Life with Two

We almost have a two month old gracing our presence.  That is a little bit hard for me to take.  I don't really know why it seems like Rocky is changing so much faster than Rusty did.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that we have done this before, so everything doesn't seem so hard.  Maybe it is the fact that Rocky is perhaps one of the most chill babies on the planet, therefore making us sometimes forget that "oh yeah, Rocky is asleep in his crib!"  Or it could be due to the fact that Kev is still working full time, I'm working part time, we have a 2 1/2 year old and life is just busy!  I think that might be it, but last week when Rocky turned 7 weeks old I almost started crying, seriously!  I thought, HOW can we already be almost two months into this??

On the other hand, it seems like Rocky has just always been in our lives.  I look at him and I am simply amazed at how much I ADORE this child!  I figured that I would, but you just don't know...you don't know what your heart will do until that little one arrives and forces it to expand.  I am crazy for this baby.  I mean, look at him!  Wouldn't you be crazy for him too?

Rocky is proving to be Mr. Super Chill...so far.  Like I said earlier, I have been through this before so I know how this kid stuff works.  Just when you think you have it all figured out, it changes!  So far, however, Rocky:

• Smiles...almost constantly.  He started smiling around 2 weeks-I'm not lying!  And they WERE NOT GAS SMILES-and hasn't stopped since!  If he is fed and dry, he is smiling.  He totally cracks me up, because I will be sitting in the chair holding him and watching TV or something and I glance down and there he is, looking up at me, smiling away.  If he just catches a slight twinkle in my eye the twinkle appears in his!  You can totally see his smile in his eyes.  Sometimes he has his little soother in his mouth and you can't see it at all, but you can still tell he is smiling because of his eyes!
• Is a GREAT eater!  This kid can pack it away!  He has recently started taking about 7 ounces of milk in a bottle the hour before bed, which I think has led to better sleep!  I am all for it.  Kev can give him the bottle while I pump, or sometimes I give him the bottle, regardless, it has led to him sleeping 7 hour stretches.  Every night I think it will be the night that he wakes up a million times, but I wouldn't complain...he's too cute for that!
• Likes to sleep.  We are hoping this is one trait that will definitely last.  Rusty sleeps, but it took him a long time to have an even schedule.  I remember wondering what I was doing wrong before finally just accepting that Rusty needed a bit longer than some other kids to get into a schedule.  I LOATHED it when people asked that question, "So, is he sleeping through the night?"  I honestly believe it is one of the worst questions you can ask a mother.  I am quite sure when you do she is WISHING that her child would sleep through the night and if her child isn't, she is wondering, constantly, what she is doing wrong.  When she sees the posts on facebook of her friends' babies sleeping through and hers is not, she thinks, I must be a bad mother.  So, give moms a break, don't ask them if their baby is sleeping through the night.  For the record, Rusty started truly sleeping through when he was about 1, yep, 1.  We were fine with it.  He continues to be a good sleeper now, and although he occasionally wakes up in the night, who doesn't?  I RARELY sleep all the way through!  On a side note, Rocky loves to sleep.  He so far seems to enjoy his crib and sleep in general.  Again, he is just two months old, so that could EASILY change, but for now we are going to simply enjoy it!  (I will not, however, post on facebook when he sleeps through the night.)

Some of my favorite things about life with two are:

• Double the kisses, double the hugs.  We smother poor Rocky with kisses the same way we did and continue to do with Rusty.  We are hoping that will mean that he will be like his big brother, and love to give and receive hugs.  Kev claims that my loving character with Rusty is why he is the way he is...I guess we will see!  I am happy to experiment.  My favorite spot to kiss on Rocky is the same as it was with his big brother...his cute little chin!
• The joyful weekends.  We snuggle in bed, we go for adventures, we hit up the grocery store, we attend church.  It doesn't seem to matter what we do...those weekends are fully of joy and so much fun.  We love being our little family of four and having another carseat in the back just makes life seem more complete!  
• The best of all is the brother love going on.  Rusty is over the moon for his little brother and must say at least three times a day how much he loves his brother.  Yesterday I was holding both Rocky and Rusty on my lap in the rocking chair and Rusty leaned over, hugged Rocky tight, and said, "I just love him SOOO much!"  It was so adorable.  He is always hugging his little brother, and wanting to include Rocky in what he is doing.  We play this alphabet game with Rusty most nights where he can look at the ABCs and pick out the one that we say to him and he loves it.  Lately, however, he wants Rocky to get in on the action.  We always have to tell Rocky a letter he should find too and then "help" him to find it.  They are so cute together and I can't wait to see their relationship develop as they grow older.  If Rusty is nearby, Rocky is usually smiling!

Love, Love, Love

I am sorry, I couldn't help but add this adorable picture...how CUTE is this kid!?

One of Rusty's Super Hugs for his Brother

We love life with two.  Contrary to what we thought, it really hasn't been much more difficult.  They have fun together, and we have fun with both of them.  Rocky helps things, by being super chill and easy to deal with.  We mostly just feel incredibly blessed to have these two sweet, adorable boys hanging out with us.