A Month With Two Kids

It has already been a month now that Nate and I have had two kids. Whew! We made it this far! Oh it's not over yet? You mean we still have the rest of their lives??? Shoot...this parenting thing is harder than I thought! Maybe I jumped on the second kid wagon a little too soon...lol. In all seriousness, though, it has been an interesting adjustment to having two kids so close together. I love them both very dearly and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, but I must say there are times when I think to myself "What have I gotten myself into?!" Thankfully (and equally regretfully), they don't stay little forever.

Carter has done really well for his first month of life and we couldn't have asked for a sweeter, more mellow baby. He sleeps pretty well at night, going 3 or 4 hours at a time before waking up to eat. He also does really well getting his bubbles out, which has made him a very pleasant baby. He seems to be okay not being held 24/7, which helps out a lot with the attention I need to give to Emma. He is growing very quickly and is already out of all the newborn stuff and is into the 0-3 month clothes. According to our scale he is about 11 and half pounds already! He's a strong, growing boy and it makes me sad to see him grow so fast because before I know it he won't be a baby anymore! Carter has also quickly become a mama's boy. I am loving every minute with him and honestly feel so attached! Little boys are so sweet and I have to say you don't know how much joy comes from having a boy until you have one.

As for Emma, she was okay with Carter for the first week or two and then the realization that he's not going away finally hit her. She started purposely trying to push him away from me and doing other pokes and prods that weren't very nice. Her world has officially been turned upside-down. Poor thing!




She is still helpful though, which shows me how sweet she really is inside. She always alerts me when Carter crys with a "Whying!" and a concerned little face that melts your heart. She also loves to give him his blankies and his binkie (while getting a taste herself...lol). And she even helps me pat his back to burp him.


Beyond helping/hurting Carter, Emma has continued to learn and grow. She can repeat words she hears now, even if they sound completely different. She says prayers with Mom's help and can repeat all of the alphabet after me. She can even say BYU now! :) She's gotten really good at certain puzzles and loves to play games on my phone. She is such a smarty and I know it's going to be hard to keep up with her! She's also had her difficult times, throwing tantrums and really disobeying Mom and Dad. I am waiting on a couple parenting books I have on hold at the library because I am completely at a loss for how to deal with her and discipline her sometimes. It's a good thing there are people out there, including Nate and my wonderful mother-in-law, who can and do help out before I completely lose it. I'm also grateful for Sundays now since Emma is finally in nursery and I get a reprieve from her for a couple of hours! Emma transitioned to nursery really well and that has made us really happy. She goes with Meema (Nate's mom) since she is a nursery leader and doesn't even look back. She loves playing with the toys and other kids in there and has kept the nursery leaders on their toes (tee hee...I laugh!). I was told that she has created a new standard for child-proofing the nursery. :) That's my child!

A couple of weeks ago my sister Leah from St. Louis, Missouri flew here to come see us and help out with the kids. It was so nice to have her here! Since my parents are on their mission in Germany, my mom couldn't come out. So she arranged for my sister to come so that she could be her hands. We had so much fun while she was here! We took the kids out so Emma could go play at Kent Commons at Indoor Park. I also took her to Seattle and we saw the Space Needle and the Pike Place Market. Leah had never been so it was cool to show her! We went up to the top of the Space Needle, but unfortunately they don't allow strollers so we each had to carry a kid. Leah took Emma and she definitely had her hands full keeping track of her! Emma was a crack up though because she would just run in circles around the top and since it's a little slanted and puts your equilibrium off, she kept running diagonally into the walls...lol. Leah also bought some fresh fish and produce from the market and made us some awesome fish tacos that night! She is such a great cook and really treated us to some good cooking while she was here! After she left, Nate was like, "Where's Leah to cook us dinner and do the dishes???" ...lol. She is an amazingly sweet person and we were so grateful to have her come!

So it's been a full, fun, busy month with two kids, but I think we're surviving. I feel like if I can get through this, I can get through anything. Here's to many more months with two (and eventually more) kids!