..life with two..

baby sam is 2 1/2 weeks old and we are all still alive! huge accomplishment right there. ;) my whole pregnancy i was SO worried about whether or not i would be able to handle the change from one kid to two...i think i worried myself sick! but all that worrying must have paid off, because things are not nearly as bad as i thought they would be. they are not bad at all, actually. :) it's funny how fear of the unknown is so much worse than just being thrown into the midst of the fire.

i attribute the easy transition to mr. finn. he is seriously THE EASIEST kid on the planet. he was the worlds easiest baby, and is proving to be the worlds easiest toddler as well. he is so, so sweet with baby sam. all day long he just smothers him with kisses, it is seriously the cutest thing i've ever seen. we don't even prompt him to, he just walks right up to sam and gives him kiss after kiss after kiss. if he sees sam's bottle on the table, he will go searching for sam and try putting it in his mouth. same thing with binkis. although sometimes he decides he'd rather have the binki and just plop it right in his own mouth! ;) silly kid. i was so worried about the whole jealousy factor, but finn doesn't act jealous at all with me. in fact, he is actually more loving and affectionate! he'll randomly come up to me and give me a hug and a kiss, it just melts my heart. he was a little jealous with lance and my mom in the beginning (his two favorite people), but i think once he got used to the idea that sam was here to stay, that jealousy passed. and so far he hasn't acted out anymore than he did before sam got here. dream child, i tell ya. :)

mr. sam is a little sweetie pie as well. we still haven't quite figured a schedule out, which is a bit frustrating. finn was a very predictable baby - ate every 3 hours like clockwork (except at night, when he'd give us a 5 hour stretch...heavenly!). sam, however, tends to eat at different times and in different intervals every day. i'm thinking he's having a growth spurt right now, because he will literally eat 4 oz (pumped breast milk) and act starving an hour later! i've tried everything i can think of to hold him over (binki, rocking him, bouncer, swing, etc) but none of those seem to work. eventually i just gave in and started feeding him whenever he seemed hungry, and he downs the breast milk like it ain't nobody's business! must just be a growin' boy. :) he was sleeping really great at night and not so much during the day (there were a few days when he'd seriously be awake for 5 hours....isn't that unheard of for a newborn?!) but now he is napping just fine during the day and not so much at night. needless to say, lance and i are a wee bit exhausted coming morning time. ;) sam also seems to be a bit gassy, and we haven't really found a good remedy. we've tried mylicon and gripe water. i guess we need to try both a little longer to see if they are working. hopefully it is just a phase that won't last too long. :)

duke and claus are both doing great as well. i'm pretty sure duke took one look at sam and thought, "not another one." haha but he doesn't pay much attention to sam, which is probably a good thing. claus is still my little sidekick, and usually follows me everywhere. he loves to give sammy lots of kisses.

the first few days (maybe even weeks) of having a newborn are pretty exhausting, but i'd say we are doing just fine. maybe i shouldn't speak for lance, so i'll say most days i manage just fine. there are days when i am so exhausted by 8 o'clock that i go to bed as soon as finn goes down! i'm also lucky that finn is still such a great napper - he takes 2 two-hour naps most days. lucky for me, sam will usually sleep when finn is sleeping, so i can get a nap in if i need one. my 12 o'clock pepsi also helps me through the afternoon stretch, until 5 or so, when lance usually gets home. ;) and my rock-star husband takes one of the night time feeding shifts, so i can get a good 5 hour stretch at night. does wonders for a tired mama!

i would say the most challenging thing about having two kids is realizing that finn and sam are two different people, and i can't compare sam to finn. as i said earlier, finn was the world's easiest baby, so the fact that sam hasn't been quite as easy as finn was frustrating at first, since that is all i know. on a particularly frustrating night i broke down in tears, and after saying a prayer the spirit spoke to me rather quickly, and helped me realize that sam is his own little person and it will take time for us to get to know each other and figure things out and that is totally normal and fine. but i'd be doing a disservice to sam, finn and myself by always comparing the two to each other. as much as i love finn and his darling personality, life would be kinda boring if there were two finn's in our family. :) i can't wait to get to know sam better, and to see how both boys are similar and different.

we have done some fun things since sam got here. sam's first outing was to the dr's office at 5 days old. he had regained his birthweight and dr. reese said he was as healthy as can be. later that day we went to city creek to do some shopping! and i'm pretty sure we've been at least 5 times since. haha, my boys better get used to shopping. ;) sam had his newborn photo shoot with paige davis when he was 6 days old. i've only seen a couple of the pics and they are darling, so i can't wait to see the rest!

we met up with my cousin and her two kids one day and went to wheeler farm. finn absolutely loved it! he had so much fun running around with addison, looking at all the different animals. he went on a tractor ride with grandma cindy, and loved that too! we went to gardner village another day to look at the witches. it was uea weekend and insanely crowded, so we didn't see much but it was still fun to get out and about! finn went on his first pony ride there, and really seemed to enjoy it. he waved at me every time he passed. :) over the weekend we went to a halloween party. i was cruella de ville and both boys were dalmations. cutest little dalmations i've ever seen. :)

everyone is always so shocked that we have done so much, and i'm pretty sure some people probably think i am crazy for not taking it easy and resting. i don't do well cooped up in the house, though, and my personal belief is that taking it too easy leads to depression. i didn't get post-partum depression with finn, and i haven't had it with sam, and i really think it has a lot to do with how active we are. i try and still get out and do the things i normally would, which helps life get back to normal quicker i think. i am also lucky that i'm not in very much pain after giving birth, so i kinda just do what works for me. :) also, huge shout out to lance for buying me my awesome stroller, because i'm pretty sure i wouldn't dare go anywhere with two kids without it! seriously.

i feel so grateful for my life. it isn't perfect. we have our challenges and trials. our bathrooms are messy, there are dishes in the sink most of the time and laundry to be dried and folded. but i have two happy and seemingly healthy little boys who light up my life and make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world and a husband who works so hard to provide for our family so that i'm able to stay at home and watch these boys grow. i'm beyond grateful for the opportunity i've been given to be a mom. it's my favorite thing i've ever done. :)