Life Updates

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A Baby Update

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I’ve stopped doing monthly updates now that G is one, which means it feels like forever since I’ve given everyone an update on this little one. I’m starting to wonder if I can even call him the baby anymore. Every day he becomes more and more a toddler, and his older brother becomes more and more a big kid and less and less a toddler. Still, I find myself calling G by “baby” more often than not. My boss has started to call me out on it every time I mention “the baby” in a story. But for now, I’ll give you an update on baby G.

In a lot of ways, G is a typical second child. Both his reactions and actions are completely the opposite of his older sibling. Anything E was/is afraid of, G loves. Anything that’s E favorite, G could care less.

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I'm a Car Expert Now

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So we’ve been dealing with some car drama since Thanksgiving.

I remember when I was younger thinking that adults knew everything. They always knew what to do, and how to fix things, and I couldn’t wait until I did too. And then you get older and realize no one really knows what they’re doing. Everyone makes mistakes, new situations are always scary, and all we can do is try to build upon past experiences, our own manufactured confidence, and research what we don’t know, in order to get through a new problem.

New problems like navigating your way through lemon laws.

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Musings of a Working Mama

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The other day I found myself wanting to get pregnant again. It wasn’t so much that I wanted a third kid, but I eventually realized that what I really wanted, was the parental leave. Having Tom get home late from work so many nights in a row makes me long for the days when he was here all day. Maternity leave would mean endless hours to do nothing but spend time with my family. The kids wouldn’t feel neglected (this was a dream remember?), and we’d also be able to get things done around the house.

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Brr It's Cold Outside

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I'm what they call an inside person. Especially in the winter. Give me a book, a fire, and some coffee, and I'll see you in April. Let’s be honest, even in the summer you’re more likely to see me inside doing craft, baking cookies and organizing closets than see me outside at the beach. It’s not to say I don’t go outside, it’s just not always my first choice.

So when it comes to the kids, I'll build a tower with blocks, teach them to make pancakes, or make elaborate art projects. That’s where my strengths lie. But when they want to go play in the snow, I usually let Tom take the lead. He’s one of those people who actually like the cold, so why not?

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Small Moments

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You’d think now that we have a one year old and a two year old, things would be easier. And you’d be mostly right. It’s definitely easier than a one year old and an infant. Most days we’re having fun, and have a pretty good routine.

However.

There are still those days. You know the kind. When for no obvious reason, things are just hard. We still have those days. We’ll probably always have them, but I’m hopeful they’ll become less frequent at least.

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Starting Off the New Year

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Phew.  We made it. 

A first birthday and Christmas all at once was a lot.  Plus daycare being closed and no work and what day is it?  We’re all back to our normal routines now, whatever that is. 

Because normal changes.  A new year means new work assignments and schedules, new car challenges, new teachers, new projects to tackle…

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Post Christmas Days

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Here's the funny thing about sleep regressions. You forget about the little ones. Everyone talks about the 4 month sleep regression, but there are small ones that happen all the time. You forget about that panic that you have, the thoughts that this will never end or get better. It feels like no one will ever sleep again, and you will die from exhaustion.

And then it magically goes back to normal, and you forget about those days.

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Our Christmas Day

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We don’t really have a “normal” Christmas yet. We have ideas of how we’d like things to go, but so far we’ve had a first Christmas with a 6 month old who had no idea what was going on, a Christmas where half our family woke up in the hospital, and this one. So we played it a bit by ear. We still had one kid who was utterly confused about what was special about this day, but E was starting to get it.

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A Cake Smash That Wasn't

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My boss has been telling me for a while that two children this close together will be complete opposites. (He should know, since last year he had three children in the same high school). If your first child loves to clean, get ready for your second child to never clean a thing. It doesn’t matter what it is, they’re just going to be different.

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A First Birthday

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My dad has been telling me this my entire life, but December birthdays are hard! It’s such a busy time of year, there’s so much on our list to get done, and suddenly we had a first birthday party to plan! And I knew I both needed to, and wanted two for two reasons. One, I didn’t want to fall into the trap of second child gets less. I’m trying hard to make sure that both of my children get enough. Enough love, enough pictures, enough of feeling special. Which means their own day to celebrate their birthday.

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ONE YEAR

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I’ve been counting down for this for a year, but still somehow I can’t believe that we’re here. I barely remember you as an infant, those days were so long ago. And these last 6 months have flown by.

You are so much fun right now. Always laughing, always moving. You’re still “talking” and mimicking us all like crazy, and have started pointing all over the place to tell us your opinions and what you’d like. You have strong feelings and get angry quick if I tell you that you can’t have my phone or something else you want.

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Lately

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Hi! Still here!

We’ve been feeling like we can’t catch up lately. Lack of sleep or extra things to do or who knows, but our to do list is piling up and nothing is getting crossed off fast enough. Which means that even though I probably have cute stories to tell, my brain is so foggy I can’t remember them.

Anyway, here’s a quick update on the tiny humans. As cute as ever, keeping us as busy as ever.

Baby G has decided that since his first birthday is coming right up, he would no longer like to be a baby, and this toddler thing seems great. He has stared babbling like crazy, entering the phase I loved with E. He’ll look at something, point to it, and tell you a whole story in his own language. And then he’ll look at you with these big eyes because he completely expects you to understand. Which I feel like I do, in the moment.

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Hello Minnie

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I was listening to a podcast recently about perspective. They were specifically talking about renovations, but I thought the advice was great. It was basically saying that we should focus on the reasons behind why we went down a certain path in the first place, instead of thinking about small details that maybe didn’t turn out the way you wanted - focus on the big picture and the overall benefits to your life.

So you might not love the sink you picked out, or the fridge isn’t quite perfect, but if your goal was to have an updated and bright kitchen, if it still accomplishes that, that should be your focus. Remember the problems that you’ve solved and not the small details.

All that to say, we have a new car!

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Thanksgiving

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If you know me, you know that Christmas is my favorite holiday. In my opinion, there is no competition. However, my children might disagree. E is becoming all about that orange holiday otherwise known as Halloween, and we might just have found baby G’s favorite holiday. Hanging out with lots of people and eating tons of food? Yup, that sounds like him.

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Hello Toddler

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Thanksgiving day marks E’s half birthday this year, making him officially two and a half. Guys, two is a lot of fun. One year olds are the cutest, but two is full of surprises so far.

We all know that E has been into cooking a lot lately, and that’s definitely still a thing. But his love of art has also been growing, and it’s making his craft loving Mama very happy. He’s been less into painting lately, and all about the “projects.” Give him a glue stick, and this kid is super happy. We’ve been cutting and pasting all over the place, and it’s amazing to realize that we can actually complete a real art project together, as opposed to when he used to just smear the paint over the paper and I’d peel up tape to reveal a more finished look. (We still utilize this for the baby though! He is all about the paint!). I’m always impressed at not only his ability, but the attention span he has, and the joy he gets out of doing these projects with me.

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Eleven Months!

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Holy cow, only one month to go!

I know I keep saying this, but I’m shocked this is where we are. How are you almost a year old? I feel like we’ve all survived some big battle and have come out victorious! We’ve survived, everyone is happy (mostly), and we’re really figuring out this family of four thing. Not that I didn’t think we’d get here, but I’m so proud of all that we’ve accomplished this past year, and it’s gone by so quickly! (When I sleep I forget all those rough months and I’m much happier - remember that!)

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A Visit with Santa

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Okay, we held off as long as we could (okay that’s a lie, we started back in October), but I think it’s Christmas season here! We’ve pulled out the Christmas PJs, and we’ve even squeezed in a visit with Santa! The boys did great, mostly. E always goes into his happy place and just sits there quietly when put in a new situation, so I knew he’d do fine. Baby G was the question mark. When we handed him over, Santa looked at him and said “Oh hello, I love you!” It might have helped that he was dressed as a tiny elf.

We got a few pictures taken before G looked around and realized he wasn’t sure about his situation and started to cry. A quick reassurance, and he calmed down, and then we were done! Afterwards E let me know that he doesn’t actually like “Big Santa” and would rather be Santa himself haha. So even though they were both unsure, we got our picture, and they got a new experience.

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The Not So Little Baby

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Big developments in the baby department!!

Guys, little G has been busy. For starters, he has a tooth! We’re not really sure when it came, but it’s pretty recent, since it’s not all the way down. Looking at him, it’s the top right side of his mouth (not the middle teeth that everyone else but our children get first..). I think he’s the winner. I’ll have to go back and look at when I got my first teeth, but it was 10-11 months I think. And we all know that E was 14 months. Also, there is another one on the top left that is cutting through currently, and there are some spots on the bottom that look like they could become teeth soon.

But we’re a bit surprised we didn’t notice. It was a big deal with E, and he’d only eat soft food for a few days when his tooth came, but we’ve noticed no changes in G’s eating. He still eats everything, anything, all the things.

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Random Thoughts

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I kept trying to tie all this together but in reality, here’s a brain dump of things. I’ll blame it on Sicktober, which yes, has followed us into a new month. I refuse to believe that we’re just going to be sick forever. Croup, De Quervain’s Tenosynovis, Scarlet Fever/ Strep Throat, colds, viruses, infected noses. We’ve had it ALL, and I’m done with it. But please excuse any randomness or confusion on the many things I’m trying to recover from.