Child #2

I went back and read my first blog post after Riley was born and I wrote it 2 1/2 weeks after he came into this world. I am now sitting here posting my first entry after child #2 almost exactly 2 1/2 MONTHS after she was born. I got up early this morning (my first Saturday at home with no plans in a month) to start writing with a cup of coffee in the quiet of my own house. I am now sitting here next to my son as he watches Curious George and accidentally kicks me in the ribs. I did get the coffee though.

And thus the theme of life with two children.

Ava Grace was born on May 3rd at about 1:00 in the morning. Continuing with the theme of everything new, we debuted a new maternity wing at the local hospital. The nurses and doctors were constantly looking for things and marveling at the new facilities and equipment, even as Missy was in the throws of child birth.

From the moment she was born, she has had me wrapped around her finger. She is gorgeous. I think she has more brown hair than I do. She has her mom's beautiful blue eyes. And recently she has added a beautiful smile to go along with those eyes. She is more mellow than her brother (which isn't too hard to be). However, she lets her opinion be known when necessary. People have told me that "there is just something about girls". And it absolutely true. I don't know if it is all those pink clothes or what. But there is just something about girls.

Our neighbor had a good sports analogy when going from one kid to two. When you have one child, you can double team. When you have two, you play man-to-man. (By the way, when you have more than two, you play zone.) It is true. When we had one child who was up way too early, we could rotate who would get up with him. Now when we have TWO kids who are up way too early, we each have to painfully roll out of bed. Conversely, when we would put one child down to bed, we could enjoy some precious time with just Missy and I. Now, we have to wait until both kids are asleep which, given Ava's stage of life, varies dramatically. Time to ourselves has been few and far between.

And thus the two month hiatus from the blog.

However, that being said, there is something beautiful about seeing your first child interact with your second. Quite honestly, I was a little bit concerned with how Riley would handle having to share attention with another person. He likes being the center of everything (not sure where he gets that from) and now he has to share the stage. For the most part, he has been great. He LOVES his sister. He can be a little rough with her but it is almost always in an attempt to show his affection. The best times are when we walk in and see him talking to her without any prodding by us.

So overall, it has been a tremendous blessing having child #2. It has, of course, caused certain things to be put on the back burner - like blog posts for example. The phrase that I remember thinking when we first had Riley was "beautifully unproductive". The list of things that you want to get done grows while the time you have to accomplish those things lessens. However, it is worth it in more ways than I can list here. Or perhaps I can:

This blog was started at 7:00 this morning. I am finishing it at 10:00 at night. In the meantime, I have (among other things) built a tower of blocks with my son, played catch with my son, washed both cars with my son, played trains with my son, rode various carnival rides with my son at the local "block party", helped my son with potty training, made my daughter smile, put her down for a nap and watched a movie with my wife.

Sometimes the blog can wait.