One of my greatest joys in life is to be able to hold this baby or play with my 5 year old grandson whenever I can!
By choice, we live in a multi-generation household. Right now we have 3 generations that live here and it’s been a blessing to have more hands on deck with this little newborn in the house.
My daughter is bottle feeding breastmilk exclusively right now. Her schedule is grueling and the sleep deprivation is real. Getting 6-8 hours of sleep in 1-2 hour increments every 24 hours is not the same as getting a straight 6-8 hours of sleep at night! Even though her husband is able to help feed and care for their newborn daughter and 5 year old son, she still has to pump on a schedule - every 3 hours.
The days daddy has to work mean nights up for momma. He takes over until about midnight or so trying to give momma some sleep time and then she and baby sleep in the living room so daddy can get some solid hours of sleep. Have you heard the sound of a breast pump lately? How about the cry of a hungry newborn?
I’m in awe of how they are working together during this time. They are doing their best to get into some sort of groove despite the brain fog and exhaustion.
Thankfully, they allow me to help! When I’m home, my daughter will find me and I get to cuddle my granddaughter for awhile! My mom comes over and plays with her 5 year old great-grandson and we all sit around feeding and loving on ‘his baby sister!’
This is the joy and beauty of a multi-generation household! These are the moments I treasure. We all have our own lives and activities and we are autonomous little families within the bigger family household. We have our moments of discord and issues we must resolve but I wouldn’t trade this life for anything!
I always wonder why our society moved away from this and gives the raised eyebrow when you say you live together with your parents. When did ‘my kids moved back in with us’ become a badge of dishonor for them or a burden to bear for us? When it’s done right, it’s the greatest blessing you can have in a family and worth every minute
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