The New Year Baby

I am officially a mother of two. Yup, I am responsible for keeping two little human beings alive and happy. It's sort of bizarre when I stop to think about it. It seems like just last week that I was just a laid back college student who sometimes questioned whether or not I wanted to do that whole "married with kids" thing. Turns out, I did. Now I have two little minions who NEED me 24/7. It's exhausting and frustrating and amazing and rewarding all rolled into one. I swear my newborn is afraid of the dark and only wants to be awake when I want to sleep. And my toddler, whose favorite words are "no" and "stop," wants to try to pick up said newborn and put him in his toy car. It's chaos, but at least it can be fun and we will find our routine again soon, right? Oh, and my Master's thesis is due next month. So if you see me around town anytime soon (a rare occasion these days), no, I have not been punched in the face recently and yes, the circles under my eyes are really that dark.

Let's do things in order, shall we? First up: Bennett's 2nd birthday party! We had a "Barnyard Birthday Bash" for our animal-loving two-year-old! And after getting way too much stuff for Christmas, he got even more toys to pile on to his collection! Bennett had tons of fun with his little guests. Toddler parties are hilarious. They are all very helpful when it comes to opening presents and playing with the new toys. I was surprised to watch Bennett be so kind and patient, even when another kid would take a toy he was playing with or rip open his present for him. He was so cool about it! He would just sit back and wait. You could tell he was a little antsy, but for a toddler, I was impressed. It's funny how kids can be so different around other people, then when they are home alone, it is another story. His favorite birthday toy was a truck and trailer to pull little horses in. As soon as the party was over, he was walking around holding it saying, "Mine! My truck!" He was very proud of it and was sure to let all the adults know, now that all the toddlers were gone, that it was his!

There was cake. There was ice cream. Chocolate milk. "Chicken Feed." I had a lot of fun planning the party, but I'm glad I had my family here to help set it all up. I was exhausted afterwards... and actually went into labor that night. But more on that later...

Right after Bennett's party, my mom, sister, and I went out to get pedicures! For some reason, this just happens to be the thing that works for me when it is time to have a baby! After the pedicures, we finished cleaning up, there may have been a small nap in there somewhere, my sister and I started our "baby" puzzle (gotta do something while waiting), then some contractions started!

And here he is! Meet our town's New Year Baby! 

Waylan Scott

Apparently, in a small town, the New Year Baby doesn't always come on New Year's Day! It was technically a long labor (about 24 hours), but pretty uneventful until the end. Our second son, Waylan Scott, was born on January 4th at exactly 11 pm. With how long we waited for him to get here, we were thinking he was going to be born on big brother's birthday. Just one hour from it!

Big Brother!

Bennett turned two the next day. I felt kind of bad that his mommy and daddy were stuck in the hospital on his birthday, but he got to come up and meet his baby brother for the first time! And he also had his Teta Aummie to keep him busy so it's not like he wasn't entertained!

More on my now two-year-old: Bennett loves all things dogs, horses, cows, trucks, and dinosaurs. All boy. He is stringing together several words now. Not always a coherent sentence, but that's why he had mommy to be his translator! He has a large vocabulary, but a lot of his words have silly pronunciations. For example, he calls dinosaurs "diamonds." Not sure how that sounds like dinosaurs to him, but at least he is trying, right? Horse is "hoy." Truck went from "duck" to "fruck." And cow sounds like "meow." He sure does have down "no" and "stop" really well. He refuses to say please, the little booger, but he always says "hanks" when you give him something. It's stinkin' adorable. He also likes to fake burp and say "eh'me" ("excuse me") right after. Of course that cracks both Jeff and me up. The kid LOVES being

outside and would run out naked in a snow storm if we let him. Seriously. I've had to explain to him that he can't go out in the backyard with the dogs when it is 30 degrees outside in nothing but a diaper. Speaking of diapers, we sort of suspended the formal potty training, but plan to pick that up again next month. He'll still potty in the toilet, but refuses to go #2 in it. I haven't really been making him even go to the toilet the last couple of weeks, but just yesterday he walks into my room, takes off his diaper, and goes and sits on our toilet and pees. When he was done he flushed, then came to me and held out his hand and said "have." Haha, he knows that going in the toilet gets him a treat! Speaking of treat, the boy things he is a dog still. He purposely puts things on the floor to eat them, tries to lick himself and others like our dogs, and has actually copied off Maggie when she is chasing shadows on the wall. He is a mess. It's funny, but at the same time gross! I know that kids are copy-cats, but this kid takes his mocking to the extreme! If I scratch my nose or run my fingers through my hair a certain way, Bennett will do his best to copy me exactly. Again, funny, but scary! I really need to watch my mouth, actions, and temper around this kid! Unfortunately, I can't tell him to copy just the good habits because he doesn't know any better. He is certainly a handful (I hear two-year-olds can be), but he keeps me on my toes and helps me to take a look at things I know I need to work on (did I mention I might have a temper?).

Overall, Bennett is really doing such a great job as a big brother. There are times when he freaks me out because he wants to kiss on Waylan or pat on his head too hard, but I suppose that comes with the toddler territory. You can tell that he loves him. He's jealous sometimes and wants to be held a lot more, or as he says, "hoed! hoed!" But I'm sure it could be worse. He really tries to be helpful by trying to pick up the baby when he cries or getting out all his diapers and wipes, but I've learned to divert that helpfulness and gave him a bottle and cloth diaper to use with his teddy (aka "Ted"). He tries to change Ted's diaper, put him in the swing, and rock him. I'm super surprised he hasn't tried to breastfeed him yet, haha! Because he tried to breastfeed his toy dinosaur one day and then lifted his shirt and offered a crying Waylan his bare chest the next. Sweet Waylan is so patient, too. He just sleeps through Bennett poking at him and kissing on him. And when he fusses because he wants to be changed or fed, he doesn't go into an all out non-stop bawling fest right away. He'll cry a bit then stop and either go back to sleep or wait for me to respond. It gives me time to deal with Bennett and get him occupied or fed or changed, whatever needs done that second, before I pick up Waylan. He's such a good little brother! Minus that fact that he likes to party all night and sleep all day...

I'll post more about my long, initially boring (but not without ridiculous pain at the end), natural, and unmedicated birth later. Overall, it was a crazy, wonderful experience that ended in another beautiful, perfect little boy. Jeff and I couldn't be happier and have been blessed with two adorable boys that we get to love on for the rest of our lives. :)

Love my boys!