Little Man

Here are just two pictures of our little guy from this past week. The cheeks are growing. And the smiles are coming more and more frequently. We think he's a keeper. :)

Oz Day

Yesterday was Australia Day. If you've followed our blog at all, you probably know we celebrate this day every year. Mostly it's an excuse to get together as family. To eat meat pies. And to remember the months we spent in Australia. Each year it seems further and further away. In fact, if it weren't for the hundreds of pictures that we have (and the first posts on this fine blog) to prove it, I might not believe it actually happened. I think having two kids might be just part of the reason ;).

We had a great time together eating our pie, potatoes, salad and lamingtons. This year Jono made a great little Australia quiz. I think his dad won, which is not entirely surprising since he's pretty much a walking encyclopedia.We watched the good ol' video of our time there and mostly just relaxed. Happy Australia Day!

First Snowman

Clara was so proud of her first snowman. Carrot nose. Olive eyes. Milk dud buttons. She wanted to name her Clara but we told her she needed to come up with a different name. So she named her Norah :). We miss sweet Norah (she moved to Germany in September). But now she has a namesake in our front yard!

Snow Fun

It's the end of January and we FINALLY had our first snow fall this past week. Clara had been waiting in anticipation, let me tell you! Not only did she dive in the snow banks with gusto while Jonathan cleared our driveway, but she couldn't get enough of the sledding hill. This is quite the change from last year. Jonathan could barely drag her home. Here she is, celebrating...

While the two of them braved the sledding hill down the street, I stayed nice and warm with this little guy. I'm pretty sure as he slept he was thinking of the epic runs he'll be taking with his sister next year.

The Nose Wrinkle

I think my favorite feature about Caleb is his nose wrinkle. I know. It's kind of a ridiculous favorite thing, but I do love it. He just looks like such a little old man.

A few days ago I worried that it was gone forever - and that I hadn't even noticed that it had disappeared. I was about to get all teary over it when he fell asleep. And just like that it reappeared. One of these days it will be gone for good. And I will be so sad. Until then, I will savor the days of the nose wrinkle.

Sibling Love

As wild as it has been having two (read post below), one of the best parts has already been watching the growing relationship between Clara and Caleb. For as crazy as our daughter has been the past six weeks, she has never been anything but loving towards her brother (okay, maybe she yells "nooo" sometimes when he cries, but she she's never even laid a hand on him!).

Instead she plasters him with dozens of kisses each day, asks to hold him, and loves telling him which diaper he'll be wearing next (elmo, cookie monster, ernie or big bird). She is a great helper and I know she'll be a fabulous big sister to this little guy. Watching their relationship develop will be one of the best parts about having two!

On Having Two

I figure that I better jump back on board to this whole blogging thing or I might throw in the towel entirely. I am sure I will find my groove again. There are plenty of mamas of 2+ who have found time to continue their little blogs. So I should be able to too, right? One would think ;).

I am slowly figuring out our rhythm around here. Slowly. Having two little ones has been amazing, terrifying, awesome, exhausting, and about twelve hundred more adjectives. What I can say is that every day has gotten a little bit easier. Just a little bit.

It wasn't easy in the beginning, let me tell you. Although I vaguely remember the hard moments with Clara, most of them were pushed off the cliff to the abyss (that is my brain) long ago. I mean, I remembered all the sweet newborn cuddles. And something about repeated mastitis. But that was about it. As a friend pointed out, that is probably a good thing. If we remembered everything we might not keep having children, right?! ;)

I'm not saying this last month has been all bad. It hasn't been. Caleb is so precious and wonderful and perfect. I love him. And I know I would go through this month again and again if I had to. But it has been hard at times. Quite hard. The lack of sleep is enough to make anyone crazy. So is figuring out what works and what doesn't work for an entirely different human being than his older sister (To swaddle or not to swaddle? The binky? What does this cry mean? How does he like to be held? Etc. etc. etc.) Oh, and add to the mix a 2.5 year old who has been acting a little bit less than normal (read euphemism) since the birth of her baby brother. It's felt a little bit crazy. There have certainly been moments of crying and pooping and chaos when Jonathan and I have had to just laugh out loud because we don't want to cry - and we would rather just see the humor in it. It's funny, right? We're hoping to look back and think so.

I think the hardest part about all of it is feeling two completely different things at the same time:

Thing 1: Caleb is so small and he's growing so fast and he's not going to be a newborn much longer and everything is flying by and and and...

Thing 2: I just can't wait until we make it to the three month mark. Or the sleeping through the night mark. Or the getting Clara to stop intentionally pooping her pants mark.

Maybe that's the everyday challenge of motherhood, huh? You are looking ahead to the next, easier landmark. While trying to savor the days.

I do want to be much better at savoring the days. I am blessed. Each day is a gift. That I know. It's just been a little bit more challenging these last few weeks.

I will end on a positive note. The past week has been great. Really great. And I'm not just saying that. Yes, there are still hard moments. Trust me on that one. But there have been so many wonderful little moments that have snuck in. Like cuddling with both sleeping kiddos on the couch. And watching Clara plaster Caleb with the 12,000th kiss of the day. And figuring out enough of a rhythm to cuddle Caleb AND enjoy one on one time with my little girl. One day at a time. It's getting better.

What follows are just a few pictures from the past month. More to come later. And much less serious stuff. I promise.