updates on our big brother

One of big brother's favorite things to do is "hod hur" translation: hold her. It's pretty sweet. In the photo above he was pointing out different body parts on sister. We're trying to keep him as involved as possible. When he sees me changing sister's diaper - he wants a diaper change, too.

The one word I can think to describe our son as we've brought home a sibling for him is understanding. My first trip out alone with both of them was to Em's two week check-up. He was a dream. He took a train from the play area in the waiting room and when we got called back he put it back without me asking. He got a little impatient towards the end of the visit and when I asked Dr. W to check out the dermabond on his face he got a little upset but other than that no problems.

My second trip out alone with my two babies was to Target. And he did awesome - he sat in the cart the entire time. I was just so impressed with him.

And for naps... we normally read books and sit together for about a half hour and it's a really special, nice time for us both. But lately sister cries when we start nap time or at some point before I leave his room. So our time is cut by... 20 minutes. If she's not crying I spend my usual time with him but it seems to never fail that both kids need me quite a bit at this time of day. But he's just been very understanding when I tell him I have to go check on the baby. If he's not asleep and I come back to read with him more sometimes he'll say "check baby?"

He has started waking up a bit in the night or waking up at 5. Last night he fell asleep in our bed at 5 (thank goodness!) and slept till 7, but he's been ready to go at 5. Meaning he's taking a four hour nap in the afternoon. And I'm not about to wake him. He still goes to bed between 8 and 9.

The only other thing - he's sort of acting out maybe? He's started drawing on our couch. We recently got rid of our coffee table so all the pens/markers got moved to the side table next to the couch. Both the coffee table and the side table had child 'locks' on them but the one of the side table didn't stand a chance. He got in there and just drew all over the couch. He conveniently does this the few moments he's in the living room alone. He's done this three times now. Good thing that couch was just $200 and we have no attachment to it. Unfortunate that people now see a very marker decorated couch when they come over making us look like maybe not the best parents, ha.

We've not been watching TV during the day either. Something I'm super impressed with myself for... when I was pregnant I was just so tired. And I'm more tired now but not as physically exhausted. Sometimes we'll watch before dinner or something but only for about 10 minutes. This could change - but for now... I'm a happy momma to be able to sit and run around a little easier!


But in all, things are good. Really, really good. :)

Life.

I haven't updated much... and you're probably not surprised.

I'm adjusting to having two kiddos really well, I think. It feels like our daughter has been with us forever already. It's crazy how one day you're pregnant and lamenting over the fact that you've been pregnant forever and all of a sudden one day you're no longer pregnant and I can barely remember what it was like, it feels like it was so long ago that I was waddling along with that big belly!

I took both kids out to church Sunday - but Michael was there and C is kind of well known around the church, so I didn't feel like I was solo. Then on Tuesday I took both of them to Target. And it could not have gone better. C never sits still in the cart. He wants to walk with me or help push or go exploring off on his own. He truly is Mr. Independent. But he sat in the cart the entire time. I pushed the cart fast and slow as we talked about what those words mean... I handed him various things and I had an unending supply of crackers (or was willing to have an unending supply - I would have bought more crackers if I had to). And little e slept the whole time!

Michael and I took the kids to a children's garden this morning - and we actually ended up buying a season pass C had so much fun. He learned about different kinds of bugs and got to water vegetables and go pretend fishing (they had sticks with little styrofoam balls on the end, looking like buoys). It was really neat and I can't believe we hadn't gone before!

We really are adjusting well. C has taken to being a big brother very well. The other night Michael was taking him upstairs to go to bed and he said, "night night momma... night night baby" and gave her a kiss. I asked for one and was denied - sissy really is the only one he's into giving kisses to right now. :)

Em is getting up twice at night - pretty consistently at 1 and 4am. She is fussy around 830-930pm, which is unfortunate because that's when I'm ready for bed! So I'll nurse her and usually hand her off to Michael and he gets her to sleep and I get a few hours of sleep before I'm up to nurse her again. She's still sleeping most of the day but each day is has a few more minutes of awake time. She's already gained a pound since her birth! Very, very thankful to have very little nursing issues. It feels like ages since I nursed C... it really is so nice to have that bonding time and just experience again.

I have an appt tomorrow with my midwife just to check in, I think. After 1 week postpartum I was feeling great... my pain completely stopped and I just felt mostly back to normal. That feeling continues and right now I kind of just feel like I want to run, ha. I've never, ever wanted to run but I think now being so close to my normal size I'm just excited to not have that 40 extra pounds around my belly anymore! So, hopefully this feeling will continue in 4 weeks when I'll get the green light to exercise! :)

That's all of our little updates... thanks for checking in with our little fam. :)