May Milestones

Monthly blogging is a thing right? Ha! Now that I think about it, I didn’t even get this one in at the month mark, we’re looking at more like a month and a half, but who’s counting right? 

So, to catch up a bit. Miss Eva will be 16 weeks this week, pushing that 4 month milestone. Overall she is such an easy baby. Super smiley, very laid back, willing to sleep wherever whenever she is tired. She is a complete 180 from Aubrey, and I appreciate both in different ways. One thing I’m not appreciating so much is that although Eva started sleeping through the night at 11 weeks (Aubrey started at 13), that little miracle only lasted a week and a half before we went back to waking up every 2 hours again. Her nighttime sleep is far from consistent or predictable. This week she has blessed me with only waking up once a night around 2:30 and then sleeping till about 5:30-6. Aubrey had terrible gas and stomach issues up until 12 weeks, and Eva has had gas from day one and it only seems to be worse now. So although we used the CIO method with Aubrey and it worked like a charm, having Eva cry when she is crying because of gas pains just isn’t the answer. We are a little at a loss about her sleep, and for now I’m just letting her do her thing. She’s lucky she’s my last and I’m a little soft when it comes to her 😉 

The first couple of months with two were hell. I don’t really know how else to put it and I’m sorry for the language. It kind of sucks to want nothing more than to essentially spend all day snuggling your newborn and soaking up all of that new baby goodness, but to also have a two year old literally screaming and crying for your attention (and anything else she so deems to be a crisis – which means everything). Your first born needs attention. Your husband needs your attention. Your baby has to have your attention, and basically it can feel like you are failing everyone, including yourself. Luckily, as time has passed I’m starting to feel like we’re beginning to get this new arrangement under control. Everyone has shifted a little, assumed some new responsibilities, and learned to accept that this is life now. We’re finding a new groove for a our daily routines, and I’m starting to feel like I’m getting my head at least close to the top of the water again. I would absolutely not wish time to pass faster right now, I’m still loving the baby moments with Eva, but I cannot wait till she is old enough to interact and play with Aubrey. She has started watching Aubrey and smiling at her, and Aubrey just loves her. It’s beautiful to watch. 

Aubrey is really growing into a little girl and this age/phase is both super fun and incredibly frustrating. I fully understand the term terrible twos now. She can be sweet as an angel one moment, and a demon on earth the next. My patience has been tested more than ever in my life, and most days I hate myself for not keeping it under control better. Remembering that they are little, still learning how to deal with their massive emotions, and deep down just need you so much is nearly impossible when you are looking at a living room covered in kinetic sand, or a room covered in poop because they didn’t want to wear their poopy diaper anymore when they woke up (yes that happened – multiple times), or the gooey mess of an entire tube of lip gloss that has been squirted all over the kitchen, or wondering how they actually flushed an entire container of cleaning wipes down the toilet. 

But there are sweet times too. There are the requests for goodnight “shugahs” (kisses), and they surprise you by wrapping their little arms around your neck and pulling you in for some eskimo nose kisses too. There is the unprompted “I love you’s” that nearly knock you to your knees. There are the moments when they are singing, and dancing, and running around in a fairy costume just exuding life and joy and everything beautiful in the world. 

I don’t hate this phase in our lives. I don’t wish it to pass. It’s hard, and I knew it would be, so we’re just taking it one day at a time. I know it won’t last long, and I’m trying to keep that in mind on the extra challenging days. Kids are something special. 

In other news, we added 10 other new babies in the last month. Chicken babies. I’ve wanted chickens for years and it finally happened. I told Will I must be some kind of crazy to have a new baby, a two and a half year old, and then bring home 10 more babies that need lots of attention and care. We started our flock with 4 Egyptian Fayoumis, 2 Light Brahmas, and 2 Blue Andalusians. One light brahma hadn’t acted right from the beginning and ended up passing pretty early on, so we replaced it with a Rhode Island Red we named Penny. Then just last week I brought home 2 Amerucaunas (I really wanted some blue eggs). Right now 8 of them are out in our brand spanking new custom built coop, and the two Amerucaunas are inside under the heat lamp. We’re pretty sure we have at least two roosters, Penny unfortunately being one, who also happens to be one of the sweetest birds we have and Aubrey’s favorite – however the lowest on the pecking order. Not looking forward to the day we have to choose a rooster and find an alternative for the other ones. Aubrey is fearless when it comes to them. Her favorite pastime right now is going in the coop and chasing them around and catching them – especially poor Penny. 

The house is still a work in progress. We finally got a backsplash up in the kitchen and declared the upstairs to be “finished,” only to then decide we do want to finish the basement. Right now we’re sitting with newly installed, yet not trim painted french doors, a framed out bathroom and laundry room awaiting electrical work before we can continue, and piles of stuff everywhere – including a toilet making a nice home on our back patio. I cannot wait to have those project done just so I don’t have to look at all the stuff everywhere anymore. We’ve had exactly one weekend day to relax in the house basically since we moved in. It was raining and kind of cool and we spent the day vegging on the couch and enjoying a fire in our beautiful newly painted fireplace. 

Goals for the next little bit include knocking out the basement projects, building a new TV stand for the living room, trying to find some times for friends, and most importantly working in a little R&R somewhere – we need it (who doesn’t right?). 

What are you up to friends? Who all is doing something exciting this summer? I am loving these warmer days!