one month old now. Other than some tongue tie issues he is a mellow little trooper. He puts up with two siblings who have no sense of personal space or decibel levels. Though he’s yet to show me a bit of who he is, for now he is ‘the Adorable Reason I Don’t Sleep’. 

2 thoughts on “Holding a full house and showing all our cards {Life as a family of five}”

  1. Awww! This is beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I also found my third was my easiest… 🙂 and she continues to be, a year and a half later. She ADORES her sisters and they adore her and we have so much fun as a family of five. So welcome to the club!!! 🙂

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