The Truth About Two

I'll admit it, the process of having a second baby was a much more stressful, and in ways less enjoyable than the first. When we became pregnant with Emily, it was almost pure joy. Sure, I worried about the baby. Would she come out normal? Would I be a good mom? How would I handle being a parent and working outside the home? But for the most part, the worries were few, and the happiness was plentiful. When we decided to have a second, there were many more worries. We were having such a good time with Emily, how would another child affect her? Would she be jealous? Hate the new baby? Could we POSSIBLY love another baby as much as we loved Emily? How could we? My heart would almost burst with love whenever I looked at her. This miracle of such intense, pure love could not feasibly happen twice. Not only that, we were having a boy. A BOY. What on earth would I do with a BOY? I always pictured myself having all girls. With Adam, there were a whole new set of worries to consider, and I fretted much more than I had with Em. I will even admit this...when I was leaving for work the morning of Adam's birth, I actually burst into tears. I wasn't ready for another baby yet! I wanted more time to enjoy my sweet Emily, have her all to myself, and not have to share myself with another child. I actually thought, "Oh no! What have we done!"

Then, approximately eight hours later, my baby boy came into the world, and I had an experience I did not have straight away when Emily was born. I fell instantly in love. With Emily, the whole experience of having a newborn was wonderful, but also the most stressful thing I had ever experienced, and it took a little while for the really intense love to blossom. With Adam, it was literally love at first sight. I couldn't believe it. I really COULD love another child as much as I loved Emily. Everyone told me that no matter how wonderful your first child was, you would love the second (and third, and fourth...) just as much, although maybe differently. It took the actual birth of my second child for me to really see how this could be true. We have had our challenges of course. Adam is not the same baby that Emily was, and it takes a while to learn all about the new one, their personality, their likes and dislikes, and how to fit them into the family. In some ways, I feel a little bad for Adam in that he does not get near the same one-on-one attention that Emily received as a newborn. How could he, we already have a two year old running around to care for! However, he does have the experience of an extremely entertaining big sister to watch, which he does almost constantly, and really seems to enjoy her. For Emily's part, she loves to "mother" baby Adam, and is always bringing him toys, blankets, pacifiers (even though he hates them!), and insisting on particularities of his care ("Hey momma, pick baby Adam up!", "Hey momma, I think baby Adam needs a new diaper!", "Hey momma, bring baby Adam a blanket!"). They study each other with such intensity. Amazingly, they already seem to love each other. Just as amazingly, my capacity to love seems to grow as my family does. And that's the truth about having two.

Sydney the Wonderdog

This week, Sydney had a brush with death. She went into an unexplained seizure episode in the middle of the night last weekend, and she seized for over an hour. After a 30 hour stay at the emergency vet, followed by a full day of observation at our own vet, she came home to recuperate. I have learned two important things from this whole episode.

1. Pets are really, really good friends, and part of the family.

2. Their absence is felt so much more than their presence.

I had dropped her off at family's home for the week, as we were preparing to leave for a camping trip. I stopped to pick up a carry-out on the way home, and as I was trekking back and forth from the kitchen to the living room with the plates and food, I was unconsciously looking around for Sydney. She is almost ALWAYS underfoot, and if you're not careful, you'll step on her 50 times a day. I actually had the conscious thought "Oh, that's right, Sydney isn't here. Gee, I miss her already." Then, when I got that phone call at 4:00 am and I was standing over my beloved friend, begging her to wake up and really thinking that she was not going to, I had the follow-up thought: "Oh my god, I'm going to be missing her like that every day". And it made me realize what an important and yet sometimes invisible part she plays in our lives. I can't describe the joy and relief that I felt when she finally opened her eyes and lifted her head off the table. I thought, "I'm going to make sure Sydney knows how much we love her, every day". And then I realized, I should let EVERYONE I love know how much I love them every day. There are so many people who would leave a tangible hole in my life if they were suddenly gone, but I don't very often really stop to think about it. This is the lesson that my good friend Sydney taught me this week. So thank you, Sydney. And to everyone who cares enough about me to be reading this post, I love you too. And I would miss you terribly if you were gone.

Emmy the Explorer

Lately Emily has become obsessed with all things Dora. Our typical day starts something like this...

Me: (opening Emmy's door in the morning) "Good Morning Emmy!"

Emily: (rolling over and leaping up) "Hey Momma...I'm awake!"

Me: (scooping her up) "Yes, I can see that...come see me!"

Emily: "I want to watch Dora!"

From here we proceed into the living room where I set Emmy up with breakfast and put on a Dora episode. Generally, she becomes so entranced with Dora that she forgets to eat, and doesn't even acknowledge my prompts to get her to eat until I pause the Dora, when she immediately looks at me and states "more Dora". We repeat this cycle several times until she has eaten all of her breakfast or it has gotten so late that it is time for mid-morning snack. Emily is so enthralled with Dora that she has been known to go about spouting "Dora-isms" frequently...here are a few of the latest:

Down at the park throwing rocks in the water: "I'm gonna need YOUR help!"

In the bathtub: "I want to be a starcatcher! Reach up and catch them, catch them!"

Swinging on the swings: "Buckle up so I can be safe!"

Getting dressed on her changing table: "I wanna go to Play Park!"

And, my personal favorite: "Oh Man!"

During our second episode of Dora the other morning, Emily expressed her wish for a backpack like Dora. How could I resist, right? I managed to find one small enough for her this afternoon, and Emily was thrilled with her new gift...taking it off, putting it on, putting things in it, how great is that! If only she will always be this easily amused.

First Day of School

Last week I sent my second baby off to their first day of school. I have to say, this time went much more smoothly than the first time around. Emily was in the throes of some freakishly-early separation anxiety when she started school, and I was so afraid that she would cry when we left her there or be traumatized in some way. Turned out she loved it. Adam is such a laid-back little dude that I wasn't worried about him at all, and he seems to be getting along just fine. Emily has graduated to the "Big-girl Room" (i.e. Toddler Room) next door to her old room, and she gets to visit Adam in the "Baby Room" daily. Now comes the real mommy challenge for me...exactly how to get not one, but TWO kids dressed, fed, out the door and to school in time to start my day when I head back to work next week!

So This Is Why

Amidst my postpartum hormone crash, random nightwakings from our almost three-month old son, eating issues, gas issues, nighttime crying spells and refusal to be put down after falling asleep, I have started to wonder "Why on God's Green Earth did we decide to do this baby thing AGAIN?!?" I really think that some sort of amnesia falls over parents after their children become a little older, more manageable, more interactive, and more fun, and it makes you somehow forget all of the really miserable things about caring for a baby. This in turn leads you to think..."hey, the kid we have is fun...why not do it again?". And so we did. And here we are.
*Sigh*.
So, where were we. Ah yes, "why did we do this again?". The answer came to me this week in the form of my dear Emily. As I was having one of my crazy moments that I wasn't sure just how I was going to make it through the day, my darling daughter came up to me (out of the blue), put her little arms around me, put her little hands on either side of my face, looked into my eyes and said "I love you mama". Tears sprang to my eyes. I hugged her back, thanked God for my two beautiful children, whispered "I love you too, Emily", and recognized that THIS is exactly why I would do it all over again.

The Word of the Day

I swear it seems like Emily is coming at us with new words and phrases every day. Being a first time mom to a toddler, I didn't realize what little sponges they are, picking up everything and spitting it back at you when you least expect it. We have learned this lesson the hard way when Emily repeats less-than-choice phrases when we have forgotten to watch our language around her. I'm finding that she is learning so many new things that I can't even keep up with her, I don't even know how much she knows. Today, for instance, she was putting some costume jewelery in a little purse, narrating her actions as she did them; "Emmy puts her necklaces and her rings in her purse for safekeeping.". SAFEKEEPING??? Seriously, did she just say SAFEKEEPING??? Where on God's Green Earth did she learn that one? It seems that she says at least one or two things a day that procure that reaction from me. Emily's word of the day never fails to raise the question of the day...what on earth will she come up with next?

Whoo-Hoo She's Two! ...and Adam's first smiles

I can't believe it, but somehow my baby turned two years old this month. And such a milestone called for not one, but two birthday parties! Emily thrououghly enjoyed every minute of both of them, and the best part about two parties was (of course) two cakes! She was so enamored of her birthday cake that I went into her room to get her the next morning and the first words out of her mouth were "birthday cake!". She insisted that she be allowed to have some for breakfast (AFTER she finished her cereal), and she demanded that I sing Happy Birthday to her first, reciting her newly learned Birthday rule:"Emmy not eat the candles". How could I resist :)

Books are always a favorite, especially the pop up kind!


Glasses and jewlery from Aunt Gina were a big hit.


Cake....YUMMY!!


Now that's a big one!


Much better than drawing on the walls...thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

In other news, Baby Adam has been growing by leaps and bounds, and has even started smiling and "talking" to us. Six weeks at home alone with a newborn baby and the stinker decides to flash his first smiles (awake smiles, that is) while his mom was at a 12 hour crop. Luckily, my mom thought fast and was able to catch them on camera for me. Thanks Mom!

He's Here!

After nine (ten!) months of preparation and anticipation, our little boy Adam Michael Herron arrived on March 14th. Labor and delivery went smoothly again (thankfully!), and we got to meet our baby boy a scant 50 minutes after arriving at the hospital. He weighed in at 7lbs, 5oz at birth, and measured 19.5 inches long.

Now four weeks old, Adam is growing seemingly right before our very eyes. He eats (and eats, and eats...) like a champ, and he weighed over 9lbs at our Dr.'s appointment last week! Big sister Emily is taking nicely to her new role as older sibling, and wants to hold and help feed and burp baby Adam, and even insisted that he be included in a family walk we took the other day ("Bring baby Adam too!" she exclaimed). Now that the excitement of the birth and the newness of the baby is wearing off a bit, we are all settling into being a family of four. It's amazing how fast they change and grow, and even more amazing how quickly you forget all that is involved in caring for a newborn! However, baby Adam is taking it fairly easy on us. He is generally only up once or twice a night to eat, and usually settles back into sleep upon finishing his meal. So far, he seems pretty laid back, and we're hoping that he has more than a little of Emily's temperment in him! Now, if I can only be as laid back as he is trying to manage being mommy of two! I've had a lot of help so far, Greg was able to take two weeks of paternity leave, and my mom and sister have been here quite a bit helping out with the kids so we've been able to ease into things slowly. So far, so good!

"Baby Boy...Come Out!"

I've been wondering exactly how much of this "new baby on the way" thing Emily has been picking up on. I had actually been thinking that she was not really aware that something is brewing, but I decided to test this theory out in the last few weeks, and our interaction went something like this -

Me: "Hey Emily, what's this?" (pointing to my belly)

Emily: "Baby!"

Me: "Yes, there's a baby in there!"

Emily: (after thinking for a moment) "Baby Boy, come out! Want to see him!"

Me: (laughing hysterically) "Yes sweetie, Mommy wants to see him too!"

Emily: "Da-da too!"

So, I guess she understands a bit more than I have been giving her credit for. Reflecting on this myself, I came to realize that, oh my gosh, Baby Boy IS going to come out, and in the not-so-distant future. This Lightbulb Moment has spurred several bouts of nesting in the Herron household...a portion of the basement has been cleaned, the former "guest room" has been cleared of nearly five years worth of crap to make way for Emily's new room, and this said room has been painted and is awaiting the application of wallpaper border so its new tenant can move in. Emily herself got to apply the first brush-strokes of "geen" (green!) paint to the walls of her "cool new room", and after the assembly of her "cool new bed" today, she is anxiously awaiting the time she can start playing and sleeping in there. So..."Baby Boy, Come Out!" (...but not for another six weeks or so, please!)