Another year full of firsts

I know that people do it everyday, but adding another child to our family can be described with two of my husband's favorite words. Squirrel. Derby. I never imagined the chaos that would ensue once our second bundle of joy appeared. Ben has adjusted so well and really loves his little sister. Fortunately for Lily she doesn't know what life was like before he was around. (Read: quiet, calm and sometimes boring) The last year has challenged us in new ways as parents and also shown me that we can do things I never thought possible.

The first three weeks with Lily were rough and I struggled a lot. There's the constant tiredness and haze that you feel when you never seem to get enough sleep. And the fact that she never liked to be set down. Thank goodness Ben still went to daycare at that time or I think I would have been completely overwhelmed. I am very fortunate that my mom lives in town and holding babies happens to be one of her favorite past times. And thank goodness for that because I was really the only person that Lily wanted, but grandma came in a close second. As you may have guessed, my Lily was NOT a daddy's girl for the first 10 weeks of her life. Which is understandable. He doesn't have much to offer by way of milk. The nice thing about it, is that instead of cleaning closets and dusting I spent 12 weeks holding my baby (and watching really bad, really awesome TV on Bravo. I know all the Housewives of everywhere by name.) Lily and I did everything in my room. Slept, watched TV, ate lunch. And it was fabulous. At the time I felt it was trying, but looking back I wouldn't have had it any other way.  

By about three months, Lily really seemed to turn around for us. She went from fussy, hates the car, always wants to be held, to very content just taking in the world around her. And what a wonderful change that was! She's always done things on her own time and at her own pace, too. Ben was a textbook baby. Did everything right on "schedule", very predictable in sleeping patterns, got a tooth the day he turned 6 months old, crawled at 9 months, etc. Lily has been a lot slower with everything, and tends to just take things on when she is ready. She still doesn't consistently sleep through the night, didn't get a tooth til 9 months old and still hasn't mastered traditional crawling. She does her own version and gets around just fine. It's amazing to me just how different they are and they continue to show me examples of that every day.

The last ten months have been such a roller coaster for us. We knew what it meant to have a baby in the house, but we had to relearn a lot of things to. Learning what it means to have TWO people totally dependent on you for their every need, learning that nap time for one isn't always rest time for the other, learning how to use all the baby stuff again, learning how to function on 4 hours of sleep. There are also huge changes for us as a couple, learning to find time for each other, learning to step in when the other is exhausted, shifting responsibilities around the house. It's been a whirlwind to say the least. 

There are some nights when no one is sleeping and at least 3 of us are crying and I think to myself "what the hell have we done?!?" and then there are moments when I look at my kids and see the best of me and Mike in them and my heart is so full I feel like it will burst. Yup. My husband had it right. Squirrel Derby.