12 Weeks

  Sometime during the first month that Cora was with us, I posed the question, "when does having two kids become more manageable?" I can't say I was super encouraged by those who responded, either on my blog or on Facebook, by saying, "somewhere around 12 weeks." I felt like I could hang on until 6 or maybe 8 weeks, but 12? That seemed like an eternity.

  I am here to say that, if I were asked the same question by a new mom of two, I'd probably have to fall into the camp of "somewhere around 12 weeks." I know it does get a lot easier for a lot of mamas sooner than that; but in my experience, it is only recently that I'm starting to feel like the number of fun/enjoyable/sweet moments has surpassed the exhausting/wearying/survival moments. That is probably an exaggeration, I'm sure it has actually been fun and enjoyable more times than not for a while, but my perception is that it's a more recent development. And of course, as with most things in life, it isn't as if there is a moment when a switch flips. Babies develop and mature over time ... slowly but surely. Nursing times become shorter by a few minutes at a time, night sleep stretches out in little inchworm segments, and the amount of time spent screaming in the car begins to dwindle (the baby screaming, that is ... not me).

  I was able to tell Josh this Sunday night, "this is the first Sunday I haven't felt really anxious about the upcoming week since you went back to work [when Cora was 2 weeks old]." I think the biggest reason for this is that, by God's grace, Cora's current stage and a little persistence on our part has yielded huge benefits in the area of sleep. At this point, she cries either not at all or just for one or two minutes when I lay her down for her first morning nap, and an afternoon nap. She struggles a little more with the littler naps when she is too tired to be awake, but not quite tired enough to need a long nap, but I know in the next couple of months she'll outgrow those little catnaps, anyway. I'm sure anyone who reads this is totally tired of hearing about sleep, but my point is that the outlook is a lot brighter around here these days. Cora is better rested and happier, Liam is happier because he is spending less time on his own, and I feel like I'm doing a better job as a Mommy. Yay!

  Now the good stuff. Here are some pictures from when Cora was 8 days old. I love that in the pictures on the couch you can see one of our family pics that the same friend took when Liam was a newborn.

  Liam was a total ham the whole time. He was still adjusting to life with a new baby and I think his little head was spinning from all of the visitors we had had over the past week. This is the face he made in nearly all of the pictures that he is in!

After our little family shoot, we took some pictures of Cora with Josh and me in her nursery.

I am SO in love with these two of our little Beauty and her Daddy. I know they will be so special to her when she is older.

I can't believe this precious one has been in our arms for 12 weeks!

Little Miss was wide awake the entire time we were taking pictures.

She finally had her 2 month check-up last Friday, and she weighed 12lbs. 12 oz. and was in the 75th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference! Our healthy, perfectly proportioned gal!

You know all of those precious shots of sleeping newborns on their tummies or in cute little poses? Not happening with this girl - we tried getting some shots on her ottoman and the little stinker kept nearly scooting off of it. I should have realized then that it was a bit of foreshadowing regarding her sleeping preferences.

  I feel so blessed to have this family of four and I am loving this new stage of life that we are entering!