two months.

hunter is two months old today. where has the time gone? our little buddy has changed a lot in the last month! he's getting bigger and starting to really engage with eye contact and more and more coy smiles and sweet coos.

hunter had a few trips to the cabin this month and his first boat ride.

hunter is definitely a mama's boy and still hasn't quite warmed up to joe. he calms down quick for mama and is happiest in my arms. i remind joe not to take it personally and that there are sure to be many years when he will only want to play and wrestle with dada so i'm enjoying my time while i have it :)

sleep has honestly been a DREAM. hunter, like bennett, has been in his crib since we brought him home. starting at about four and a half weeks he started sleeping through the night! we put him down between 10-11pm and sleeps until about 5am (or later), eats, then goes back down until about 7:30-8am (or later).

starting around six weeks we started puting him down at night drowsy but awake. we swaddle him, give him his paci and put him in the crib. we typically have to go back in his room once or twice to pop his paci back in and soothe him by patting his tummy or rubbing his head and "shushing." then he's down for the count. and so are joe and i.

hunter sleeps on and off throughout the day and i do one "intentional" nap in the afternoon. bennett goes down for a nap around 1pm. then i feed hunter, swaddle him and then put him on the boppy lounger (a MUST HAVE, by the way) by me, where he sleeps typically 1:30pm-4pm or so.

it is so nice to have the boys napping at about the same time during the afternoon. we probably need to move the nap from the boppy lounger to his crib sooner than later, but we will get to that.

hunter is eating about every two hours during the day, minus the one longer stretch during his afternoon nap. if we are out and about in the morning he tends to go a little longer because he is lulled to sleep in the car or stroller. otherwise he's like clockwork, wanting to eat at two hours on the dot after his last feeding. i don't mind a bit since he's sleeping so well at night!

bennett still loves and dotes on hunter and i just love seeing them together.

high fives :)

life is so good as a family of four and hunter is the perfect addition to our lives! we love him so much!

you're gonna miss this.

i have this tendency to always be looking to the next thing, and it's never been more evident than in my parenting. thoughts of "i can't wait until..." seem to fill my mind. until... he sleeps though the night. he can communicate. he can put on his own shoes (like he so desperately wants to). he's potty trained.

all those stages and milestones are great, but i find that i'm too often wishing away the present. it's the same way with other parts of my life, where i think things will just be better when... i lose weight. we have a bigger house. i'm a stay-at-home mom. you know what, though? life always has challenges. each stage of parenting has it's ups and downs. and as much as i get frustrated and discouraged by the challenges of having a toddler and a newborn, i know that i will miss it someday. (well maybe not the middle-of-the-parking-lot i-won't-hold-your-hand-and-will-flop-around-like-a-fish-on-the-pavement-kicking-and-screaming stuff, but you get my point.)

i want to try to enjoy each day with my boys and focus on the positive moments (and there really are a lot!) rather than letting the meltdowns and battles ruin the joy of being a mom. i have to let go of letting my children's daily behaviors be the gauge of my success or failure as a parent. i have to let go of worrying about what other people are thinking when my child is crying and arching to avoid getting in the cart at target (which to bennett may as well be a torture chamber). they are loved like crazy and that's what matters most.

being a mom is the hardest, scariest, most frustrating, best, most joy-giving thing i have ever done. and i'm going to do my best to enjoy each day and not wish a bit of it away.

"you're gonna miss this. you're gonna want this back. you're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast. these are some good times so take a good look around. you may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this." -trace adkins, "you're gonna miss this"

the terrible twos.

the terrible twos are no joke. also it's more like the terrible almost-twos at our house. the last week or so has been a real challenge with bennett. he is starting to assert his independence more and more and it's causing major meltdowns when he simply can't do what he wants. the primary triggers are getting in the car seat and/or stroller and having to hold my hand while walking. he goes limp, drops to the ground, screams, hits, etc. it's extremely frustrating and he has been testing my patience every day. (by the way, i'm miserably failing that test.) i feel like every fun outing turns into a battle and leaves both bennett and me in tears and exhausted.

while i know that this is normal and age-appropriate, i definitely feel defeated and don't like that i have started to almost dread doing fun things with bennett because i'm anticipating the meltdowns. the sad part is that the fits are such a small fraction of the time but the intensity makes it feel like the whole day was a bust. that's where i need to work on maintaining perspective. it's not helpful or fair to throw the baby out with the bath water. i'm thinking joe and i would benefit from reading a book on parenting/discipline so that we have a framework that we can go off of when bennett acts up. for the most part we are on the same page and are consistent but any new suggestions on how to handle discipline couldn't hurt! any book suggestions? i have heard good things about parenting with love and logic...

thank the Lord (seriously) that hunter is such an easy baby and sleeps like a champ. last night he slept 10 til 6:30! not bad for 6 weeks old, huh? 

i truly think God knows i need to be rested to manage bennett without completely losing my mind.

lucky for him he's so cute...

one month.

this post is a little late, but with two kids it's not as easy to keep on top of the monthly updates! poor second children...

hunter is one month old (actually almost 6 weeks but whatever)! honestly he has been a piece of cake so far... knock on wood. i'm not sure if he's an easier baby than i remember bennett being or if i'm just more laid back this time around. probably a little of both. for the most part he only cries when he is hungry. he gets a little fussy in the evenings, but nothing a little swaddling and extra nursing can't handle.

hunter is growing like a weed and is much chubbier (and we both think maybe a little cuter- but probably shouldn't say that) than bennett was at his age. in fact, we affectionately call him "chub chub." that probably can't continue too long or he may have issues!

nursing has been a breeze now that he has gotten more efficient. at first it was taking him an hour or longer each feeding, but now it's about 15 minutes. he's taken bottles pretty easily too, which has helped me have a much needed break. hunter isn't as easy for joe to soothe yet so i know those couple times he's flown solo with the boys so far haven't been super easy for him. thankfully he is patient and more than encouraging of me getting out for breaks. we remember him struggling through his first solo nights with bennett too, but both think hunter is a little more of a mama's boy. can't say i mind ;)

sleep is going sooo well (again, knock on wood). hunter has started consistently sleeping for a 5 hour or longer stretch at night, usually about 10:30-4:30ish. two nights ago it was 11-6! heaven. then he goes down again after eating for about 2 more hours or so. as with bennett, hunter has been in his crib at night since we brought him home and he's done great. i'm all about skipping unnecessary transitions! we do swaddle him at night but then in the morning he seems to like sleeping on my bed unswaddled for a while while i drink coffee and watch good morning america :)

he seems to like his paci, too :) at first i hesitated to give him one too much because i didn't want him to have the same dependence on it that bennett did. then i realized it's a good tool to help him self-soothe and that in the grand scheme, breaking the paci habit wasn't all that bad with bennett so we can do it again. the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in my opinion!

we are so thankful for hunter and what he adds to out little family!