Present & Past

Halloween is here and Baby Sister's costume has me reminiscing...




















the Girl
Halloween 2005

















Baby Sister
Halloween 2008

Aaaagh!

Today has been one of those days and for the first time since it has been just me and the Girls on our own (during the day), I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. The Girl woke up with a cold and between wiping her nose, washing my hands every 5 minutes, taking care of Baby Sister, keeping up with some household chores and trying to find time to finish up a work project that I hesitantly took on 6 weeks prior to my due date (thinking that I could complete it before the Baby arrived and not anticipating that she would arrive 2 weeks early), I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water.





But this
little sweetie

















and this
cutie pie










make it all worth it! Besides, tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start.

Week Four

I can hardly believe that Baby Sister has already been with us for four weeks now. Time flies. She is sleeping a little less during the day and is more alert when she is awake. The Girl still adores her and last night wanted Baby Sister to come lay on her bed so that she could read stories to her.

Trick-or-Treat

This afternoon we met up with our friends for some trick-or-treating at local businesses in a neighboring town. The Girl's little friends are so sweet, there was lots of hand-holding with Rainbow Bear and several failed attempts at planting a kiss on the Snake.



There were only a few moments of distress for the Girl as we didn't see too many clowns but upon encountering a candy-distributing vampire she immediately reached for my hand and started dragging me forward through the crowd exclaiming, "Hurry up!"

The 80's called...

...and they want their outfit back! We received a couple of garbage bags of hand-me-downs from a friend and the Girl went through them and changed her ensemble at least a dozen times this afternoon. Here she is rocking an outfit (that she put together all by herself) very reminiscent of the 80's. I'm so proud!

What's in a name?

'J' has bestowed nicknames, or maybe I should call them 'terms of endearment,' upon both Girls, Knucklehead (the Girl) and Squeak (Baby Sister). I don't recall when or for what particular reason Knucklehead came about but it was early on and obviously it stuck. Coincidentally, it suits her personality perfectly as illustrated by
the picture below. As for Baby Sister, she attained her nickname practically upon birth as she was making squeaking noises while being weighed and measured. Even the pediatrician at her 3-day check-up called her a squeaker.

Maiden Voyage

The Girls broke me in easy today, I got to sleep in until 8:49 when I was awakened by the Girl who was ready for her customary breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. Baby Sister continued to sleep so after making pancakes and turning on cartoons I even managed a quick shower! Then later in the morning we were off on our maiden voyage to the grocery store and it was a smashing success. Baby Sister slept the entire time and the Girl was extremely well-behaved. So today I swam!

Week Three

The past three weeks have been a non-stop whirlwind of visiting neighbors, friends and family. We have been so loved and cared for by everyone and have been the recipients of gifts and homemade meals, all of which were greatly appreciated. My parents, who spent two weeks with us, headed home this morning and now our house is empty save for the four of us. As much as we have enjoyed and certainly benefited from all of the extra help we are eager to return to a state of normalcy - whatever that may be as 'normal' today is a lot different than what it was three weeks ago. I guess I should say that we are anxious to discover what normalcy looks like now - as a family of four. Tomorrow the true reality of our life adjustment will set in when it is just myself and the two girls during the day...our first day alone together without any extra help. It is sink or swim time...