Team Gurski: Tristan

Have we really been doing this 3-kid thing for two months already? The calendar says we have (which is weird because I totally don't remember September!).

Tristan turned 2 months old on Saturday! Here's his stats:

Weight: 11 lbs, 12.5 oz (34th percentile)
Height: 23.75 inches (80th percentile)
Head: 59th percentile
Clothing: 0-3 mostly but some items are too short, so we are transitioning over to 3-6 months very quickly
Diaper: Size 1 (P.S. We've yet to buy any diapers thanks to all who gave them as gifts! Best third-child gift EVER!)

Milestones: Tristan now smiles, especially when on his changing table, and coos a bit at faces and toys. He'll grab at toys a bit, too. He's got great neck strength and good head control. He'll typically sleep a 4- to 6-hour stretch at night, followed by a shorter stretch. Usually we're up just once in the middle of the night if we time things right.

Likes: Eating (often, especially during the day), being held and looking at toys for short periods of time.

Dislikes: Sometimes, he doesn't like napping during the day (there were two days last week where he went 7-hour stretches with just a few-minute cat nap here and there). And he prefers to be held over laying somewhere alone. If he is put down, he'll tolerate it for 10 minutes max before wanting to switch to something else, or be held.

It seems like I am coming out of the newborn fog and back into real life. I begin work in 2 weeks, so it's good that things are starting to feel routine. While I don't want to return to the working world, I'm ready to just get that transition over with and settle into our new routine. My new schedule will look like this:

Mondays: Take Tyler to the bus, take Alivia to preschool, take Tristan to daycare (we are temporarily using the daycare at my work 2 days a week until a spot opens for us at the daycare we used for the older two), go to work by 9 a.m. My father-in-law will pick up Alivia at 11:15, go home, feed her lunch and put her down for nap, before waking her up to get Tyler from the bus at 3:40. I'll bring Tristan home at 5.

Tuesdays: Take Tyler to bus, leave Alivia and Tristan with my mom at our house and go to work.

Wednesdays: Repeat of Mondays, except my mom is handling Alivia/Tyler pick-up.

Thursdays: Work from home (as best I can!) with Alivia and Tristan home.

Fridays: Repeat of Tuesdays, except Andrew's mom is our babysitter.

Whew! I think if I get up by 6 a.m., I can squeeze in a shower, get dressed, pack lunches, feed kids and get out the door for the first task by 8 a.m. I've been trying out make-ahead and crockpot meals during my leave so that I know what works well when I'm back at work and have zero time to make a decent meal.

This has been a busy, sometimes stressful maternity leave, but it's had so many great moments - time with Alivia I wouldn't have had otherwise, time just holding Tristan, being home to get Tyler off the bus each day, a bit of reading, and more. It's frustrating in that I'm just now getting into a nice groove at home and now my leave is practically over, but I shouldn't be surprised; it's exactly what happened during my other two leaves!

Life with 3 is certainly a lot of work, but we are going to have so much fun together - we are now, of course, too. :) But I know it will keep getting even better. Andrew is a great teammate in this parenting gig, and now that the major adjustments are over, we hope to find more time for ourselves to reconnect. We had 24 hours this weekend just with Tristan (thank you, Grandparents!), and we had an actual conversation or two! It's hard to fit in time for your spouse with a newborn and two other children in the house, so I hope we are able to keep finding time and asking for help to do so. :)

Here are some outtakes from our photo shoot: