Whirlwind

I've neglected the blog. Life is sometimes calm, slow, easy. And other times, it's a whirlwind.

Right now, we are definitely leaning more towards a whirlwind. We had a great visit with Jim's family this past week . . . his mom, dad, and grandmother left today. We were sad to see them go. It was so nice to have the house busy (and full of help!) this past week . . . it's quiet around here again as of late this afternoon.

Aside from having visitors, in the past 3 1/2 weeks . . . well, we've done a lot of things. We had a baby. Jim lost his grandfather, traveled to Iowa, and we spent nearly a week apart. Kate wasn't gaining weight, then started gaining just fine. Meg had her 2 year check up and got potty trained. We celebrated the 4th with my family. Jim (with some help from his dad and mom) built a fantastic playset in our backyard over the course of about 5 days . . . a true gift for Meg and Kate. We had a very small birthday party for Meg . . . because I didn't know if I'd be in the hospital with Kate when her 2nd b-day came around, we had planned to have a few friends over this past weekend to help Meg celebrate turning two. I also had some friends over to meet Kate while Jim's family was in town to help host. The basement FINALLY was finished -- just last Friday -- so we are now 'moved in' to our lowest level.

It's been nuts here. Hopefully things will settle down.

Settle down? Wait. I have a newborn and a 2 year old. That won't happen for a while.

Case(s) in Point:

Kate has settled into the 'bewitching hour' . . . which is also know as the evening fussies. She starts getting cranked up a little before dinner time, and she can't hardly be consoled for about 3 or 4 hours. It makes for a long (noisy) evening. When Meg went through this, I remember freaking out and feeding her all the time. With Kate, I can't keep feeding her because she'll projectile everything all over my living room when over fed . . . and I know this is a normal phase . . . so we just walk and bounce and walk and bounce -- occasionally stopping to sway -- for the entire evening. The noise and the crying -- and trying to get Meg down for the night -- makes for a crazy evening.

Oh -- and the potty training --while fantastic, done, and just-too-easy -- has left us with a BIG issue. Meg now HATES her bath. I have no explanation for this dramatic turn of events. She literally FIGHTS me about getting into the tub. This has been going on for more than a week now . . . since her second or third day using the potty. She keeps telling us she has to go to the bathroom when we put her in the tub . . . and for the first two nights, we believed her. So we spent about 30-40 minutes going from tub to toilet, waiting for her to potty. Night 3 came, and we decided we weren't playing that game anymore (by we, I mean ME -- that was getting ridiculous!). Then we thought she was afraid she might go potty in the bath tub . . . but after a few nights of going #2 right BEFORE bath time, we don't think that is the problem, either. Who knows? We are just fighting through this bath issue and hoping beyond hope that it settles down soon. Tonight was OK . . . Jim bathed her, and he's so much more patient than I am these days. Maybe that's the ticket.

So -- for my buddy Paula, who commented that I make having 2 kids sound easy -- my life is nuts. It's not exactly easy. It's certainly not BAD . . . just a total whirlwind these days.