October’s gone and over half of November too! OPPS, December is gone as well!!!

I’ve changed the title of this post so many times, and never finished it. I just need to post it and then start new! J Anyway, it’s been a crazy couple months. I didn’t realize just how hard it was going to be trying to care for a newborn and a toddler at the same time. As my husband said one day “there is no off” no time to just be. One of them constantly needs something. It’s the hardest, most exhausting, yet rewarding thing we have ever done. Now after 3 months I am starting to think we will make it and that some days during the week I might actually get something done. My husband says that though our friends say that it is easier with more kids he doesn’t see how that could be possible. Of course our Princess is such a Daddy’s girl that if he tries to spend time with our son she thinks it’s the end of the world. I think what our friends meant is that as you have more and the older ones aren’t as needy they help out by entertaining each other. Right now, though Princess is happy playing by herself some, she thinks if we are doing anything other than sitting in a chair, she needs to be right there doing it with us or we should be playing with her.

Many times Princess believes her brother needs to be in the pack and play, on a blanket or in the bouncy seat…ANYWHERE but in Mama or Daddy’s arms. At times she is so sweet with him and then other times she hates his interference with her time with us, especially Daddy. Trying to balance both of their needs is hard. Every time I think I have it figured out I’m proved wrong. Oh well, guess that’s life.

Well our little guy “Buddy” arrived Oct 3^rd and ended up going into the NICU a few days later (more on all this in another post). Princess did pretty well with all the relatives that were here. Hubby’s parents arrived the day Buddy was born and stayed about 10 days. After that my sisters took turns staying parts of the next couple weeks to help out. Hubby had a business trip at the end of Oct so one of my sisters came up to help me. I have really appreciated them being able to come up and babysit or distract Princess from time to time.

Here are a few of the cute and funny things Princess has said/done. I regret that I didn’t write some down as I know I have forgotten some. Since the purpose of this blog is to remember, I am going to try harder thins next year to post regularly, even if it’s just a few sentences.

           

            [My wife] was able to go home today [this was while Buddy was in the NICU] for a little bit. Before, she got there, her sister had been struggling with [Princess] to change her diaper. As soon as [my wife] walked in and before [her sister] had finished changing the diaper, [Princess] looked up and said, "Diaper change, I tried to stop her  (Oct 6, 2013-Hubby)

            We ate at Perkin's tonight and they had some music playing in the background. I looked over and noticed Princess was "dancing." I asked her if she was dancing, and she said yes in a resigned voice. I asked her if it was required. She said "yes, it required." I guess if music is playing we are supposed to dance even when we don't want to. Or maybe its a Perkins requirement that I missed! . (Oct 19, 2013-Hubby speaking here.)

[My Brother] to Emily, "Is there anything you don't know?"
Emily, "I'm not sure."
Well, that's an honest answer! (Oct 20, 2013)

            There was a Mace Windu (Star Wars Jedi) figurine in our cereal box this morning. Emily, our 2 year old, was excited about the "guy" and loves playing with him. Of course, playing consists of laying the noble warrior on his back and changing his diaper. Oh the humanity! (Nov 2, 2013-Hubby again!)

            Yesterday at lunch after praying for the food [Princess] wanted to pray (she's been doing this for a few days) so she waited for me to say a few words and then copied them. A few minutes later I hear, "Dear Lord, Thank you for Mommy, thank you for Daddy, thank you for [Princess], thank you for Daddy. AMEN!!" (Dec 13, 2013)

            Last night on the way to Church--
Princess: I see the Moon!!
Us: Yes, that's the moon.
Princess: I can't reach it!!! 
We looked back and she was reaching her hand up towards the moon.
Hubby: That's okay, I can't reach it either.
Princess: Yeah, can't reach the moon. (sounding sad).   (Jan 5, 2014)

Buddy is getting so big. At 12 weeks he weighed the same as Princess did at 4 months!! My mother-in-law was calling him “the incredible stomach” when she was here over Christmas, because he was always eating…and eating a lot!!

Hubby’s parents and sister and her husband were here for about a week over Christmas. It was great having them here and spending time with them. Princess hadn’t seen her aunt and uncle for a year so she didn’t really remember them, but quickly warmed up to them. She especially enjoyed playing with her uncle. We thought she was going to go into withdrawal without him and her grandpa. J

Princess really enjoyed the snow we got right before Christmas. Before this she didn’t really like it as she fell into the snow a couple weeks ago. She loved playing in it with Daddy and Grandpa and building her first snowman with Daddy!!! J

Princess was in her first Christmas program at Church. Her class sang Away in the Manger. Though she knew most of the words she didn’t sing, just stood on the stage with a finger in her mouth as her SS teacher had taken her paci before putting her on the stage. It was neat to see her up there and to think about how she might be next year. She is one of the youngest kids in the class and her teacher told us that during practices she and a little boy (the teacher’s son) would just look around at the other kids. J