Finding Our Way

Lately during long nursing sessions I have taken to reading blogs from last year. It is interesting to see what we were up to at this time last year and how much things have changed, and yet also stayed the same. In particular, I noticed that I blogged this time last year about the challenge of feeding a toddler. I realize now that the same subject could be fodder for a blog post now! I also noticed that my writing seemed wittier and more eloquent than my more recent blogs. I'll blame that on baby brain and sleep deprivation!

We've been a family of four now for five weeks! It seems hard to imagine now life without Kai's little sis. I think even Kai would agree that she isn't so bad. This week we've witnessed the return of our happy little guy. It does help that he welcomed yet another new member to his bunny family. There are so many of them now, I think it is more apt to call them the bunny clan or the bunny tribe. It has made things a little more complicated for us 'rents. When Kai calls "unny! unny!" in a panicked tone from his crib at night, these days we're not exactly sure who to fetch. Usually it is one of the original 3, but sometimes he is yearning for a different long eared friend and their names aren't too distinct - "new bunny," "kai bunny," "shaky bunny," "i love you bunny," and they can be particularly hard to decipher in late night groggy toddler-speak. We also bought him a bottle of play milk. We thought he might enjoy feeding his bunnies while mommy fed Teia. He likes the milk bottle alot. In fact, he sometimes likes to sleep with it, so some nights we are on a hunt for "bunny milk" instead of bunnies.

Teia did receive a few bunnies herself as gifts, although we did relinquish one of them to her older, leporidae-loving brother. He has been quite the gentleman about respecting her bunnies. While he likes to admire them, he does call them "Teia bunny" and returns them to her after he has finished. He has also taken to playing with the baby play mats. All of sudden the dangly baby toys are quite interesting and he particularly likes to see if he can fit on the mats, just like Teia. I'll have to post a video of that soon too.

So it looks like we are all adjusting and adapting to the change in our lives. Greg survived "hell-week" at school and now his suffering is at the level "purgatory" for a few more weeks before he is released into the freedom of the Christmas holidays! We can't wait. I am managing alright with my nightly wakings. Teia is very predictable and somehow this fact in itself makes waking up several times a night a little less painful. I have started back into a fairly regular work out schedule, although the pain I suffer afterward far exceeds the intensity or duration of my work outs. Hopefully, that will change soon.

We're even managing to get out here and there. Outings with 2 children and 1 adult are proving challenging and I much prefer to be on more equal footing. This weekend we visited the playground one day and took a nature walk at a nearby wildlife sanctuary on the other. We've discovered that not only is our Sienna a great vehicle, it serves as a spacious and private place to nurse while we are out and about. Turns out, Kai is not too hard to entertain while waiting for his sister to finish her lunch:

And here is a video of Teia. Newborns don't do too much but we figured our friends and family who haven't been able to meet her yet might enjoy seeing her in "action." She is starting to "talk" a little bit and she is "almost" smiling too these days!