We pulled out the Christmas decorations on Tuesday. Finally. (I’m an ‘after Thanksgiving and not a moment sooner’ kind of gal.) And as I waded through the closet I got more and more excited. I couldn’t wait to put everything up with my girl!
So I sorted and organized and carried boxes downstairs and had everything ready to go
when he cried.
For a brief moment the Pickle and I looked at each other… confused.
His cries turned to screams.
And I suddenly realized… I only have three stockings!
The decorating would have to wait.
You see, this other little person has come into our world and turned things all kinds of upside down. What once took ten minutes getting out of the house now takes thirty. “Just a minute” now means more like five or ten… or never. And just as we cuddle up to watch a movie or read a book or write a blog post (ahem) something always must be done. He’s got to eat. Or he needs a new diaper. Or he wants to be held and cuddled until he falls asleep. And there are times where I am overwhelmed by constantly putting off the old way of life in order to live the new life I’ve been given.
We have added a little person to our world, and for as much trouble as he can be sometimes, we sure do love him… yes. Even his Sissy. Who I swore grew five inches just while I was in the hospital. And who looks like a Kindergartner already (and acts like a teenager). And who loves to help with his diaper and talk to him in her high-pitched baby voice and shove stuffed animals in his face.
Occasionally she forgets, though. She forgets how to go upstairs and pick out her clothes. She forgets how to put her shoes away. She forgets how to get her own snack. Or how to wipe her own bottom. Conveniently these memory lapses happen right when he is screaming and poopy and hungry and we’re getting ready to leave, and I begin to think that the hardest part of having a second child is not nearly so much a problem with the second child…
And then there are all the screaming needs that must be met. I find it a constant challenge to balance meeting his needs, meeting her needs, meeting my husband’s needs, meeting the needs of our poor, neglected house, and then trying to remember what my needs are… if there’s any time left.
But for all the difficult changes this baby boy has brought, the measure of love that he has unwrapped and poured all over our home is unmistakable.
We’re learning to slow down again. To just sit while he sleeps in our arms. To rejoice at the tiniest things – burps, and silence, and smiles. And we’re learning to love each other all over again in a new and wonderful way. I love my sweet girl when she runs to grab a bottle when he’s crying or when she wraps her arms around him and kisses his bald head when she thinks no one is watching. I love my husband when he takes the first watch of the night so I can get some sleep and when I catch them gazing in each others eyes like only a father and son can. And I love my baby boy simply because he is new and precious
and ours.
This Christmas, if I can get my act together, we get to hang a fourth stocking, and make a new handprint ornament, and send Christmas cards celebrating a new life. And while we might be blurry-eyed and brain-scattered… our hearts will receive a double dose of Christmas blessings this year.
Because now there are two.
That is so sweet and true. They turn our world upside down and we love them so much. 🙂
So perfectly written. We put up our 4th stocking this year, too. Everyone tells you how hard it is having 2 young ones, but not many sing the praises of having double the cheeks to kiss and toes to count!
[…] (and of course forget to share them here) So in the name of writing and breathing and living, here is our welcome baby post from Christmas. Back when the fog of newness was finally beginning to […]
[…] having a baby was a HUGE change! I lost myself for a while there in those first few months of finding a new normal. But going back to work helped me find myself […]