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March 24, 2013

Three plus one

Wow, I haven't done this in a while! I feel so out of touch! I am excited to try to start this up again though, why I decided now when I am 5 weeks, give or take, away from having a newborn I have no idea but I did.



When Allen and I first started talking about having a second child life was easy. Noah was awesome, no behvior issues, went to bed pretty much on his own, was about to start school (AKA Mother's Day Out) in the fall and we were a few months away from his 2nd birthday. It seemed to be the right time for us, I had always said I didnt want there to be too much time in between our children, if we were blessed enough to have a second. So we took the plunge. Right after Noah's second birthday we found out we were expecting again. We were excited and scared all over again, just like we were when we found out that we were expecting Noah. We found out a few days before we were going to take a road trip to Maryland to see my aunt and family.

When we got back from that trip however, Noah totally went into the dreaded "terrible twos" (and I am aware that people say three's are worse but we haven't gotten there yet so humor me and let me think that his two's are bad) It was Labor day weekend to be exact and we were supposed to be getting together with our friends for a breakfast outing. We had to skip out because Noah had temporarily lost his mind! We literally thought he was sick because of the way he was acting. He was throwing is body around on the floor every time we would ask him what was wrong. He was crying/screaming for no reason. And it was like he just woke up that morning and a beast had taken over our precious little guy. I was all prepped and ready to call the doctor the next morning to make an appt. for him to find out what was hurting him, but as the day progressed, we realized there wasn't a thing wrong with him, this was just the first of many "fits" he would throw because he was in a bad mood or he wasn't getting what he wanted. We had officially entered the terrible twos and I was about 5 weeks pregnant. Had this behavior started about a month and a half earlier, there is a good possibility that this precious little baby boy growing inside of me now, would NOT be there. I dont think I would have been able to fathom having a second child with Noah in this funk that he was in. So, God really does have a sense of humor. It was kind of like him saying to us "so... you STILL think you are ready for that second baby you got growing in there??"

While it sent me into a panic thinking about how in the world I was going to be able to deal with this monster child I now had AND a newborn, we pushed through (Not that there was anything else we could do) but he started school very soon after this and wow, is all I can say. What a difference 9 hours a week makes for him (and Mommy). While we had a rough start, for about two weeks, he quickly began to love school and now asks to go just about every day! And the progress he has made is amazing! He is such a different little boy, a lot of people have commented on how much he has changed since he started and we notice it too. (I really could go on and on about how great I think programs like this are for kids but I won't.)
Noah definitely still has his days where I think I might just walk out of the house and not come back for a few days but for the most part he is a good little guy. We certianly have a hard-headed, strong willed 100% BOY on our hands but I know he is going to be an awesome big brother.

I do have to laugh a little at how people still want to give you their 2 cents on parenting when you are pregnant with your second. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of helpful advice that I have received and been utterly grateful for and I also by no means think I am an expert on parenting because I have one 2 year old but why do people only want to tell you how scary it is going to be when you bring that second one home? Like I haven't thought, panicked, cried, and prayed about that already? I feel like that is any second time mom's worry is "what is it going to be like when we bring this baby home?" "am I going to be able to love the second one as much as I do the first?"  "Will I have time for two children? Will the first one feel like mommy abandoned them for this new baby?" and since our new baby is not here I don't have one answer to any of those questions but I am hopeful and faithful enough to know that somehow we will figure it out. We have raised one child, AKA kept one child alive and healthy, for two and a half years, we will figure this two kid family stuff out too! Yes it may take a long while and I know in the deepest part of my body that there are going to be a lot of hard and trying days ahead but for now I want to look at the positive side of it. We have been blessed to be the parents of two boys, and all we can do it raise them to the best of our ability and make sure God is first in their lives and that they know we love them. The bad days will come and we will just have to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm together, because in just a matter of weeks we will begin the journey of party of 3 going to party of 4, and we couldn't be more excited!