It's been a while. A lot has happened since I last posted back in September (go figure). Our sweet girl celebrated her second birthday, little man is growing so fast and doing new things daily, all except for sleeping at night (sigh), and that ugly Postpartum has been trying to make a comeback.
How can it be that my baby girl is two years old already?! I know it's cliche to say, and those of you who aren't parents will probably roll your eyes, but time really does fly by when you have children. Something about seeing everything new through your baby's eyes makes your heart explode and at the same time make you wish you could slow things down and savour every moment so you will never forget their precious firsts, and seconds and even thirds.
We woke our baby, scratch that, big girl, up the morning of her birthday and surprised her with this adorable wooden play kitchen that we got at a garagle sale over the summer. Do you know how hard it was to have it in the house and not give it to her?! She absolutely loves it and it just happens to match her room perfectly! It was a fraction of the cost of the ones I had been looking at online, so when a friend told me she saw it at a garage sale I had my husband fly over there and pick it up!
How can it be that my baby girl is two years old already?! I know it's cliche to say, and those of you who aren't parents will probably roll your eyes, but time really does fly by when you have children. Something about seeing everything new through your baby's eyes makes your heart explode and at the same time make you wish you could slow things down and savour every moment so you will never forget their precious firsts, and seconds and even thirds.
We woke our baby, scratch that, big girl, up the morning of her birthday and surprised her with this adorable wooden play kitchen that we got at a garagle sale over the summer. Do you know how hard it was to have it in the house and not give it to her?! She absolutely loves it and it just happens to match her room perfectly! It was a fraction of the cost of the ones I had been looking at online, so when a friend told me she saw it at a garage sale I had my husband fly over there and pick it up!
Her favorite thing to make us is "soup", and we love it.
Last year I went all out throwing her a first birthday party at our house, where I made all the food, hung decorations and (of coarse) designed my own invitations. I love hosting parties, dont get me wrong, but this year I decided to do things a little differently. Having two babies has taught me that if I want to be less stressed out and in turn, be much happier, I need to do less. So this year I opted out of having a party at our home (can I get a "woot woot" for not needing to clean the entire house!) and booked a tumbling party at a local gymnastics center. I did make the invitations since that's what I do, but I decided to just make a few deserts and leave the decorating up to the venue. It may not have been Pinterest worthy, but the kids had an absolute blast and I was able to enjoy the party without being stressed out. Those are the things my sweet girl will remember after all. I just lover her little leotard!
On to a less cheery note... It's funny how different my babies have been from one another. My daughter was the easiest baby. She loved to cuddle and play, but would happily sit in her swing or bouncer while I did whatever I needed to do, all without a fuss. This little guy is also very cuddly and is generally a very happy baby but when it comes to setting him down or sleeping, he's terrible at it. I dont know why, but he wont sleep for very long periods at night time and usually wakes up 2-4 times. If you have ever gone 4+ months without sleeping longer than 4 hours at a time you probably feel my pain. Not getting restful sleep makes me irritable and unpleasant and I can just feel that nasty postpartum knocking at my door.
My husband has been so helpful in getting me to try new things to get the baby to sleep at night, all while being super supportive of my ever evolving emotions and frustrations. I really can't tell you how blessed I am to have him as a husband and father to my babies. His support is really what has gotten me through those rough days of running on 4 hours of sleep.
I do know that all babies are different and that he will eventually sleep through the night. But right now, it is hard. It is hard to wake up each morning after not sleeping much and give being a mom my all. It is hard to keep up with the chores of the house and make dinner when all I want to do is take a shower or go to sleep. It is hard to try and potty train my 2 year old while holding a baby that wont let me put him down. It is hard. The easy thing to do is be negative, and believe me, I have my days where I can only see gloom through my tired eyes. But my husband said something to me the other day that has me wanting to do better, wanting to be better. As I was in a negative state complaing about how cluttered the living room was with all the toys and playmats and bouncers, he said to me, "one day these things wont be here and we will have kids, not babies, and you will want these things back". It's true. I get so caught up in how i'm feeling and letting anxiety and stress take over, that i'm really just taking away those sweet moments and memories with my babies. I know it's not the new year quite yet, but my new years resolution is to be present and truly savour every moment I have with my family. I dont want to look back and have regrets about this chapter in our lives. Hopefully in a few months I will be reporting that my sweet boy is sleeping through the night and instead of talking about my lack of sleep I'll be sad that he has moved to his own bed and isnt needing me as much, but for now I'm going to take a note from my daughter and try to find the wonder in the little things each day.
My husband has been so helpful in getting me to try new things to get the baby to sleep at night, all while being super supportive of my ever evolving emotions and frustrations. I really can't tell you how blessed I am to have him as a husband and father to my babies. His support is really what has gotten me through those rough days of running on 4 hours of sleep.
I do know that all babies are different and that he will eventually sleep through the night. But right now, it is hard. It is hard to wake up each morning after not sleeping much and give being a mom my all. It is hard to keep up with the chores of the house and make dinner when all I want to do is take a shower or go to sleep. It is hard to try and potty train my 2 year old while holding a baby that wont let me put him down. It is hard. The easy thing to do is be negative, and believe me, I have my days where I can only see gloom through my tired eyes. But my husband said something to me the other day that has me wanting to do better, wanting to be better. As I was in a negative state complaing about how cluttered the living room was with all the toys and playmats and bouncers, he said to me, "one day these things wont be here and we will have kids, not babies, and you will want these things back". It's true. I get so caught up in how i'm feeling and letting anxiety and stress take over, that i'm really just taking away those sweet moments and memories with my babies. I know it's not the new year quite yet, but my new years resolution is to be present and truly savour every moment I have with my family. I dont want to look back and have regrets about this chapter in our lives. Hopefully in a few months I will be reporting that my sweet boy is sleeping through the night and instead of talking about my lack of sleep I'll be sad that he has moved to his own bed and isnt needing me as much, but for now I'm going to take a note from my daughter and try to find the wonder in the little things each day.