The Two Kids

MG cries much more than Liam ever did.
Not because she's colicky, or even fussy, but because she's the second child.  There are at least five times a day when I have both babies crying and I have to decide which to fix first; these days that first is usually Liam.
(Or else I have to clean up the snot that he got everywhere, because he's been sick.)
(TMI!)
It's tough being a younger sibling, you know?

Thank goodness for Netflix!  The great land of Netflix instant streaming which is ruled by fickle gods who KEEP TAKING WORD WORLD OFF.  Why do they do this??  It's the only show I don't feel guilty about sticking Liam in front of (actually, I kind of like it myself), and it's also the only show that I've noticed to be part of a double-disappearing act.  If you have any insights regarding, please share.

Today was my second time taking both kids to church by myself.  This is the WORST thing about Slice's work schedule - every other Sunday he's working while I am struggling through meetings.  And this year is especially hard, because we have Sacrament Meeting last.  Liam doesn't want to leave nursery, MG is tired and/or hungry, and I have 70 minutes to keep them both quiet.
Today I passed MG off to the bishop's wife and FORTUNATELY she slept through most of the meeting.  Liam kept me busy the entire time.  By the time the closing song came around, I had used up all my tricks, and I was trying to soothe MG because she had woken up.  Liam crawled under the bench and slowly made his way up to the stand.  The benediction-giver herded him up the steps, the bishop held him during the closing prayer, and afterward I dragged him out along with my bulky diaper bag and baby-in-the-carseat combo.

It's exhausting.

At least I have some treats, some inspired words, and a naptime to get me to 5:00.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - and Die

Here's something weird.

We recently acquired a swing for MG exactly like the one we used for baby Liam.  (That was my sister's.)
It's a great swing, 3-directional with lights and a mobile and a WALL PLUG, and four sound settings including one of nature sounds.  I love those chirping birds.

Anyway, one of the sound settings is a series of songs, which has been playing intermittently for a week now. And every time I hear one of the songs, I start thinking of The Hunger Games. Characters, impressions, specific scenes and conversations - they play and replay in my mind.  It took me a while to figure out why.

Last time I had a newborn, I read the Hunger Games series for the first time - mostly while my baby was sleeping or rocking in the swing.  The swing songs played over and over while I read of oppression, terror, violence ... and the scenes stuck in my mind are inextricably connected with the baby tunes.  Weird.

I remember hearing once, maybe in college, that you should study with Mozart (or similar music) playing in the background.  Supposedly the music helps you commit information to memory.
I didn't utilize the tip much, but now I'm thinking I should have.  There is clearly some potential to be tapped there.

Adjusting

Three weeks ago my younger sister and her friend from college moved into our downstairs bedroom.  This brings the total number of siblings I have lived with post-marriage to FIVE.
We love each other a lot, eh?
Both girls are off track from BYU-Idaho, and while I think the track system is downright crazy, I also like having Kiana home every few months.  It's fun.

Monday Slice's parents started their move to Cedar City.  It will take a few weeks (possibly months) to finalize, but once they're gone, it will be the first time that Slice has lived away from his parents, if you don't count his overseas mission.  I imagine it will take some adjusting.
For one thing, Liam is going to miss having his "Papa" around.

Tomorrow my baby MG will be six weeks old.
I feel like Slice and I are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were with Liam at this point, parenting-wise, but it's still quite an adjustment from one to two.  And just when I was getting used to Slice's work schedule, my workload doubled.
Ha!

Fortunately MG is awesome and sleeps as well as Liam did at night.  Even better, she goes to sleep on her own with a binkie in her mouth.  No rocking/walking/bouncing baby to sleep and putting her down as gently as possible, just hoping that she won't wake up. (Or we repeat the process - possibly multiple times.) Nope.
I nurse her, burp her and stick her in bed, and if it's dark in the room she'll eventually go to sleep.  Amazing!
(I know this means I will have to wean her off of it later.  It is totally worth the extra sleep I'm getting right now.)

and he's good to us

It must be said that Slice adores his baby girl.
(We all knew he would.)
He is wrapped around her beautiful, tiny fingers and she gets whatever she wants from him.
To hold her all day?  Sure.
To sleep in bed with us?  Fine.
I have to put my foot down every once in a while, because I don't want to deal with a spoiled baby.

And speaking of spoiled....
I got a new kitchen table!  Again!

See, our other table was lovely, but it just didn't work with my breakfast nook.  The legs were on the edge of the table, and we had to push it out and back in anytime we wanted to use the bench.  No Good.

After stewing about it for a few weeks, I listed the table on KSL classifieds (without telling Slice first....) just to see if there would be any interest.
It was sold in 3 days.

By Thursday night we had no kitchen table, and family coming to stay with us Friday.  I didn't think we would find anything I liked for a decent price anywhere around here.  There's not a great selection, you know?

Friday we went to Vernal, and in the first place we stopped at we found this table:

which is now sitting in my kitchen - obviously.  And I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
It works perfectly with my breakfast nook.

Thanks Slice!

This is why we have kids.

11/12

Three years ago I wrote a lovely review of the previous year's events.  I'm glad I did, because 2008 was life-changing for Slice and me, and it's fun to look back on that year and what we've done since then.  If I did a quick recap for 2011 it would look something like this:

• Alex moves in downstairs, we remodel the bathroom out of necessity
• Slice gets fired at the worst possible time
• I am diagnosed with hypothyroidism
• We find out I'm pregnant 
• We spend 4 months searching for a golf job, then consider other options
• South Carolina almost becomes our new home
• We are blessed with work opportunities in the meantime: piano students, photo shoots, research job, pumps
• Slice gets hired in the oilfield, we try to adjust to his new work schedule
• A bunch of my friends get pregnant
• I give birth

Things can only get better from here, right?

Some of my plans for 2012 are:

Donate my hair again, before postpartum fallout
Put my kids in the same bedroom
Don't have a baby (I'm liking the sound of 2014?)
Take at least one family vacation besides the annual Arizona trip
Buy a bigger car
Start exercising again

Pretty low bar right there, folks.  What about you?