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A Mini Rabbit Trail

A Mini Rabbit Trail

I mean a Pooh trail.

We read Pooh
every day. Once at nap time, once at bedtime. We all know the stories intimately. Isabella lives them out in her imaginative play. And Dom and I find ourselves talking in Pooh-isms and wondering and pondering about many things Pooh.

Tonight we got to wondering about a line by Eeyore: “Here we go gathering Nuts and May.” Actually, I’ve wondered about it before, tonight we discussed it and I got around to looking it up. I suspected that “may” was a flower (like the ship) and not the month. I was right. According to Wikipedia it’s a common name for the hawthorne flower.

My google searching also led me to this interesting little article about the children’s song Eeyore is quoting, that corrects a popular corruption of the lyrics, “Here we go gathering nuts in May.

And finally, I found exam on Pooh and other books, probably from a Children’s Lit class.

So if Bella were older we could move from Pooh to a botany lesson, to a lesson on folksongs to a lesson on interpreting literature. But that’s really the stuff that’s fun for me. For now Isabella is oblivious to all those further ideas. She serves Pooh honey pizza and does Kanga’s hair in braids at bedtime and sings Pooh’s songs to herself as she swings, dances, pretends to cook, or skips about the house. I am so happy to be spending these days immersed in all this Poohishness.

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7 comments
  • I’ve had those dream before where one of my children is missing. It is really a nightmare. I’m very sorry you keep having it over and over again.
    I admit it has concerned me that Felicity will be much younger when this baby arrives than Cecilia was when Felicity made her entrance. One comfort though is how close Cecilia and Felicity are. They are so used to each other and worry about each other and care for each other. I know when I’m in the hospital they will be able to find comfort in the fact that they are always together.
    I know Sophia has only recently become mobile, but Bella and Sophia must be used to being around each other and understand, in some way, that they are sisters. I think that will help each of them when you are gone. I know no one replaces Mommy, but there is some comfort in having the same sister there by your side when Mommy can’t be as was there when Mommy was there. After all, isn’t that one of the greatest blessings in siblings? They can be there for each other even when mom or dad can’t be?
    I’m sorry, but I can give no advice on weaning. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I seem unable to form any emotional attachment to nursing. Felicity had herself down to 1 nursing by the day she turned 1 and her doctor even recommended weaning then considering 1) I was pregnant and 2) at that time, Felicity was less likely to be used to it as a habit that would be harder to break later. She was weaned the next day and hasn’t missed it since.

    I know when I get to the hospital part of this journey, I am going to see how quickly I can get out of the hospital considering the night nurses and the bed never let me sleep and it is a 45 minute or so drive for the girls to visit me. Considering you are expecting a C-Section and reducing the time in the hospital is not much of an option, can it be arranged for Bella and Sophia to visit you as much as possible? 

  • I remember those kinds of dreams quite well. They were always the same in that I had forgotten to take care of my baby or even forgotten I had a new baby. I always woke up feeling panicky even though I knew it was only a dream. The worst one I had was when I was pregnant with my second daughter and my first was just over a year—they are 16 months apart. I dreamed that I actually was required to sacrifice my first daughter. That one made me cry.

    But, on the good side, they are just dreams. I now have 7 and the youngest each time adapts just fine as each new one comes. I actually think it’s easier when they are younger because they adapt so easily. And as I wrote in my Christmas letter this past year to friends and family—each new little one reminds us that love is never divided, only multiplied.

  • Hi Melanie,
      As with your other readers, I too had scary pregnancy dreams like you.  I used to dream our baby #3 was drowinging while I was pregnany with baby #4.  They are only 14 months apart, and I was soooooo worried about not being able to give them enough time/attention/love. 
        But, although it is hard (all great things require sacrifice, right?) it is possible.  Not only will everything be okay, God planned it this way, and He doesn’t make mistakes.  smile

  • Melanie,
    Couldn’t you tandem nurse Sophia and the new baby?  That way you wouldn’t have to wean Sophie and she’d still have the comfort of weaning when you come home and it could be a bonding experience for her and her sibling as well.

    Anne

  • Thank you, everyone, for the kind and supportive words.

    I do see that now that Sophia is getting more mobile she and Bella are becoming companions more often. That is a great comfort to me.

    My goal in the next few months is to try and get Sophia to get down to sleep without needing to nurse and, if possible, to get the girls naps and bedtime synchronized. With both girls, I have allowed them to get into the habit of nursing to sleep and that took me many months to break with Bella. I guess part of my anxiety is feeling the pressure that I don’t have as much time with Phia as I did with Bella. Then again, I recall early in my pregnancy with Sophie, I was worried about weaning Bella and somehow it did all work out just perfectly.

    I have considered tandem nursing; but again it’s the minimum stay of 4 days in the hospital after the c-section that is the hump I’m worried about getting over. Even if I continue to nurse Phia after the baby is born,—she’s really only nursing first thing in the morning, at nap times and at bedtime. So as far as her schedule goes, she might be able to nurse in the hospital but I won’t be here to nurse her to sleep at night, which for her is the primary comfort of nursing right now. So she’d still have to go cold turkey for 4 days as far as nursing on schedule. So tandem nursing becomes less attractive as a goal as it still doesn’t solve the problem of her getting to sleep without me. With Bella by the time she’d gone two days without nursing she didn’t even miss it, so I suspect that an attempt to do tandem nursing would really just result in cold turkey weaning.

    The hospital I’m delivering at is half an hour away so while the girls will definitely come and visit, it won’t be as easy as last time when we only lived 5 minutes away. When Phia was born Bella actually found visiting in the hospital to be stressful. She hated staying in my room and wanted to wander the corridors and so there were quite a few struggles. One day I even told my mom not to bring her because I thought she was actually easier not seeing me at all than being disturbed by seeing me in the hospital but not being able to climb on my lap or have me walk around with her.

    Sorry this is long and rambling. I’m sort of thinking as I write. The more I write the clearer I see what has been bothering me and start to feel my way through the tangles. I appreciate everyone’s advice and comforts. I know we’ll have to find our own way through. Of course a new baby will demand that the entire family develop new routines, new schedules, new ways of interacting. Eventually we will find those rhythms. We’ve still got several months before the baby even arrives. And I’m sure that very, very soon after the birth we’ll wonder how we ever managed life with only two children.

  • Melanie, I’m not sure if it’s the result of being an “Irish triplet” or some lack of maternal instinct on my part, but I’ve never had a dream like that while pregnant.

    Anyway, one thing I’ve noticed with my last three babies is how much of a non-impact a baby under 5 or 6 months has on my family’s routine.    I can’t stress enough how wonderful the baby carrier is for me.    I use the Baby Bjorn, but I know lots of people prefer the Ergo or the Mayan Wrap.  I’ve tried them all and the BB suits my needs and body type best.   

    I honestly think if I had to bring a preschooler, a toddler AND an infant in a car seat into a store, doctor’s office, church, etc. , I’d jump off the roof.

    I’ve found the just older sibling has a little time to ease into sharing mommy as new baby is usually very content to be held snugly next to mommy.

    Anyway, I’m mentioning it because if you’re interested in a baby carrier, you might want to start looking on Craig’s List, etc. now.    They’re pricey when new.

     

     

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