Life with Two

Now that things have settled down at home I'm able to get back to blogging! Life has been an adjustment, but it's not really that bad.

Eleanor is super cute and growing like a weed. She was a little colicky at first, but she's mostly over that now. Luckily, she sleeps for very long stretches at night already; usually almost 6 hours at a time! Too bad it takes her forever to get to sleep, she's so fussy at night. But we love her just the same! Eleanor is our cute, chubby little girl and we can't get enough of her!

Jude is still as funny as ever. He is now obsessed with Thomas the train! All day long, everything we do is "choo choo." He also loves to get his picture taken, as long as he can look at it right away. Unfortunately, Jude has figured out there are games on my phone (totally my fault) and now he steals it at every chance he gets. One night I got up to feed Ellie and found him laying on the couch, playing games on my iphone! He's starting to put a few words together, but overall his vocabulary is pretty limited. He prefers to use little signs that I somehow usually understand.

People keep asking me the same two questions: "how are you adjusting?" and "how is Jude doing with the new baby?"

We are adjusting just fine. Like with Jude, I feel like Eleanor was always apart of our family and it doesn't really feel like a struggle to include her. Sometimes I feel so comfortable with her just being there that I forget she's only 6 weeks and try to do too much. Breastfeeding was hard and painful at first, but Eleanor took to it much, much better than Jude, and once we got it figured out, things have been going well. I think that was the hardest part of the transition. But now I'm becoming a pro at nursing on the go--on a train, an airplane, in a pumpkin patch, a grocery store...
The biggest problem so far is just logistics of taking two babies somewhere. I am not the type of mom who likes to just sit around the house, and Jude gets super crazy if he's cooped up all day, so we take lots of trips out. We don't have a double stroller yet and I've made the mistake several times of letting Jude walk by himself, which usually ends in disaster. Once we get that sorted out going places should be much easier. I'm also noticing just how much longer it takes to get out of the house with two kids. Someone always spits up or has a dirty diaper right as we're going out the door!
 I don't want to sound like everything is so perfect and I've got it all figured out, because I clearly do NOT and things are definitely hectic. But overall, it's really not too bad.

Jude's adjustment has been interesting. Overall, he's been really good. At first he didn't really pay attention to Ellie. A lot of round the clock feedings meant Jude had to be entertained without my help so we watched a LOT of tv. (I know most of Thomas the Train and Up by heart. I quote Despicable Me while we watch. Yeah, a lot of screen time...) But as we started to settle into more of a routine Jude began to take more notice of her. I think he realized she wasn't going anywhere. He started to throw more fits, usually when I was feeding Eleanor by trying to climb on me. He also figured out that I couldn't move during feedings so he started doing some sneaky things, like hiding in the kitchen and licking an entire pack of Tums. He's moving out of that phase now, thankfully.
 These past two weeks, however, Jude has become quite a handful. I think it's a mixture of being 2 (he had his birthday! More on that later) and adjusting to his sister. He throws a lot more tantrums and shakes his head "no" at everything. Oh, and he enjoys doing exactly what I tell him not to do, like sitting ON his sister in her carseat. So basically, he's two.

BUT, overall Jude has been a trooper. It's so cute to watch him interact with Eleanor. He loves to run up to her in her swing and say "HI. HI. HI." He loves to give her kisses on the head, which for Jude means more of a lick. He likes to sit down and hold her. He likes to help me burp her by patting her back. He shares his toys with her by driving his trains around her on the ground. He even tries to share his snacks with her. One of the funniest things is when I put Eleanor on her blanket for tummy time; Jude immediately runs to get his blanket and copies everything she does. My favorite is when he calls her "sester." Jude is a good big brother and I know they will be best friends...eventually.