day 2: disaster

For as great as day 1 was with me and the kids, day 2 was 180 degrees in the opposite direction...bad. Just bad. I woke up at 2 AM with a fever and the worst stomach ache. And it just didn't get better. When I woke up for good in the morning, my fever was even higher and my energy level was zero. Every bone and muscle in my body ached...to the point where I had to muster every fiber of my being just to pick The Mayor up from his crib and get him changed. How was I going to get through the day with 2 little ones feeling like this?

Luckily, the movie "Cars" kept us entertained until my relief arrived. Thank the Good Lord my husband was able to leave work early and he was home before noon. After a nice nap this afternoon, I am feeling a little bit better. Praying for a great night and that tomorrow morning I am 100%. What a time to not feel well...why couldn't I have been sick when I had a house full of people here ready to help me?

yippee! we survived!

YAY! Day 1 was a success! It really was a great day. Both kids slept in so I was able to get dressed and eat breakfast. The Mayor woke up first so I got him dressed and his breakfast started and then I was able to get Bear up and dressed and feed her while The Mayor ate his breakfast. We were all fed and dressed early enough that I had plenty of time to get diaper bags packed, car loaded up and us to the park where we were exactly on time.

The Mayor had a great time at the Easter egg hunt. He didn't quite get the concept of the hunt...he would pick up an egg and just carry it around. He didn't get that the egg should go in the basket and then you hunt for more. But he was adorable carrying around his eggs...and I did get him to put some eggs in his basket. That's ok...this was good practice for the Easter egg hunt we will have on Easter Sunday.

I treated us to lunch out at one of our favorite sandwich shops to celebrate such a great day. Bear slept while The Mayor and I ate. It was nice having some time with my sweet boy. After lunch it was nap time for him which allowed me some time with my sweet girl. All in all it was a great day. Glad my first day wasn't scary and now I have some confidence to get through the rest of the week. Each day will get better and easier and that is a nice feeling.

carrying around the Easter eggs

finally convinced him to put some eggs in the basket

decorating his cookie

back to reality

Today is the end of my blissful avoidance of what reality is going to be. Tomorrow, I am on my own with both kids. Bear is 2 1/2 weeks old...so that is pretty impressive that I have gone this long with at least one extra set of hands on deck. And in typical fashion, I have something planned for us tomorrow. It is either brilliant or stupid to have planned something, I guess that answer will be evident when we return from our planned adventure. Tomorrow we are going to a local park with my MOM's club for an Easter Egg Hunt. Not only is it an event, but it is an event where The Mayor will be free. Free to roam and run and play. And I will have a 2 1/2 week old strapped to my chest in the Baby Bjorn (which I am going to quickly learn will be my new best friend). She will be contained and happy and I will have both hands free to help The Mayor find his eggs, decorate cookies and play on the playground. And I am almost 100% certain that tomorrow is going to go just as planned...smoothly. I know, I laughed while I wrote it.

Oh well, gotta pull the band-aid off at some point and dive right in. Life can't stop because I have a newborn...The Mayor needs to get out and play and burn off that 2 year old energy. And if tomorrow goes smoothly, then I am a trooper for just diving in...and if it is an absolute nightmare, then I can be proud that I will have survived. So I guess, either way, it is a win-win for me. At least I will keep telling myself that while I am trying to hold back the tears...

my sweet little lady

the way we were

Finally, life is back to normal. And by life, I mean The Mayor. Last week, we were seriously worried we had lost our sweet boy forever. But once our house cleared out and it was just the 4 of us, The Mayor finally settled in and became his old sweet self again. What a relief. And it is making this week with daddy home that much more enjoyable.

Today we had Bear's newborn pictures taken. I can not wait to see the proofs. Our awesome photographer was here for an hour and a half, and Bear was so well behaved. She slept through almost the entire session. It made it a lot easier for our photographer because she just moved Bear into all of these sweet little poses...and I am really eager to see the pictures she got of Bear with The Mayor. He was kissing on her and hugging her...so cute! Love my sweet little babies!

Looking forward to the rest of our week. Hanging out as our family of 4. If the weather is nice on Friday, we are going to venture to the zoo with our two little monkeys. Gonna be a great rest of the week...

normal?

Life is finally getting back to normal. We have been an official family of 4 for the past 24 hours...the in-laws left yesterday afternoon. No more help. If you asked us last night, we would have said we were crazy to have our children 2 years apart. Oh, man...The Mayor. I love that kid more than life itself, but between normal 2 year old behavior and acting out a bit because he isn't getting all of the attention...yikes. Last night we looked at each other and asked, should we have had them closer together or farther apart? Because 2 years seems to be crazy. He doesn't quite get it and he can't verbalize his emotions so we are getting a lot of screaming. Just screaming. He will be happy or mad...and be standing in the middle of the room and just yell until we look at him. And the more you say "inside voice please" the more he screams. So we started ignoring him when he yells and then he stops. But waiting until he stops...geez. Last night we were wondering if our sweet boy would ever return to us...or have we lost him forever?

But today our sweet Mayor returned. He was his normal self all day today (with the 30 minute exception when a friend dropped off dinner, then he started acting out for some attention). But other than that 30 minutes, our sweet boy had returned. Praying so hard he has returned for good! Hopefully with the house quiet and no guests, life can return to normal and we can find our groove. At least daddy is off all week so we can just hang out together as a family of 4 and spend the week spoiling both of our sweet babies with lots of love and attention.

daddy and his girl

too much

In an effort to keep The Mayor's life as normal as possible, I signed him up for a sports class designed for 2 year olds. It is a 9 week program that meets one day a week for 30 minutes. They spend 2-3 weeks on different sports (football, t-ball, basketball and soccer). They don't have any games; it is just a chance for them to learn about equipment, some fundamentals regarding the sport and to listen/follow instructions. Of course the first class falls 1 week after his sister was born. I think it is too much. This past week has been a whirlwind for him from staying at PopPop and Mamie's for 3 1/2 days to having a house full of people here for the weekend and MeMe and Big Daddy here for the week. Plus having a baby in the house and parents who are learning to balance between two children.

He was fine for the first 25 seconds we left him in the gym for his class. Then a little boy started crying so The Mayor started. I could see his little fingers grasping for me through the little slit of the gym door and his cry for "momma". The coach asked me to join them and he finally calmed down. But The Mayor was kind of "that kid" today. While the other 2 year olds did a pretty good job at listening and following instructions (like "sit in a circle" or "stand on the red line") my sweet boy was wanting to play with the basketball and run around. It took awhile to get him to follow the coach's instructions. I quickly realized my child is great at home one-on-one, but get him in a classroom environment with distractions and all bets are off. Of course I do realize he is two years old and has never been left in a day care (or even with anyone other than family) so he does not know what structure is in that sense...but we will definitely be working on our listening skills!

After the class, we took him to an indoor playground for some mommy/daddy/Mayor time. We took advantage of Bear being at home with MeMe and Big Daddy and had another day with The Mayor. He was worn out! And it felt good to have another morning with our boy. Looking forward to next week when it is the 4 of us and we can have the entire week to really bond as a family since daddy will be off from work!

Tonight ended on a sweet note. For the first time, The Mayor held his baby sister. He loved it. In fact, he pitched a fit when we tried to take her away. So he ended up having her in his lap for about 20 minutes. He finally agreed to let her go when friends of ours came over and delivered dinner. It was precious to see him kissing her and trying to hold her hand. It is amazing to see how much he loves her. He does have his two year old moments when he gets a little jealous if he can't get our attention, but I am so thankful that he loves his baby sister.

the one and only picture I got of him in his class...this was about 10 seconds before the meltdown started

playing with daddy at the playground

so excited to be holding his sister

loves to kiss her

adjusting

We are adjusting. Life with two is different. Of course we knew it would be, but you still do not know quite what to expect. And to be honest, we still don't know. We have family still in town, so the extra set of hands is so helpful. Once they leave next weekend then we will be hit with reality. And once daddy goes back to work, I will really be hit with reality. Stay-at-home mommy with 2 kiddos. Yikes!

The Mayor is adjusting too. We really could not ask for better from him. He loves his sister. But he is 2 years old, so he has his moments where he gets jealous and wants the attention. We are really trying to let him know how loved he is. He is our first born...our original baby...and it is important that he is comfortable and loved. So today we left Bear with the in-laws and took The Mayor out for some one-on-one time with mommy and daddy. We went to an indoor bouncy house playground and then out to lunch. Just the 3 of us. We all had the best time. In fact, I think we had more fun being with him than he had. We are so blessed to have such wonderful children. I am soaking up every single second of this time in my life.

Bear is doing great as well. She is such a little cuddle bug. At night, she loves to sleep, but while being held. And I am ok with that. This time goes by so quickly so if she wants to sleep on me, I am going to let her! In a couple of weeks, I will push for her sleeping in the bassinet, but for now my chest is a perfect crib for her. I will take all of the cuddle time I can get.

getting ready to leave the hospital

proud big brother

daddy and The Mayor going down the big slide