Q & A

In the days since Tobin's birth, I realize that I have not responded to some of the comments and questions that have been left for recent posts...so tonight is catch-up time!

~ About the pics in A Wasted Day... No, I did not Photoshop them; but thanks for asking! :) If I did know how to use that program and if I had edited the photos, I would have taken a wee bit more off my tummy!!! I have been grateful for my diminishing size though. Even though I have about 15 pounds I'd like to lose, I was able to squeeze myself into a pair of my non-maternity jeans today, for the first time. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world for my body, but it was very comforting for my mentality! :)

~ In The Story, Part Three... Foxy5 asked some questions--first, if Tobin looks like either Josiah or David. First of all, I'd have to say that I'm not very good at figuring that out, especially when it's my own children. But here's what we're thinking at this point. Jeff thinks Tobin has his own unique look which I think is kind of a surprise to Jeff because he was expecting Tobin to favor one or the other of the boys in his looks. My neighbor Wilma says that Tobin looks like Josiah in the eyes and bridge of the nose--and like David in his mouth and chin. I think Tobin definitely does not look like David in the eyes; David had such BIG eyes that it was almost all I noticed about him when I looked at him as a baby. And that's all I have figured out!

Second, she asked whether Josiah and David had hair like Tobin's when they were born. All of them were born with hair so we've never had any baldies, and all of their hair was relatively dark at birth. But neither Josiah nor David had hair as thick as Tobin's. As you can tell from the pictures on the blog, Josiah's hair has lightened since birth...and David's hair definitely has! In fact, I remember vividly how all his dark hair fell out and his new light blonde hair started coming in. So I don't expect Tobin to keep his dark hair forever, but who knows? Isn't genetics a funny thing though--how offspring from the same gene pool can be so unique??? :)

Third, she asked how nursing is going. On the one hand, it's going really well. Tobin latches on great, sucks very strongly, pees and poops plentifully :), and is gaining weight just fine. I don't take those things for granted so I'm very, very grateful for that. However...on the other hand...nursing HURTS. It was this way with Josiah and with David, so I didn't expect anything different this time around. But wowie, when he latches on, I have about a minute or two of intense pain which, fortunately, subsides after that point. When I was learning how to breastfeed Josiah, I thought I must be doing something wrong because of the pain; but after numerous consultations with laction consultants and regular attendance at a very helpful breastfeeding support group, I realized that even though I was doing everything correctly, it just flat-out hurt for me, and that's the way it would be. Fortunately, after a few months of nursing Josiah, the pain went away. Same with David. So I'm looking forward to that with Tobin, too! But for now, I grit my teeth and bear it, knowing that a moment of pain is worth it for all the benefits of breastfeeding. I hope someday my children thank me for this!!! :)

~ In The Big Brothers, I alluded to the fact that Josiah and David were going through some "adjustment" to the changes in our family. In brief, this is how we saw them deal with it (and this was primarily during the first week). Josiah, always Mr. Command Man, became even more determined to be in control and tell everyone what to do. For example, one evening shortly after Tobin was born, we were heating some food in the oven and some juice spilled onto the bottom of the oven and started smoking, causing the smoke alarm to go off. Josiah raced around, shouting orders, telling us exactly how we should handle the situation...and I, upstairs feeding Tobin, heard Josiah doing this and thought, "Dear boy, don't you think we will take care of this? You don't have to carry this burden on your shoulders!" David, on the other hand, in the week after Tobin's birth, suddenly developed the whiniest voice imaginable. When I listened to him talk, I thought to myself, "Was his voice this whiny a week ago? Has it been this way all along, and I just didn't realize it? Because this is really annoying!" So that's how we saw the boys deal with the adjustment. :)

Enough for now...I've got a hungry little guy upstairs who needs his last drink of milk before settling in for the night...