Two is better than one

Dear Lauren,

Happy 2nd birthday! The last two years have been a whirlwind! Life with a tantrum filled toddler can be difficult, but we can never stay upset at you for long! Strangers stop to tell us how beautiful you are, and people who spend time with you adore your funny little personality and wild curly hair. Your grandparents can't believe your energy and often comment that you just never stop moving.

For the amount of times you hear the word 'no' in a day it surprises me that you can not say it. In fact you aren't saying much. So far you vocabulary consists of only a few words -'Die die! (bye bye), Hi,Hello, Mom, Dadda, Ba-ba (baby) and Ducky. You've got a few sounds mastered too, like WOW, mmmm-humph and mooooo and while these are all lovely, according to medical professionals you should be reciting poetry by now, so as your mother I have been a little concerned. I am telling you this not to insult, but rather so that next year at this time we will all look back at laugh at how silly we were to be concerned about your development.

Much to our delight you have a love for books and spend a lot of time each day leafing through books, magazines, greeting cards - anything paper. You 'read' along pointing at the words and pictures and turning the pages front to back over and over again. I wish I could be inside your head and see what you see on those pages!

You adore your daddy. He calls you his tom-boy because you love to wrestle with him on the floor or outside in the grass. You draw with him and go for long bike rides on sunny days. You sit beside him at the table and lean over for kisses mid-way through your meal.

You and mom have good times too, we read the animal book and when we get the the page with the monkey on it I make the sound and tickle your neck until you can hardly breath from laughter. When I'm putting you to bed after we read stories I will take off my glasses and you immediately start to laugh knowing that I am about to give you a thousand kisses and hugs.

Seven weeks ago your little sister Brier was born and much to our delight her arrival has not affected you one bit! I'm sure you will grow to love her, but right now you are not threatened by her existence or jealous of the attention she gets. You often bring her one of your toys for her to play with and you are very gentle  when you do investigate her a little closer.

Since Brier had come along and you are not going to daycare as often you have really taken a liking to Molly and George. You mimic what they do, sitting on the floor beside them when they are receiving a treat, trying to eat out of their bowls and barking to greet people at the door just like they do. I hope this translates to you growing up learning to be kind to animals, but for now it's just funny to watch.

Lauren, you are so much fun and so exhausting all at the same time, but we wouldn't trade you for anything!

So here's to a child who is joyful and clever. Happy day, happy year, happy always and ever!

Happy birthday beautiful girl! We love you so much!

Brier is 6 weeks old

As of yesterday we have reached the 6 week point in Brier's little life. Our visit to the doctor showed that she is now 11lbs and growing like a weed! I was concerned about that, 11 lbs seems like a lot, but looking back at Lauren's 6 week check up I was reminded that she weighed 10.75lbs at this age so they are not far off.

We've managed to keep busy this week with trips to the play centre on Monday and a play date at daycare on Tuesday. Now Lauren has a cold, so I guess maybe I over did it. Who would have thought?

5 weeks in, a lifetime to go

Little Brier Girl is now 5 weeks old. She is still pretty relaxed most of the time. She's a fairly good night-time sleeper only waking 1-2 times to eat and she has been 'sleeping through the night' by definition for the last week or so sleeping 10 p.m.- 3 or 4 a.m. ish if not longer.

She is out of newborn clothes and into size one diapers now. If I recall Lauren wore newborn clothes/diapers until she was 6 weeks, so they are basically on the same path size-wise with Brier being a bit bigger at this age than Lauren was.

Her big eyes are still dark blue, and I'm hoping they stay that way. Her hair is still thick and dark although it has thinned out and lightened slightly since she was born.

She seems to enjoy this vibrating/bouncing chair and spends some time in it each day - sometimes even napping in it. Lauren hated this chair and any of it's chair cousins, so this is a nice change.

Lauren (and I) is still having a difficult time adjusting to her new lifestyle since the birth of her sister. The goal this week is to go out more and keep her more entertained which should result in me saying 'NO!' less often and fewer tantrums from frustration (from both her and I). She has been showing some signs of jealousy lately, crying when I pick up the baby, wanting me to pick her up more than usual, or crying when the baby cries - maybe because she knows when that happens I will have to pay attention to the baby.

Isolation

Well, we are one month into 2 under 2 and things so far are going well. Brier is starting to settle in to the beginnings of a routine. She is still a good little sleeper and eats well - can't ask for much more than that. Lauren is still not that interested in her little sister, although yesterday she was starting to get a bit jealous and whiny when I was holding Brier, so that's didn't feel so good for anyone.

I am finding the days at home with both girls home to be a bit isolating so far. I haven't started venturing out beyond a daily walk (or two). I think this is something I need to work on. Staying home every day is a bit stressful because Lauren is at the age that she needs stimulation and gets bored with being home and her toys which results in her getting into trouble. This spirals into me feeling totally guilty that I can't entertain my own kid, but that's another issue all together.

I also having trouble with feeling like nothing is getting accomplished. I can barley get the dishwasher unloaded or a few loads of laundry done in a day. I have to remember it's only been a month since the c-section and although I feel great with regard to that, I still have a one month old and an almost two year old, so no, things are not going to happen on the schedule I could once master.

I also have to get better at taking photos for the blog, because a blog without photos is a crappy blog in my opinion. Ahhh some many things to fix!