Solids!

J feeding her little brother!

Starting solids is a messy messy ordeal, especially when you have an over-eager toddler helper on your hands.  We got the okay from our pediatrician to start solids with A and one of the things I definitely did right with J is with food.  She eats everything.  She's willing to try new foods (well, most of the time) and she typically just eats whatever we're eating. Case in point: devoured liver meatballs and beef goulash during our trip to Prague.
I want to make sure I do the same thing with A.  And basically once I started foods with J, I didn't stop - every 3-4 days I tried something new and just kept going and going...

Cannot get the food in fast enough

So A started solids about a week ago and so far he has enjoyed rice cereal, bananas, and avocado. And so far so good.  My fingers are crossed for an equally good eater.  The only difference is that this time, I'm trying my hand at making my own baby food.  For those that know me, this is definitely from my "crunchier" side.  I didn't even attempt this with J, but definitely something I wanted to at least try with A.  My best friend bought us the Baby Bullet and honestly, it's super easy.  One banana gave me almost 6 jars of food and one avocado gave me about the same.  So I have plenty of food for the week with two pieces of fruit and it took me five minutes, literally. I imagine I'll have to buy some more jars as he starts eating more and I'll definitely buy some baby food from the store, just to make sure I have it on hand, but the thought of not having the additives/preservatives in his food makes me happy.
Now, anytime you feed a 4.5 month old, it's going to get messy, but throw in my happy-to-help 3 year old and it's a MESS.  But if she can teach him all her good eating habits...I'll be a happy mommy.

My "Obsessions"

C'mon...look at the cuteness!

Here's the thing about having a second baby...for us, our family feels complete.  Some people have that feeling after one kid, some not until four kids, but for us, it's two.  Our magic number is four.  We feel like things are even - we can do man-on-man defense, there's an equal ratio of adults to children, and in our family, girls vs boys is an even matchup.

That being said, I am completely obsessed with my son.  On a side note - I don't get "obsessed" with anything (or anyone for that matter) - I actually hate the word "obsessed" and think it's dumb when people use it, but for the first time, I really feel this way about another person.  This little man is just so freaking cute, there are times when I literally just can't take it! I find myself so much more patient with all things "baby".  Even those middle of the night feedings, whether they  last for 20 minutes on a good night and on a bad night...well...we all know how those nights go. I find that I'm "enjoying" his babyhood much more than I did with my big girl. There's a whole slew of reasons for this "obsession" I suppose.  First, this is and always will be my baby.  And maybe he'll be spoiled (although I hope not), but I'm the baby of my family and I think I turned out ok. Second, he's my little guy.  I feel like there's this bond between mommies and their sons.  Maybe it's because I know one day he's going to marry someone and I'm going to be the proverbial "mother-in-law" so I guess I'll take all the love he's giving me now.  Third, he doesn't talk back to me...yet.

My beautiful big girl!

 The other thing that surprised me when I had a second child was how much  more I'm enjoying her now that there's a baby to compare her to.  I mean she is so independent.  I tell her to get ready to leave and she's able to put on her clothes, socks, shoes and jacket and is at the door waiting for me!  She's able to get snacks out of her cabinet and ice cream out of the freezer, by herself.  She puts her dishes in the sink, can eat by herself...I mean the list goes on and on. She's ridiculously amazing.  Now, for the sake of transparency, she is far from the perfect toddler.  She puts up a fight for lots of things that I think are ridiculous, and has definitely been dragged out of the park kicking and screaming (literally) but I still appreciate all that she can and does do.

For the first time since becoming a parent 3+ years ago, I feel like I am really, truly enjoying both of them for all that they can do and all the potential that they both have.

Our circus!

So I haven't blogged in months and well...a lot has happened to us since my last post...namely a baby boy! With that being said, the thought of keeping up with a blog and two kids is just that, a thought.
But I love the written history I have of my big girl's babyhood through this blog and so with mother guilt setting in (I have tons of posts about that) I'm going to at least attempt to write down some of our new life as a circus (complete with three rings)

I have a bunch of friends who are expecting their second kid and some of them have (very kindly) complimented me on my ability to keep it together and enjoy both of my kids. Here's my secret: I certainly do not have it together and we have days where we're damn near ripping at the seams, but yes I do enjoy them both. But here's the thing hubby and I went into baby #2 with eyes wide open - we knew this was going to be hard and days feel near impossible so we made decisions to help us. Some may not agree with the decisions but it's what has (so far) been best for our family.

1. I am currently staying at home with the baby for the foreseeable future. That being said my big girl is still and will continue to be in full day daycare. This is best for everyone involved. I was not going to mess with her life by making her stay home with mommy and an infant because that would suck for her. And let's face it, it would suck for me to be home all day with both kids too. So baby gets my full attention from morning until around 4 when big sis comes home and then he's a typical second child who needs to figure things out. But we're all happier for it.

2. I am formula feeding my son. Anyone who has read this blog before knows that breast feeding was awful for me. Did not make myself go through it again. I am a better mother for it.

3. We hired a baby nurse. Mike and I slept through the night for the first ten days that we had baby home. Amazing. Best money we ever spent. And we got to help our big girl transition to this new life. We even got to take her to a birthday party and a movie while the baby nurse watched the baby (see #2)

They're so stinkin' cute!

4. I have not missed a book club, Mike has not missed a business trip, we did not miss our anniversary dinner or our friend's birthday dinner and we are not missing my brother in law's wedding in Europe. We have tried to maintain some semblance of our 'normal' life and baby is just stuck going on this ride.

People say going from one kid to two kids is harder than going from zero kids to one kid. I say these people don't have any kids. Two kids is f***ing hard but then there are those days when my big girl goes over to the baby and says "I love you sooo much" and well...it's all worth it.

The First Birthday Party

As I'm sure many parents do, Mike and I struggled with how to celebrate Jenna's first birthday.  As someone who hates my own birthday, I obviously wanted to make it special without going to crazy (and believe me, in NY it's very easy to go crazy over a first birthday). So after much hemming and hawing and phone calls and internet searches, we realized that the best place for Jenna to celebrate her birthday would be in her own home around people that she loved.  We had been to too many restaurant parties, where it seems more for the adults than the baby and watched as the kid was crying from  the combination of over-tiredness, no nap and over stimulation before the cake was even served. 

Since we didn't go with the restaurant-thing, we were able to spend some extra money on some frivilous items...personalized M and Ms with her picture on them, personalized Hershey bar candy wrappers, and personalized maracas for the kids. We got great food, appetizers, cake, and cookies from our local Stop and Shop. With some cute birthday banners and plates, the place looked like it was ready for a party.

The Saturday of her birthday we had our family (about 20 people) come over for the afternoon (ensuring that Jenna would get her morning nap and ideally a late afternoon nap after everyone left) for lunch and cake.  And honestly, it was so special.  Jenna was surrounded by the people who are most important in her life and I can say that she loved every minute.  She walked around (or rather followed her big cousin) and went from arm to arm.  Mike and I barely saw her and we definitely didn't hear her, except when she was giggling. 

After everyone went home and we got to talking about the day and we agreed that it was the best way to celebrate our daughter's first birthday...surrounded by our family. And most importantly, I think we made the decision that as much as we wanted to celebrate - this party was a party fit for a one year old where she could have a good time too!

Letter to Jenna

Been without a computer for almost two weeks and during that time Jenna turned the big O-N-E, we had two little birthday parties for her, and I came to the realization that I'm no longer the mommy to  baby, but a toddler now.

We started a family tradition with J's first birthday...Mike and I are going to write her a letter every year on her birthday summarizing the year and all the ups and downs.  Although it'll be many years before Jenna will even be able to read it, I think it's something that she'll cherish when she's an adult looking back.

Well this letter was harder than I thought it would be - how can I possibly summarize or even put into words the amazing crazy chaotic and wonderful-ness that this past year has been for us as a family.  I mean, do I go into some of the dirty details of first year parenting...like do I really want to tell my daughter how I cried for 6 weeks when she was first born?? Do I go into details about how hard the sleepless nights really were? Or how she fell from our bed when she was 2 weeks old because I was so exhausted and forgot she was sleeping on me?  And how can I possibly explain how my heart fills with happiness when I look at her dancing in front of the mirror in her room? Or how unexplicably proud I am of her everyday (even on the tough days)?

So my little letter quickly became a little book because after all this thinking about what I want to tell my daughter, I realized that I would've loved if my mom had written me a letter about my first year of life and how they managed and felt.  So the letter is written (not typed because one day she may want to see my actual handwriting) and tucked away until next year when she turns 2 and we set out again to tell her all about her year. 

I'm looking forward to rereading this year's letter on March 22, 2011 and seeing just how far we've come from one to two....