September Updates

Kennedy:

Could this girl be any cuter? She smiles nonstop, and when she's not smiling, she's nursing. A lot. In fact, she really only likes to be sleeping if she is nursing while sleeping. This makes it hard for anyone to really get to hold her much. She isn't awake too long before she's ready to be asleep again, and she likes to sleep while attached to me. It is sad for other people, but I know soon enough she will be awake longer and then others will get more than enough time to hold her. It is frustrating in the days when I have nobody to help because she HAS to lie down sometimes so I can do other things. So she usually sleeps at the most 45 minutes before she's up again. In addition to nursing, she likes toys to be shaken for her, the fan, being sung to, and her most favorite thing: bath time. She can go from screaming to happy in one second. She's over all a very content little girl as long as she's not in the car. I can't believe both my babies have hated their car seats. How is that even possible? I'm so grateful that she's in our family, and I love her perfectness so much.

Swen:

Could this boy be any cuter? Not only is he the most beautiful boy on the planet, but he has the sweetest personality in the world. He still loves cars more than life itself, and he shares his love with everyone. He always has a car in hand and whenever anyone new comes into the room he runs over so excited to show off his "new car!" It does get a little old to for me to constantly express so much excitement over his new cars, but I want him to know I care about his interests, so I probably say "oh my gosh. Swen, is that a new car? I love your new car! It is the coolest car I have ever seen!" at least 20 times a day. But every time his eyes light up and he smiles so big that it's worth it. He loves Kennedy so much. He constantly asks to hold her. If he's not holding her, he's kissing her, petting her, and touching her. He still throws things at her, but it's happening less and less. Usually it's when I'm focusing on another person and he's needing some attention. If he's not talking about cars, he is talking about water. He loves to put everything in bowls of liquid. Like he's obsessed with it. Cereal, diet coke, soup, whatever it is. If it's liquid, he puts stuff in it. He is a pretty picky eater but eats cereal and milk at least three times a day. Also, he has recently become a finger sucker. It sort of just happened over night, and we think it's adorable. Swen is the most perfect two year old ever, and I wish everyone in the world could know him because of the joy he brings to people.

Shulamith:

Nursing Kennedy while Swen keeps me company. This occurs hours and hours throughout each day.

Could I be any cuter? Haha just kidding! I take care of my two kids all day and all night which pretty much sums up my life. I love it more than anything 99% of the time, but on very hard days, I think it would be easier to drop them off somewhere to mess up someone else's house and go to work, where I have friends and a social life while going to the bathroom by myself, eating by myself, driving by myself, oh and making money of course. Then I remember that this stage is so short, and I know my kids need me now, and I won't regret being poor for this short time with them. Also, I remember that I'm beyond blessed to have the opportunity to stay home with them.  I've been walking every day (where Kennedy WILL sleep for hours in her front pack!) and dieting on the weekdays to try and get back to pre-Kennedy size. The progress is slow, but I can tell it's working. Oh and it SUCKS. But so does being fat so too bad for me. And Sweet Tooth Fairy is sad about my diet too because they're almost going out of business without me buying cookies and cupcakes any time I'm in the area (daily).

Mathew:

Could he be any cuter? He has gone above and beyond all my expectations for a husband and dad. He is patient, kind, and loving to both the kids and me. He is working at Vivint Solar in supply chain. While it is a HARD job with little pay right now, he knows there is a future in supply chain and money to be made if he puts his time in. He is also waiting tables every Saturday night at Longhorn for extra income. Though he's doing all this, I have yet to hear him complain ONCE about going to work. When he gets home, he instantly starts playing with both kids. When weather permits, he enjoys taking Swen disc golfing. His favorite hobby is still rock climbing which he tries to do at least once a week. We often talk about how we have no idea how all of a sudden we are married with two kids. It all happened so fast, but we are loving it and learning lots.

Having Two

I'm sitting in bed nursing Kennedy to sleep while Swen is in the bath (where I can see him from bed so don't worry) and just thinking to myself how much I've learned in the last seven weeks since Kennedy was born.

1. Sitting down is underrated. Really, really underrated. Who knew I would miss just being able to sit for a few minutes without having to do something?

2. Nursing while doing ANYTHING is very possible. Cooking, eating, playing with Swen. You name it, and I've done it while nursing. Gone are the days where I could just sit and watch all my shows while nursing a baby.

3. Everyone should live in his or her parents' basement. We have it ideal because we have our own complete apartment under their house, which means total privacy. But even if that weren't the case, I think I would move in anyway. Their help is worth any privacy I would have to sacrifice. I think Matt would agree. He never has to worry about me because there's almost always someone home. Eli will be leaving for college soon, and Seth has already started school. That makes two fewer people here for support during the day, which makes me sad. Luckily, I have my mom and my dad, and my mom doesn't work many hours and not the same ones as my dad, so one of them is always around. Every mom needs her family upstairs. Period.

4. My house will never be as clean as I want. I love my house to be clean, and with Kennedy in the front pack and Swen playing outside, I can clean up and make it beautiful. Then Swen comes inside (or Matt comes home) and it's all over. Those two boys are messy. I've tried really hard to just accept it and not get frustrated when Swen destroys everything, but I definitely need more patience with that because he's two. And two-years-olds are messy.

5. Laundry never ends. Ever. Just adding Kennedy, I feel like I've doubled my laundry. I don't know why.

6. Seeing Swen pet Kennedy's head and love her makes me the happiest person ever.

7. It is possible to love two children equally. I was worried she wouldn't measure up to Swen. She does.

8. Going places is much harder and less fun. Being home with two kids is much harder and less fun. It's a dilemma on what to do each day. Stay home and try to entertain Swen, or go out while Kennedy screams in the car.

9. Most days I want lots and lots more babies. Other days, two sounds like a wonderful number.

10. It's hard to feel like both kids are getting what they need. I wish I could hold Kennedy all the time. I wish I could play with Swen all the time. I feel like I'm letting them both down quite often. Not to mention I feel like I'm letting myself down because I can't find time to do anything for myself. I don't even shower alone because Swen climbs in the second he hears water.  Hopefully I'll get into more of a routine soon and find a little time for myself each week. I'm not even going to aim for each day, ha!

11.  When I miss out on doing things that aren't kid friendly, I don't really care. I seriously love these babies so much, and nothing is more important than them right now. I will have years and years to go to movies, plays, vacations, and late nights staying up with friends, and I know they'll be grown up before I know it.

12. I love not worrying about Kennedy. With Swen I always worried about his health and that I might be doing things wrong. I doubted myself in everything. Now that he's two and doing amazing, I know the way I raised him was the right way for him and our family. Of course things with Kennedy may be different because she's different and has different needs, but I'm not doubting my choices with her because I trust myself and my instincts.

13. If I knew blogging on my phone was this easy, I may have been better about updating this blog!

14. I have yet to decide which is harder, going from zero to one child or from one to two children. It goes both ways. With a first child, for me, it was a huge shock, going from being totally selfish to being completely selfless and caring for a baby. Not to mention the shock of sleep deprivation. With number two, I have already been a mom for two years, and I am used to sleep deprivation (remember Swen didn't sleep for 15 months and then when he did sleep, he for up at 5:00 every morning?).  However, the business and craziness of two children is definitely hard. Feeling like one of them always needs something from me is exhausting. So I've decided it's a tie. But I have a hunch that going from 2 to 3 kids will be the hardest for sure. I can't even imagine it right now.

15. There's water all over my bathroom floor. Thank you, Swen. I should probably go get him out and clean that up. As well as remind myself about  #4 above.