Life With Two: Part 2

What better way to describe what life is like with our two girls than a "day in photos" post? It's been a long time since I've done one of these and it was a bit more tedious to remember to photograph everything while taking care of two little ones, but I think this captures our day(s) pretty accurately.

The day begins whenever Reagan decides she's up for the day, which is usually somewhere between 7-8:00. I start by feeding her. Sometimes Carsen is already awake but she generally just looks at books while she's waiting for us to come in and get her.

After she eats, Reagan hangs out on the bed while I get dressed and ready for the day.

Once I'm ready, we head into Reagan's room and get her dressed. Then we go in and get Carsen. Carsen loves for me to put Reagan in bed with her so they can snuggle and talk to each other. This is when I grab Carsen's clothes for her.

We head downstairs and Carsen gets dressed while I get our breakfast ready.

Today it was baked cheesy eggs (pre-made, Reagan doesn't allow much time for cooking breakfast!)

While breakfast is heating I make my coffee.

Reagan swings in the swing (or plays on the floor, etc) while Carsen & I eat.

After breakfast, it's play time!

Around 10:00 Reagan is ready to eat again and take her morning nap. I usually just let her nap on the couch or in her bouncy chair right in the living room. Taking her upstairs would mean leaving Carsen unattended downstairs for 20 minutes or so and I'm not crazy about doing that.

Carsen does her best to play quietly while Reagan naps.

After Reagan wakes up, usually around 11-11:30, we go out to take care of any errands we need to run. This was a Friday which means gas and grocery store! If we don't have errands to run we'll use this time to go to the park or play outside at home depending on the weather.

We're in-and-out of the store with 2 weeks of groceries in less than an hour and less than $100. My secret: meatless dinners! Shhh... don't tell my husband ;)

When we get home, it's 12:30 which is lunch time for Carsen and bed time for Reagan. I put Carsen in her high chair to eat while I take Reagan upstairs for her nap.

I'm back downstairs by 1:00. While Carsen finishes her lunch, I make something for myself. 

When Carsen is done eating, she goes potty and I take her upstairs for bed. I'm usually back downstairs around 1:30-1:45 to finish my lunch and clean up a little. Some days I clean the house during nap time {dusting, cleaning floors, laundry, etc} and other days I just tidy up and then either do a workout, a DIY project, or just catch up on emails. This day I did some yoga. Reagan still wakes up once or twice during her naps sometimes so yoga or another strength training workout make it a little easier {vs. a run on the treadmill} to stop for a minute and run upstairs if needed.

*Side note... I use an app on my phone called All In Yoga for my yoga workouts. You just pick a program and hit start and it's like having your own instructor in your living room. It talks you through the workout just like a yoga instructor at a studio, complete with relaxing background music :)

Then, the tiny girl wakes up around 3:00. {If you notice the time on the screenshot above, you'll see that I got in about 15 minutes of my workout before it ended. C'est la vie!} 

Time for a diaper change and a feeding.

We enjoy some mommy-Reagan one-on-one time while Carsen is still napping.

Carsen is usually up between 4-5:00. When she gets up, she has a snack and then we just play until Josh gets home from work. When he gets home he takes over the playing while I make dinner.

Friday we had dinner plans with friends, so when Carsen woke up and Josh got home we piled into the car and headed out to their house about an hour away.

Our friends have a 10-month old daughter who our girls thought was just awesome :)

After a delicious dinner, our friends took us to a nearby farm which has a creamery. Carsen loved visiting all the animals and of course enjoyed some fresh ice cream.

After ice cream we headed back home for bed time. On an ordinary night, we start baths around 7-7:30.  After baths I put Reagan to bed while Josh gets Carsen ready for bed and snuggles with her. Once Reagan is in bed, I go in to kiss Carsen and she usually begs me to snuggle for a few minutes which I can't really say no to. After snuggles I either take my shower, or head back downstairs to hang out with Josh. Sometimes there are residual chores like laundry to fold or dishes, but I like to use that time for Josh and I as much as possible. We are usually in bed around 10:30-11:00 and ready to start it all over again the next morning!

Some days are crazier than others, but I have to say that I wouldn't have things any other way. I'm quite in love with our little life and the cute people I get to share it with :)

Life With Two: Part 1

It's been a while since I sat down and composed a nice wordy post, but I felt like this was kind of an overdue update. Anyone with more than one child already knows what I'm going to say, but I'm putting it out there anyway as fair warning to young couples and parents of only children.

Back when Carsen was born, I did a little series of posts about transitioning to becoming a mom and all the ways life changes and how your whole perspective on the world changes. Consider this my post about the transition to parenting two. Simply put, it is simultaneously amazing and hair-raising.

Let's start with the hair-raising part.

One of the most basic differences in having two is that someone is almost always screaming for something. If I need to do something with one, the other immediately needs me. I won't say they do it knowingly, but sometimes it seems that way. You're only one person and yet two people need you to do two different things at the same time. And there is nothing more grating than trying to do anything while an infant screams... except trying to get a toddler to do something anything while an infant screams. Oh my. Molasses is the only way I can describe Carsen's actions when Reagan is crying. Half of it is probably my own anxiousness about speeding up the process so I can help Reagan, but Carsen just does not have that sense of urgency. When I only had one baby I was able to address her needs immediately, but a second baby just has to wait sometimes. And that first baby who is so used to being helped right away also has to wait sometimes. My favorite is when I'm 3 minutes into feeding Reagan and Carsen needs to use the potty which she can not do entirely on her own. If you want to know how to tick off a baby, interrupt their eating and walk away from them.

It's also more complicated to go anywhere. The toddler has to be trusted to stand on the sidewalk and not run into the street while you put the infant in the car, or you have to leave the helpless infant sitting on the ground in their car seat while you stand half-way in the car buckling a toddler. Both of those situations stress me out. Now, add rain to that scenario. Whoever waits while the other one gets buckled is out in the rain, and you the parent are in the rain the whole time. I don't even bother going anywhere if it's raining. Then when you reach your destination you have to be able to contain both children in some fashion. One in the Ergo, one in the shopping cart? One in the car seat in the shopping cart, one in the actual basket of the cart, no groceries? One in the shopping cart, one walking (refer back to molasses analogy in previous paragraph)? It's always different depending on where you're going and what you need to do there. I'm often asked by the cashiers in Wegman's if I'll need help when I get to my car. I actually have a pretty good system for the grocery store. Reagan's in the Ergo, Carsen is in the seat of the cart. Reagan goes in the car first, then Carsen, then groceries go in the trunk. It looks worse than it is. I'm in awe of people who shop with more than 2 children (ahem -- Laura ;), but I suppose with experience you get your system down.

Ready for the amazing part?

First of all, you did it again. We have yet to stop marveling at Carsen. I'm pretty amazed by her every single day and the fact that this incredible little person is my child. I'm fairly certain this will be the case forever. Now there's another one. We did it again. And she's no less incredible than her big sister. Pretty amazing, I think. People talk about wondering how they'll love a second child as much as they love their first. It's easy. You see them, hear them, smell them, you're in love. There's no one else that will ever happen with as it does with your child. It's amazing. There's just no other experience this life has to offer that could compare to being a parent.

So while they are each so wonderful on their own, seeing them together melts my heart like I never thought possible. They simply light up at the sight of each other. Reagan smiles and laughs at Carsen more easily than anyone else. Carsen says things like, "Mom, I LOVE my baby sister. She is the BEST sister in the whole world!" or "I love Reagan. She's my BEST friend!" Of course, she's three so she doesn't necessarily grasp what it means to be the best anything in the whole world, but she clearly understands the sentiment. I love that they are sisters. I love that they will share such a special and unique bond. I love that they'll have all of the fun sister experiences I had with my sister when we were little and have now as adults. I love that they love each other in the truest and simplest way - just because of the fact that they're sisters - and so look forward to cultivating that as they grow.

There ya go. Hair-raising, and yet amazing. Totally wild and crazy and wonderful all at once. And so very worth it :)

What I Love About Sundays

A little afternoon BP for the little cousins while the big cousins play catch on the other side of the yard. 

I love watching our kids grow up together. Just like my brother, my sister and I, they truly are each other's best friends :)

The 4th and a First

We got a new car. Our crossover was maxed out with 2 cars seats in the back and a stroller in the trunk. We got a really good deal on this one and so far we super love it. 

Our family photo from the 4th. I was kind of impressed that we're pretty much all looking at the camera. Small victories :)

You can't celebrate 4th of July without some water fun. Squirt guns with her cousins.

My little tiny baby trying to grow up on me

Her first play date with friends of ours from VA. Their interaction was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. They actually cooed back and forth at each other. It was adorable.

Lazy Sunday - I love it when she wants to play "happy nap."

Weekend in Photos

It's been a quiet week for us so far, but here are some photos I meant to share from our weekend. We hung out with family, as usual :)

{As you can see by her wrist fat and cheeks that are wider than her head, she is so malnourished that she must resort to eating her own hands. Poor baby.}

{And then there's this one who had to stop and "take a break" while walking 50 yards to our car. You can tell she had played hard though :)}

{Every so often we have a Mary Kay party with my mom, sisters and cousins. I'm a total makeup junkie.}

...and back to our quiet Monday