Mobile!

This little guy....

.... is officially CRAWLING! And life just got a whole lot more interesting!

Jude has been thinking about and wanting to crawl for a while now, but he became really and truly mobile while we were at the beach. One day he just crawled right across the floor, and he hasn't slowed down since. I knew life with two mobile children would be a little more complicated than life with just one mobile child, and I honestly wasn't in a big hurry for Jude to become mobile ;) However, he looks so happy and proud of himself when he crawls across the room and gets from Point A to Point B that of course I'm excited for him and SO proud!

The one thing that I can already tell is going to be an issue is making sure that there are no choking hazards on the floor. This wasn't so complicated when Aubrey was first learning to crawl and then walk. I just baby-proofed the house once, and we were good to go. It's so much different with a toddler as well as a newly mobile baby, though, as I'm learning. It's not like Aubrey has a lot of toys with tiny parts that are potential choking hazards, but she does have some things with relatively small parts. Also, sometimes she puts stuff on the floor that I wouldn't even think twice about if not for Jude. Recently, she was playing with some pine cones that I have in a bowl on the coffee table. She dropped some on the floor -- no biggie. A little later, Jude found a little piece of pine cone and picked it up and put it in his mouth before I even realized what was happening. He then started to choke on it (not serious choking like his face was turning purple -- he was just coughing and gagging), and I had to fish it out of his mouth. It scared me SO BAD! Ever since then, I have been so paranoid about stuff on the floor. I don't know what we are going to do about that! I'm thinking I might just need to put ALL toys except for the huge ones away until Jude is old enough to understand not to put stuff in his mouth. I don't think Aubrey would appreciate that, though!

Thankfully, Jude is still ok with being held a lot. When he starts walking and gets to the stage where he wants to walk everywhere himself, I don't know what I'll do. I can't even imagine having two children running in opposite directions (as I'm pretty positive mine will end up doing). Once we hit that stage, I'll be the lady with her kids on leashes. And we'll definitely be getting our money's worth out of our double stroller. Haha! ;)

A Little Comparison

When I went to see Sarah Denley at the hospital last week, among other things, we talked about whether our kids look like each other. That lead me to come home and look at pictures of Aubrey from when she was about Jude's age. The first thing I noticed was that the quality of the pictures is so much worse. It made me wish that we had invested in a nicer camera sooner. Oh well -- no point in being too sad about that now. The second thing I noticed was that, while I do think that Aubrey and Jude look similar, they definitely have some differences. So, I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison (Aubrey is on the left, and Jude is on the right): Another thing that I noticed that kind of surprises me is that I think that Aubrey had more hair at this age than Jude does. People used to comment that Aubrey was "bald as a bowling ball" and we have never gotten that comment with Jude. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, but I LOVE bald babies, so I could care less whether my kids' heads remind some people of bowling balls. Haha! :) So, do you think Aubrey and Jude look alike or no?

Brother Sister Bond

While making the transition to two children, it hasn't really surprised me how much I love having two sweet little babies. I knew I would love Jude, and I knew that we would adjust to our new member of the family and barely remember a time when he wasn't part of our family. What has surprised me a little is how much they love each other. It's been such a pleasant, wonderful surprise!

Aubrey is the best big sister. She really is very helpful to me. If Jude is upset and I can't get to him right away, she can calm him down a lot of times by talking to him or giving him a toy.

When Jude is practicing his sitting up, Aubrey about has a fit for Jude to sit in her lap. She is obsessed with holding her baby brother. Jude thinks Aubrey is just the funniest thing he has ever seen. They will both just laugh hysterically at each other, and sometimes no one else has a clue why they are laughing. But they know. I used to worry about Aubrey a little bit before Jude was born. It made me kind of sad that she wouldn't have my full attention anymore, and I almost felt like I would be betraying her a little bit by loving another child so much (those feelings were on my particularly hormonal pregnancy days -- ha!). But I don't feel that way anymore. Now I feel like she has been given a precious gift in the form of a little baby brother who I'm sure will embarrass her and drive her crazy one day.

It's my prayer that Aubrey and Jude will always be close. I'm not crazy enough to think that they will always get along. (But it can't hurt to pray for that, too! ;) But I hope that they will always have a closeness and love for each other that you can only have with your siblings. It's such a sweet bond, and I'm so privileged to get to watch this little relationship develop and evolve before my eyes. So thankful to be their mother!

Life With Two: 6 Months In

Now that we are almost 6 months in (WHERE has the time gone??), I thought it was time for me to give a little update on how life with two kids is going. The short answer is that it's wonderful, and I wouldn't trade my two babies for anything in the entire world! Now for the long answer ;)

Life with two children is definitely not without it's challenges, but the transition really has been easier than I expected it to be. I still think, for me, going from no kids to one was a much more difficult transition than going from one to two. I know this is different for everyone, though, and I think a lot depends on your children's personalities. I also realize that having two kids isn't anything unusual or unique to me. Someone from church who has four kids was teasing me the other day and saying that two kids would feel like a vacation! I'm sure that's true, but two kids is the most I have ever had, so it seems like a lot and a big accomplishment to me. Ha! :)

So far, the hardest parts of having two children are:

-Trying to figure out a schedule that works for all of us!
I am still trying to get Jude on a good nap schedule. He ends up taking 2 naps a day (sometimes 3 if we are out and about in the evenings - he will usually sleep in the car for a while). It's just been hard trying to figure out the best time to get anything done between all the naps I'm trying to work around. There just doesn't seem to be any good time to get out of the house and go to the grocery store, run errands, etc. By the time we wake up, eat breakfast, and all get ready, it's time for Jude's first nap. Then it's lunchtime. Then it's time for Aubrey's nap, and, shortly after that, Jude's afternoon nap. By the time they both wake up, it's late afternoon, and the day is over. Thankfully, this hasn't been a huge problem yet, because Jude is still young enough to nap well in his carseat. A lot of times, he ends up taking his morning nap in his carseat. I think this is a large part of the reason why he has had a hard time napping in his bed. We can't stay home all day everyday, though, so we just kind of have to do the best we can. It's also really difficult to get Jude down for a nap while Aubrey is awake. Still trying to figure that one out.

-Not being able to "sleep when the baby sleeps."
I love sleep. I think I require more sleep than the average person. Haha. When Aubrey was a baby, if we had a rough night, I would just put her in the bed with me the the next morning and we would both sleep LATE. Or I could take a nice nap when she napped. That's just really not always an option when you have more than one child. It seems like Aubrey always wakes up the earliest when Jude has had the worst night. And if the thought even crosses my mind that it might be a good day for me to take a nap, I can pretty much bank on Aubrey or Jude or both not napping well. It's just almost guaranteed. There have really been days when I get up feeling like there is no way I'm going to be able to function and take care of two children as sleepy as I am. I do, though, and I've never fallen asleep and had anything crazy happen. Yet. Haha. (Jude actually sleeps worse now than he did when he was 8 weeks old!)

-Having to divide my time between the two children.
This hasn't been as hard as I was worried it would be, simply because Aubrey really adjusted to having Jude around SO easily. Some days she just is a little more clingy than usual or she's just in a funk, and I can't sit and hold her whenever she wants me to anymore. That's because she usually wants me to hold her while I'm feeding Jude. She has just had to learn that the world doesn't revolve around her, and that sometimes we can't have everything we want immediately. This is a lesson that Jude will learn probably earlier than Aubrey, because this does go both ways. Sometimes I am tending to Aubrey and Jude just has to cry for a little while. Of course, it's hard to hear either one of my babies crying, and I wish that I could do more things at once.

-Leaving the house on time.
This one is pretty much impossible for me. No matter how early I start getting us ready to be somewhere, it's always always a mad dash to get out the door, and I have to just take some deep breaths when I finally do get us all in the car. I think this may have more to do with having a nursing baby than with having two kids. Everything just kind of needs to happen at the last minute. I need to feed Jude right before we walk out the door, but I can't get him dressed until after I feed him (he spits up a lot). Because he spits up, I can't get myself dressed until after I feed him either. Then I have to load him into his seat and make sure Aubrey hasn't undressed herself or taken her shoes and socks off, and gather up all of our stuff... whew! This is why my diaper bag usually has no diapers, wipes, or spare clothes in it. Haha! Sometimes it's all I can do to get us out the door ;)

-Making comparisons.
I actually don't have a hard time not comparing Aubrey and Jude to each other. Of course I do like looking back on the blog and seeing what Aubrey was doing at Jude's age, and things like that, but I don't expect Jude to be just like Aubrey or do things at exactly the same age that she did. I do, however, compare what I did for Aubrey to what I do for Jude and how much time I spent holding her and how many pictures I take of him... stuff like that. Sometimes I feel like I have to make everything completely "fair." I have to hold him just as much as I held her, and I can't do a baby book for Jude because I didn't do one for Aubrey, and I have to do the same amount of blog posts about both of them... you get the idea. I've had to realize that I could drive myself crazy if I tried to make everything exactly the same. Aubrey and Jude are individuals, and they might have different needs at different times. They have different personalities and will probably have different interests. I just have to be the best mother that I can be to both of them and love and encourage their uniqueness. While I would NEVER want to show any favoritism (which I honestly can't imagine - how could you have a favorite child??), I won't always treat them exactly the same, and that's ok. Not only is it ok, but it's necessary, in my opinion.

Now for some of the BEST things about having two children:

-Having this much love for two children.
It really is amazing, and I didn't see how it was possible before Jude was born, but I really do love both of these children with my whole heart. I wondered before Jude was born how I would ever love another child as much as I love Aubrey, but I do. It's just that simple. I think it's such a beautiful thing that I love Aubrey more than I can express and I think she is the cutest, sweetest, most precious child on this earth. Period. AND I also love Jude more than I can express, and I think he's the cutest, sweetest, most precious child on this earth. And the fact that I love them both completely takes nothing away from my love for the other. I don't really understand how that's possible, but I know it's true :)

-Watching them interact with each other.
I know Aubrey and Jude are both still really young, but it's cute to see a sweet little relationship developing between them already. They really love each other. They just look at each other and laugh and laugh sometimes. It's the cutest thing ever. Aubrey is so sweet to Jude. The other day, he was crying, and she looked at me and said, "It makes me sad when him cries, Mommy." Melted. my. heart. It would just thrill me to pieces if they are each others best friends. There is just something so special about sibling relationships. Your siblings should just GET you.

-Feeling like a REAL FAMILY.
I know that we were already a "real family" before Jude was born. David and I were our own family from the day we got married, and we were certainly a family when it was just the three of us, too. But for me, there was just something about having multiple kids that cemented that feeling. It was like I woke up one day and realized that David and I have KIDS. Not a child, but CHILDREN. We aren't just playing house or babysitting, these are our children to raise. They have been entrusted to us. It's an amazing, wonderful thing.

-Knowing that I'm doing what I have been called to do.
This isn't necessarily something that came with having two kids, but just with having children in general. I have always wanted to be a mother, and I really feel like this is what God has called me to do. Being at home with these two kids everyday is not always easy, but I know I am fulfilling my calling, and I also realize what a privileged it is. These two little souls are my mission field right now, and I hope and pray that I point them to Christ daily.

Having children is simultaneously the hardest thing and the most amazing thing that I have ever done. Even on the hard days, there is nowhere I would rather be than right here with Aubrey and Jude! :)

Year in Review: 2010

I wanted to recap 2010 like I did last year for 2009. We really have had a great year. God has been so good to our little family. Of course the biggest blessing we received this year was an addition to our family. Growing our family is the most wonderful, joyful thing I can imagine. We also got settled into a new house, went on a trip or two, and hosted several family gatherings in our home. I'm getting ahead of myself, though :) So, without further ado, here is a summary of 2010.

January was a fun month because the cat was finally out of the bag that we were expecting another baby! We started taking weekly belly pictures of our sweet little baby. Unfortunately, we didn't do this nearly as diligently as we did with Aubrey. It really is true what they say about taking less pictures of your second child. At least it has been for us. Here is Jude's belly debut. I think I was about 12 or 13 weeks along. We also were very busy unpacking and getting settled into our new home. We did lots of work around the house right after we moved in like replacing the carpet, painting, and having the backyard fenced. I definitely did NOT enjoy living in chaos and was just so ready to feel settled. Our dining room (and most of the rest of our house) looked like this for a while:Aubrey was a cute as ever and never seemed bothered by the move or our crazy, unorganized house. She was constantly doing cute things to keep us laughing (and that definitely has not changed!). In February, our crazy dog, Knightly, started getting out of our backyard. Apparently he didn't like our new house, and he would just jump right over the fence. This went on for quite some time and caused us some stress and frustration. (We finally had to put an electric fence around the gate, and he hasn't escaped since.) We also got a big snow (for us) that month. Everything looked like a winter wonderland, and it was so beautiful!Aubrey absolutely loved playing in the snow even though we don't really have snow appropriate apparel and she was freezing. We had to make her go inside after a while to warm up, and she was not happy! This month was especially exciting because we found out our sweet baby was a boy! We hosted a gender reveal party at our house to tell our families the exciting news! Everyone was thrilled to find out a baby brother was on the way!It was nice that we had the gender reveal party because it gave us a deadline to get a lot of stuff done around the house. It was finally starting to feel like home! March was a big month for "halfs." I reached the half-way point in my pregnancy with Jude, and Aubrey turned one and a half years old! :)We took our first trip to the zoo that month, and Aubrey was good but unimpressed. Jude (who's name we still hadn't announced) was really starting to make an appearance!In April, we went to my uncle's house for a cookout, and Aubrey saw a horse for the first time. She thought the big "puppies" were pretty cool!We hosted both of our families for Easter lunch after church. That went well, and we loved being with both of our families for Easter. Here is Jude in my Easter dress ;) After much consideration, we finally decided to tell everyone what we had named our sweet little boy.

Sadly, David's grandmother passed away in April, and we traveled to Tennessee for her funeral towards the end of the month. Aubrey loved riding the elevator while at the hotel and playing in the crib. Not sleeping in the crib, just PLAYING. At the beginning of May, David and I took a trip to Seaside, Florida. This was our babymoon, and so we left Aubrey at home with my parents. We missed her, but we had SUCH a wonderful trip! It was so restful and fun, and it was great for David and me to have some one on one time. Of course, we were so excited to get home to see Aubrey, and we had a joyful reunion! Well, we were glad to see Aubrey at least. She had had a super fun time with her grandparents and didn't seem to care that we were home.Haha! We got to work painting Aubrey's "big girl room" that she would move into before Jude was born. And I had one last girls' night with Ashley and Sarah Denley before Ashley moved.
In June, David's best friend from highschool got married, and David was the best man.
David spent a TON of time painting Aubrey's new crib, and my grandmother made Jude's beautiful crib bedding. We were really starting to feel the pressure to get things done before Jude was born!We finally moved Aubrey to her new room and bed, and it was a painless transition, much to my surprise and delight. We started painting Jude's room after we moved Aubrey out, and she "helped" us paint her baby brother's room. Aubrey modeled one of my old dresses in July and looked adorable doing it. Our great friends, the Arants, came over for the Fourth of July and Aubrey loved having her boyfriend Carver over ;) I looked like I was about to POP on July 15th...... and then Jude was born on the 16th after a relatively short but painful labor.Aubrey fell in love with her baby brother the first time she laid eyes on him and cried to hold him whenever we would take him away. I was SO happy and relieved that she loved him! A couple of weeks later, David's sisters came to meet Jude and my grandparents had a 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration! That was a BUSY weekend!

Jude was finally able to have his first real bath after his cord fell off in August. He was not a fan.

He WAS a big fan of the Moby wrap, though :)Aubrey was one adorablely sweet big sister...And Jude turned one month old and started really smiling!

In September, we continued to adjust to life with 2 babies.

And our first born baby turned TWO! We had a fun little party for her, and she got tons of new loot!Aubrey also got sick that month, and David took her to the doctor in a rather interesting ensemble. Haha. Jude was growing like a weed and quite a laid back little fellow.

David celebrated his birthday in October, and Aubrey seemed to really enjoy the cake I cooked for him. Haha. David and I, along with two of my brothers, took Aubrey and Jude to the fair for the first time that month, and it was a fun family outing!Aubrey watched several football games with her daddy and really got into saying "War Eagle!" David said football season was even more fun and exciting with a little buddy to watch/cheer with :)

We attended the fall festival at our church, and I think Aubrey and Jude were the cutest little cowgirl and cow I've ever seen!

We finally got our dining room furniture in November after painting, and painting, and painting some MORE! We got it just in the nick of time since we had said from the first day we moved into our house that we wanted to host Thanksgiving and have our dining room done by then.I had a little impromptu photo shoot with Aubrey and Jude one day and realized that getting a picture with two kids and having them both looking at the camera AND smiling is pretty much beyond my skill set. Ha!And then we hosted my family for Thanksgiving. It was a great, laid-back, fun day. Aubrey was quite the little helper ;) I was so excited when December finally rolled around! It's by far my favorite month! I was thrilled to get to decorate our house for Christmas for the first time. Last year, I didn't get to decorate since our house was still in chaos from the move (see picture above. ha!). I had fun deciding where I wanted to put all of our Christmas decorations. Aubrey looked precious posing in front of the tree.We went to a festival of lights at a nearby town with the Arants one weekend. I helped my Bible Study group throw a Christmas party for my dad's ministry, Son's of the King.
Finally, we celebrated a wonderful Christmas with our families (post still to come). It was a sweet time to remember our Savior's birth and be thankful that He humbled Himself and dwelt among us so many years ago.2010 was not without hard times, but we know that everyday of the past year, the Lord was with us. Through the good and the bad. We are so thankful that He will continue to be with us as we embark on a new year. He is so good, and we pray that we will bring glory to Him throughout 2011 and our whole lives!