Melissa McMahan: Lawless

It seems I've heard a handful of times from others with multiple children (including my mother) how your "rules" change with the second child and things you were once overly paranoid and anal about suddenly just don't seem that important.
And I have found I am no exception.
Maybe I'm making a big mistake by not sticking to the book or trying to emulate what we did previously (being that Lincoln is a fantastic sleep/eater/adjuster), and just maybe we'll pay for it dearly in the near future (I'll keep ya posted on that one with updates soon to come), but with Noah we have already found ourselves doing things I never would have allowed with Lincoln. And frankly, I'm happier, more relaxed, and he's doing just fine (so far).
For instance, I grimaced (first mistake) when I would hear of parents allowing their kids in their beds - even if briefly - thinking this would ruin all chance of parents ever having their bed to themselves again (thinking baby wouldn't be able to adjust even on into their middle school years without sleeping in their parents bed!). Second time around with us? Guilty of the unmentionable "sin". Yes. Since I breastfeed every couple of hours, my laziness has landed Noah a spot on the bed for the past two nights. It's so easy - I just reach over, feed him, and back he goes. He's already a much better sleeper than Lincoln was in that first month and as well as Lincoln adjusted to sleeping in his crib/through the night (only took 2 days), I'm not worried about the transition when it comes. And yes, I do understand this could majorly backfire and I'll be writing a post soon on how this was in fact the biggest mistake! We don't do it every night. Usually he ends up in the bed from the 3:00 feeding till the morning. It's working and we're rested.
Another thing I was overly anal about was Lincoln's feeding schedule (which is probably in the end why my milk dried up at 4 months!). I was a clock watcher and didn't budge much from "the schedule". With Noah, I use the clock as a reminder of when to feed him since he sleeps a lot, but I have already in the first two weeks flexed an insane amount of that schedule! Sometimes he eats every hour, sometimes 2, and sometimes 3...the past two nights he has slept 5 hours in between feedings which is fabulous! I do the stack feeding at night where i feed him every hour/hour and a half the last 3 before I go to bed so he'll sleep longer at night and it has worked like a charm thus far.
I do plan in a month or so to start getting into more of a set routine to help him sleep through the night, but I'm so far enjoying not being married to a schedule and the freedom it entails.

And now, after all that blabbing - some pictures. :)

Of all of my "no rules" with Noah, I did set a new rule with Lincoln - pacy stays in the crib, unless we're going in the car. He only gets it to sleep or ride. It's been working fantastic - until yesterday. Yesterday was a DAY, folks. He woke up irritable and fussy and things just didn't change much as the day progressed! So I declared it a pacy-before it was mall said and done (mainly for my sanity!). Thus is the below picture of my little love bug.

Noah got in on the indulgence himself.

One of the highlights in Lincoln's day that is greatly anticipated is daddy's homecoming from work - he runs to the window when he hear his car pull up and watches him come in while yelling and stomping his feet.

This is what happens when you try and take his pacy after you've given it to him - he gets in his best defensive stance with it.

Lincoln has so far been extremely sweet with Noah. I'm kind of shocked because he can be rough with the dogs sometimes. Last night, Noah started crying and Lincoln went over to him, gave him a kiss, and tried to sooth him - precious.