I have two daughters, blog!

 photos first.  I know why you're here.

playroom.  my daughters aren't exhibitionists... it was just hot outside and shirts seemed ridiculous:

we decided a swim was in order.

bathtime!  ruby's umbilical cord took a loooong time to fall off, so we were sponge-bathing for what seemed like forever...

before bed one night.  maggie thought everyone needed headbands.

maggie also thought she needed to wear a baby bib.  two, in fact.  this girl has coped pretty well with a new baby in the house, but there has been some regressive behavior... we think it's harmless, so we try to play along and reassure her of her place in the world:

I don't think I've posted how the room came out.  I've still got some things I'd like to do, but here's where we are today:

and here's my one month old with her own raggedy ann doll:

 

yes.  she's the spitting image of her sister.

random tidbits and trivia:

I'm not sleeping fantastically, but it's mostly been okay.  

we buy good coffee.

at night, ruby wakes up and wants to eat every 2.5-3 hrs, generally.  but she gobbles for only about 10 minutes and then falls right back to sleep, so that's nice of her.

ruby was a pound bigger than maggie when she was born, and it's wild to have a baby that's growing so fast.  maggie has always been small, and her clothes seemed to last forever!  I have to put ruby in things and take a quick picture....

she's in size 1 diapers already and she spits up more than maggie did.  she has pretty blue eyes and definitely more hair than her sister at this age. 

she's a good eater so far - I'm not sure if it's just her noshing prowess or my improved confidence this time around (likely both...), but breastfeeding has been easier.  she also takes a bottle well (so others can feed her when I'm not around)... I'm so thankful this has worked out for both of my babies, as it definitely makes things easier with me working.

work has mostly been just fine - the last two weeks I took one workday completely off each week and I've been limiting the length of my sessions, so I can get home within a timeframe I'm comfortable with.

I'm mostly narrating e-learning courses and reading audiobooks right now.

I forgot how much laundry one does with a newborn.  

I forgot about the aerodynamic poop up the back.

maggie is mostly really great with ruby, but we try not to force her to interact.  

magz is into:  seeds class at church, swimming, looking at photos of herself, playing, babies (dolls), her sandbox (I wish it wasn't so hot!), jumping/dancing, sesame street, yo gabba gabba, books, the ipad, showing visitors her big girl bed, storytelling (about the beach, a ride she went on with Michael at Schlitterbahn, Finding Nemo... "Nemo, Nemo, back!  Dada say... Nemo touch boat, no no!")...

her language skills are exploding and I love it.

we still generally cuddle on the couch most mornings, ruby's just thrown into the mix.

I'm bouncing back faster this time, which is a blessing.  it feels good to be physically active and pain-free after the limitations of the last couple of pregnant months.  

basically, we expected everything to be super hard with a 2 year old and a newborn, and that's not been our experience.  not that everything's been easy, but it's been more doable than I anticipated.  

I do feel guilty sometimes about magz... like, I worry she watches too much tv.  but then I think, 'I need to rest and Sesame Street (or Yo Gabba Gabba, or Olivia, or Classical Baby) gives me an hour (or 30 minutes) to close my eyes on the couch.  it doesn't define us, it just helps today.'  

and I just have to be okay with it.

oh, and while I say things haven't been as hard as I thought they'd be I still don't feel there's enough of me to go around.  I don't do all that I wish I could, and I can't seem to show up for people in ways I'd like.  There are limits to me and my capabilities, and I've decided to be okay with that, too, and just do my best from day to day.  I'm thankful for all of the help I've received, especially with maggie.

we took the girls to the Galleria one day to let magz play... I wore ruby in the moby, and by the time we'd been there two hours I felt like I'd been hit by a mac truck.  At one point, while Michael was in line at Starbucks, I was in Victoria's Secret looking to replace some undies, sweatily trying to make my selections, keep a somewhat strung out magz from making it rain panties all around us, and shift ruby around to relieve my increasingly angry lower back.  it was absolutely exhausting.  mama hasn't worked out in awhile, y'all.

speaking of being tired, it's so time for bed.  it was parent's night out at Willow Meadow's Baptist down the street, so while magz had dinner and played there husband and I and the baby went out for spicy Indian food.  I'm still full, plus I have a heavenly butter chicken curry in the 'fridge just waiting for me to dig into tomorrow.  yay!

night-night.

-m.y.