As of Late

The past two months have been crazy, to say the least. I feel like I'm finally wrapping my head around the fact that I'm a mother of two and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. This is the first time I've really had the desire or energy to sit down and write a post. This blog has definitely been neglected. Sorry I'm not sorry. But really though, all you new mothers of more than one child, how do you have time to devote to your blog?! I give you props, ladies, because this mama is spent come bedtime and all I want to do is veg on the couch watching old Parks and Rec's episodes. I mean, who has the time to edit photos and write a post to go along with it when I have a toddler who won't nap most days, a baby who refuses to not be held 24/7, a house that still needs to be cleaned, plus all the hoopla that goes along with the holidays. Ain't nobody got time for that! I promise I'm in the process of writing Theo's birth story. It will be published one of these days! But until then you'll have to settle for pictures of Anna during our trip to Charleston this past weekend and little tidbits of our happenings with her since Theo came along.

Seriously, this girl. I think I'm more in love with her than before Theo graced our presence. I just can't get enough of her and all I want to do is cuddle with her. Her giggles, her tiny voice, her sweet spirit, and those eyes. They getchya. It's like when you look into them you're gazing into her soul. Those eyes are dangerous. She can get whatever she wants with those eyes. And mommy and daddy have to be very careful not to fall into her trap because she knows it. There are times when I'm disciplining her and I have to look away for fear of being sucked in. True story.

Then there are her "smarts". She knows her ABC's--or her ABCD's as she calls them; she can count to 10 successfully--11 is "robin" and then she repeats 14 until we help her along to 20; she sings all the time--her current favorites are Jingle Bells, "kinkle, kinkle, widdle stah", and the "la la" song aka The Fighter by Mumford and Sons; she repeats everything she hears including "gosh", "oh man!" and "what the heck!"--oops! Travis and I are working on our filter; she is super polite telling complete strangers "thank you" when they hold the door open for her (melts my heart and makes this Mama proud!), she'll even tell me "no thank you" when I ask her to throw away baby brother's diaper for me--how can I be mad at that?!

She's the complete opposite of me when it comes to her fearlessness and her desire for adventure. It's going to be the death of me. We moved her to her big girl bed at the beginning of November after we found out she could jump into and out of her crib. She would climb up onto her rocking chair that was next to the crib, climb on its arm, climb onto the railing of the crib and then balance on half an inch of wood before jumping in! Insane. And then somehow manage to climb out. We knew it was time. She's done great in her big girl bed. Thankfully it's not on a frame or we'd be hearing lots of bumps in the night. 

She is super strong willed. And that is exactly like me. We butt heads for sure and a lot of the times I have to catch myself before I lose my patience. I try to remember that she learns patience from me and when I want her to exercise patience I should be the one modeling it. We're working on "no" right now. I know she says it because I say it way too much--I'm working on that too. The times when I just want to throw my hands up and turn my head for fear of laughing is when she looks me in the eye and says "No way!" Obviously I've said those words way too many times (insert embarrassed hands-over-eyes emoji). 

She's been into all things baby after she got a doll for her first birthday last year but since Theo came along it's been like baby overload for her. We're finding Theo's diapers on baby dolls, I saw her "nursing" one of her dolls while she was supposed to be napping, she's constantly changing her dolls clothes, and then one day I caught her trying to change Theo's diaper. It was almost an epic disaster! After laying Theo in his bassinet I went to use the bathroom. I thought Anna and Theo would be ok by themselves for the few minutes I was gone, ha! Anna started saying "poopy, poopy, poopy". I knew Theo was poopy and I had planned on changing him when I was done using the bathroom myself so I just thought Anna was stating the obvious. I took my time washing my hands and checking myself in the mirror--first time that day--and Anna's still saying "poopy". Yeah, yeah, Anna, ok. I finally walk into my bedroom and there lies Theo with a huge smile, his pajamas unbuttoned, his diaper pulled down but thankfully all of its contents still intact, and Anna still saying "poopy"! I gasped and said "Oh, Anna! (ok, I could make a huge deal out of this and scar my child or I could handle this appropriately--I chose the latter) Thank you for helping change Theo's diaper! Mommy and Daddy are the only ones who can change his diaper. I think your babies need changed though too" and out the door she ran. Crisis averted!

I'm not sure the point of this post except that I just needed to write. I haven't been able to write as much as I'd like but getting to sit down and put some of our sweet memories with Anna on paper makes my heart feel happy. These early years are fleeting and the time goes by just way too fast. I want to bottle up every little thing my children do and, for Anna, say. I know it's not possible and I hate that. So until someone figures out a way to do that and lets all us parents know I'll continue to find small openings in my week where I can write out and capture our beautiful life together.