3 (years) & 15 (months)

Ollie is now 3! He has had a couple of haircuts and still his mane of curls happily remains. He has been in 3 mornings a week of mixed aged preK since April and turned a (positive!) corner about 2 months in. His speech is chugging along and we are delighted by what he has to say. He is a mix of high, silly, crazy energy and slow, thoughtful, sweetness.  He loves dress up, particularly firefighter hats and tutus, and a favorite phrase these days is: "I just joking you!" :-)

Rowley is 15 months old! He is in the 80-90% percentiles for growth, despite his sparse teeth count (barely 3!). He has been walking pretty confidently since 12.5-13 months, and now is a big climbing risk...kid tables, kid chairs, all chairs, all armrests.... He is very physically confident and capable and despite just having the one word ("mama!" "Maaaama!" "Mamamamama!") he will babble very seriously at us, expecting an answer, and then usually reply with "yeah." He is mimicking EVERYTHING Ollie does/sounds like, and with O's 'threenager' tendencies recently, that means way too much screaming and whining for my ears. 

Busy kids, busy parents, busy days!

Nearly 2.5 (years) & 7.5 (months)

Life started to feel ever so slightly more tame around 1-1.5 months ago. R is easier to figure out what he wants - playing, jumping, eating, sleeping...and O keeps delighting us with more and more language (we just secured him EI services until he is nearly 3, so hopefully that will help with some speech clarity - he has so much more he is wanting to say these days).

Favorite moments are: R's new sounds. So sweet! And O telling a story or requesting a book be sung instead of read. And R lighting up around O and vice versa. And O leaning in to hug R just because. 

5 hours of sleep

I just slept from 11pm to 4am and after a 50 min nursing session, I am wide awake...the idea that 5 hours of sleep would leave me rested and wired is sad and disconcerting, and questioning how moms coped before they could distract themselves with smartphones and Internet TV at all hours of the night. How did my mom do it?!

My babies' smiles...

Summer in Spring!

It may be the first week of May but the forecast has 80 degree weather nearly every day! We were able to enjoy it today with our good friends Cheryl and Garrett in our backyard and on our front porch (with cookies) in the morning and then for an outdoor music group followed by playground and front porch dinner. We soaked it up as much as possible! Rowley also rocked some summer outfits...

Nearly 2 and 2

In just over a week Ollie will be 2 and Rowley will be 2 months!

Ollie's language is really picking up, and his catchphrase seems to be "more this" or "please this." 

Rowley has been increasingly smiley since about 6 weeks old, and has become more coo-y, which makes us all swoon, and Ollie request "more" sounds from him. 

Still day by day with whether we get out of pjs or the house, but we often do, and I feel extremely accomplished every time it happens!

Not Fun

Without getting too explicit, these 5 weeks and 6 days since Rowley has been born have been difficult. Some days go shockingly well and I almost feel somewhat normal but overall - no. 

The epitome of my current state was Monday, when it was a gorgeous 70 degrees out. I was in a tiny 'garden' level waiting room awaiting a last minute root canal. I was nursing my 5 week old baby. I was lamenting the spreading, unexplained rash on my chest. And then the baby spit up directly into my bra. Like, a lot. 

And so it continues. 

Week 1 Realities

We have survived our first week home with Josh back at work, but not without some ups and downs. 

Successes: Making it out of the house with both kids nearly every day - to music group, playgroup, spring-weather walk...! And we all remain alive and functioning.  

Reality Checks: Ollie getting big head bruises 3 out of the 5 days, the kitchen floor remaining covered with spilled peas and corn from lunch until Josh got home, breastfeeding Rowley at a play space while chasing Ollie away from taking any more bites from the whole oranges on the snack table, and not doing proper outfit changes...if I'm wearing a shirt, no matter if it was from the day before, that is decent enough to warrant leaving the house... :-(

Aye!