Happy Birthday Sam!

Well I think it will be a tradition on Sam's birthday to do something a little foolish and out of character. Julian and I are generally very rational and follow the rules. Having a baby in the car was not at all something I thought we would do. Fortunately for all of you, our mishap for this year was caught on film. When Sam is 30 he will surely wonder how he survived his childhood....

FYI, Sam recovered very quickly and there was no permanent damage...

Video by Ruth Dayhoff....Mom's, embarrassing their kids since the beginning of time....

New bike!

We got Josh a new bike last weekend. We had planned to check him for size at a store and then order a cheap one online. The common sizes are 12" and 16", and we thought maybe he was too big for 12". We started at REI, and they had one style kids 12" bike. Josh had a horrible time trying to ride the bike. He is great with a tricycle, so we were surprised he was having so much trouble. We decided to go to performance bike to see what they had. Josh immediately wanted to try a cute little pink and purple 12" bike, and was riding it all over the store. It was night and day. The handlebars and pedals on this bike were in a better spot for Josh. We had him test a 16" bike as well, but it was too big. After seeing him struggle at REI, we were concerned about buying a cheaper bike that he couldn't test out. We suggested that he test one of the other colors (red/yellow or pale blue/yellow), which he agreed to. He spent 30 seconds on the red and yellow bike before racing back to the pink bike because it was his, "very favorite." We couldn't say no to that, so Josh is now the proud owner of a brand new bike! We hope Sam likes pink/purple by the time he gets the bike ;-)

Awkward REI bike

Gotta make sure there is air in the tires!

Loving his new bike!

40 weeks

I saw someone else post when their child hit 40 weeks, and loved the idea. I'm very behind in doing Sam's 40 week post, but better late than never. I wrote a similar post for Josh [link] and reflected on my thoughts from pregnancy through Josh's first 40 weeks, and I wanted to do the same for Sam.

Babies grow from a ball of cells to a living, breathing, moving baby in 40 weeks of pregnancy. In their first 40 weeks on the outside, babies must learn to eat, sleep, roll, crawl and experience the world. 40 weeks for Sam was the end of January, and he was just past 9 months old. He is a very physical baby, crawling and pulling up as often as possible. He loves being held and looking around. He is such a happy easy going baby, and very playful. Josh's personality has pretty much stayed the same from the get-go, but it has been great to see how it manifests as he gets older. I'm excited to see how Sam is as a toddler, considering how easy going he is as a baby.

I think one of my big fears this time around was how would I love another baby as much as I love Josh, and how would being a parent the second time be as exciting as it was the first time. Man I was totally wrong on both fronts. I sort of knew that it was common to wonder how you would be able to have space in your heart for two kids, and the practical side of me knew that I would have no problems. I fell completely in love with Sam from the get-go, and now can't picture our family without him. I also have been just as excited by the little tiny milestones this time as I was with Josh. Sam and Josh are so different, so while each milestone is similar, they both approach them differently. Plus you sort of start all over, and forget some of the milestones, so they are just as exciting :-P

Pregnancy was overall much harder the second time for me, particularly with all the illness and injury. I had really hoped that recovery from delivery would be quicker, and that I would lose the weight quicker. Sadly I was wrong. I re-injured my tailbone during delivery, darn 9+lb baby, and it is only just starting to finally feel better. It still hurts if I sit the wrong way too long, or on a particularly hard chair for too long. I'm also still struggling to lose the baby weight. I gained less weight this pregnancy (and more of the weight was Sam!) so I thought it would come off faster. By the time Josh was 9 months I was almost 10lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, which is certainly not the case since having Sam. While I have been exercising, I have intentionally not watched what I'm eating while breastfeeding. Hopefully the weight will keep coming off slowly, otherwise I will wait until I'm done breastfeeding to get serious about it.

Overall, I have LOVED being a second time Mom. The first time was really hard for me, I had a really hard time adjusting my expectations and Josh was not an easy baby. This time I have so much more confidence, and I have been able to let go of things that would have bothered me with Josh. A friend who also just had their second said that the second time around you know that if you manage to shower and keep the kid alive, it has been a good day. I completely agree with that! I no longer have an unrealistic expectations of all the things I can get done, and I'm happy to just "be" with Sam. I really enjoyed my maternity leave with Sam, and I've been enjoying working 3 days a week and having a little extra time with him. It is rare to get so much one on one time with your second child, and I feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity :-)  I also think because I get extra time with Sam during the week, I don't feel guilty prioritizing Josh on the weekends.

In the past 40 weeks I have also changed a lot, I've learned to face challenges and be creative in ways to care for two kids. I'm not totally sure I understand why, but I feel like a better Mom to two kids, than I was to one kid. I still loose my cool sometimes, or have a bad parenting day. I've been struggling to make time for some of my favorite hobbies, and to make time to see friends. For now I'm ok overall with the way things are, and I'm sure that I will start adding things back to my schedule at some point.

I'm not ready to admit that Sam is almost one, I want him to stay my baby forever :-)

Almost 40 weeks on the inside!

40 Weeks on the outside!

40 weeks on the outside!