Two at home/Natalie's vocab

It's very different having two children at home instead of just one. It's easier in a lot of ways, and naturally more difficult in other ways. An example of easier: I don't stress about getting a nap because it just isn't going to happen, so I let it go and if there's quiet time I read instead and don't have a chance to be mad about being tired like I was constantly with Natalie as an infant. An example of harder: when they both wake up hungry and needy from a nap at the same time.

he plays (in the safety of the corner), she drinks milk

Natalie has always been a good player on her own, but now she's even more independent and will play by herself for a long time, checking in with me occasionally or shrieking when she gets a bink stuck in the bottle she's playing with. It's cute and charming to see her discover her toys (and by "toys" I really mean "household items I've gathered in a basket") and keep up a constant personal commentary. Oh how I wish I knew what she was saying!

she's always watching, waiting for her chance to say "EYE!!!" and poke 

Speaking of saying things, Natsby seems to understand most of what we say now and has drastically increased her vocabulary in the last month. Some favorites: milk, moo, meow ("mihh, meww, mew," yes I realize they sound almost the same but if you listen close you can tell the difference!); baby, bath, bubble, belly button ("baby, bah, bubbo, beh bubbo"); Mommy, Daddy, Stockton, Grandpa (Maama, Daddy, Dadduh, Bapa"); Kitty, ball, bink ("Kit-tee, bah, meem"); yogurt, peaches, water ("yoyo, pee-cheh, waaater").

 "hey! this is my baby brother!"

 "oooookay yyyeah I'm not feeling this whole picture thing, get me outta here"

In addition to the words she says frequently, she's also really good at trying new words when we ask her to say something. One of my favorites was, "Natalie, say 'Max!'" right before my brother was leaving for his mission...she looked at him and pointed and said clearly, "Mahh." Heart melted.

 "he's crushing me, mom! but yeah, we're pretty cute"

I'm pretty sure raising children is hard regardless of age difference, so in answer to these questions I get frequently: yes, I'm glad these two are so close in age, and yes I would think about doing it again (but probably not until child #4). It's easy because Natalie isn't old enough to really be super jealous, but hard because I can't explain everything that is going on to her. Easy because I never got out of the habit of changing diapers, but hard because THERE ARE SO MANY DIAPERS. Easy: still napping. Hard: Natalie wakes up for a rebink in the middle of the night and Stockton wakes up to eat.

 not quite fourteen months apart

It's still surprising to me sometimes that I'm already a mom, and even more so when I refer to my plural "childREN." I can't believe that my wonderful husband and I have brought two beautiful perfect babies into this world - we love them SO SO much and seriously can't deal with how cute they are.

again with the "EYE!!!" and poke

Families are everything - we can't get by in this world without them. How grateful I am that we will be together forever!