Adjusting to life.....

Even though I know that I don't have to apologize for the long pause in my blogging, I am going to anyway! :) Sorry to have gone so many days without updating. Adjusting to life with two hasn't been all that tough, but finding time to sit at the computer, even to just quickly check my email, is quite a challenge these days. Hence no updates in a week! And that is also the reason that this blog will likely be on the shorter side. Both kiddos are sleeping at the moment and I have some computer (aka photoshop) work to catch up on, so I'll have to keep this brief(er).

Things are running pretty smoothly around here. Yesterday was my first day flying solo with both kids....my first official day as mommy to two on my own. Surprisingly, it was quite pleasant and easy going! We missed having Daddy around all day, but I think getting back into a old (or slightly revamped) Mommy & Luke routine did wonders for Luke! He really has been a handful the last 10 days! Like I said in my previous post, it's all very normal behavior, but challenging and frustrating nonetheless! Sometimes I've wondered out loud who stole my sweet, mild mannered child and replaced him with this moody, temperamental and often naughty two year old! But getting back into the normal routine helped A LOT! We had a very pleasant day yesterday, with only one or two timeouts and very few tantrums. Yay!

Overall, I'd have to say that this whole experience thus far has been, in every way, easier than I thought it would be and easier than it was with Luke. From the whole birth experience to breastfeeding... healing, sleeplessness, and also managing two....it's not quite as treacherous as I anticipated......SO FAR! :) I'm counting my blessings, but I'm also completely expecting a shift in the easiness of things when Ellie becomes more alert and sleeps less. Right now, she is a sleeper! I can hardly wake the child to eat even! Which, I might add, is my biggest frustration (aside from Luke's behavior) at the moment. She is such a sleepy baby that I have to work immensely hard to wake her to eat. Even to the point of using cool wash clothes on her little body to rouse her! Argh! It's terribly frustrating in the middle of the night when I can hardly keep my own eyes open to nurse and burp her! But we're managing and she is still gaining weight appropriately. We had her weighed at the lactation clinic yesterday and she was 7lbs 5 oz....a whole pound heavier than her lowest hospital weight! Good news to hear! I always worry about that part! You just never know just how much they are eating with breastfeeding.

Anyway, in keeping to my shorter post, I have to run, but I thought I would share some recent pictures, since those are always fun. Ty helped me do Ellie's newborn photo shoot for her birth announcements on Friday, so I have a few from the session I wanted to share. I can't share my most favorite ones with you just yet, since those will be on her announcement and I don't want to ruin the surprise :) , but I can share a few of the others. It took us 2 and a half hours to get the shoot done...but it was SOOOOOO much fun for me to do! Newbies are so easy to photograph...it was trying to get Luke to cooperate that was the toughest part...I really didn't get any great ones with the two of them together. Oh well! But here are a couple teasers.....







Isn't she sweet??!! I just love my kids! And my husband!! I'm so blessed!

On Sunday, we headed over to my parent's house for dinner. It was the first time the 'tousins', as Luke calls them, met Ellie. Here are some snapshots of them....


Grandma & Grandpa...proud grandparents that they are....


One of the very few shots of Luke holding his sis AND smiling...sorry it's blurry!


And a happy Aunt Jenn with her favorite (and only) niece and nephew!


Okay folks....that's it from me.....time to finish up some of the other newbie Ellie pictures so I can get those announcements out before she graduates high school! :) I totally feel like I skimmed over all the good stuff and fun details of our last week, but I guess that's just the way it goes for now....until I can blog more regularly. Adios for now!