Fail.

I attempted to take the pictures for Andrew's announcement myself.  Just take a look at how great they turned out...

Somebody was either crying:

or pouting:

or in a headlock:

or cheesin it up:

or making silly faces:

or looking at you like you're the one who just cut the cheese!

Lately...

Gram came to stay which means that we all got spoiled last week.  When I wasn't sleeping in or napping we were on the go!  Got lots crossed off my to-do list and we had tons of fun going to the park and story time!  Doesn't my mom look beautiful here???

Banks loves to do "projects" and I've been "playing school" with him some too!  I used to love to play school when I was a child, mostly because I could boss my pretend students around.  Now that Banks is my student, he does most of the bossing but we still have a great time.  He loves to match up the letters and play with his easel.

Andrew turned 5 weeks old!  He's sleeping 4-5 hours a night which is so nice for me.  I'm still rocking major circles under my eyes but at least he's going a little longer at night.  He is awake more during the day and is trying to get on a more predictable schedule.  He eats every three hours during the day and will stay awake for 1-1 1/2 hours after each feeding.  Then I put him to sleep on his stomach (horrors, I know) and he's racked until the next feeding.  He really loves to sleep on his stomach or in the nap nanny.  He is not a fan of most of our "contraptions"-the car seat, the swing or the bouncy.  The boy loves to be held and I'm not complaining about it!!!

1 vs 2

Many a mama warned me about the transition from one child to two.  During the later stages of this pregnancy, I was totally freaked out about the change.  So much so that I asked my OB for some good drugs-which he denied me-and now I am thankful that he did.  I had my transition-to-two meltdown before Andrew was even born.  Looking back, it was such a blessing that it happened then (much like how it was a blessing that I had the stomach virus at 38 weeks pregnant as opposed to now).  I was a mess...totally freaked out about how I could handle my ever melting down toddler and a newborn.

Let me say, so far I am handling it.  And pretty damn well I might add (am I asking for trouble here???).  Let me make myself clear, two is no joke and I am not pretending that it is easy or that I'm good at it.  I am tired, I don't shower everyday, and I definitely don't handle all child related issues perfectly.  I am just dealing with it much better than I imagined.  I don't think that Banks is any easier, I think that I have just changed my mentality about dealing with him.  If he's having a tantrum then oh well.  He gets a spanking and cries some more, oh well.  Andrew is crying while I'm trying to do something for Banks, oh well.  There is only so much one mama can do at one time.  I've stopped trying to make everyone perfect and that has been so beneficial for me as well as for the chirrens.

The most difficult thing so far has been breastfeeding (I probably just ran off all two of my readers with this statement).  I don't remember it being this difficult with Banks but that's probably because I could just whip the boob out and leave it out because I didn't have anything else to do.  I'm trying to make myself chill out about it and I'm feeling a little better about it.  Plus, Andrew is starting to be awake more and he's eating better and that seems to be helping in the breastfeeding department.

I cannot believe that Andrew is a month old already.  I think I will say this every month.  He's still sweet and snuggly and I think I've caught him smiling at me once or twice.  He has crazy gas (typical man), spits up all the time, and loves his paci.  He likes "watching" his big brother.  He likes being held and sleeping on his stomach.  I love letting him sleep on my chest.

Banks is being a champion of a big brother.  Today was the first day I had to really get on to him for being all up in Andrew's face, pulling on him, etc.  He's just trying to love on him in the best way he knows how.  Banks is making us laugh everyday.  Today he told me "I was riding with Daddy to get stamps and I put my nose in my mouth (we call boogers his nose because booger is such a gross word) and he told me it was yuck and sick."  Which it is.  At dinner tonight, he got into trouble for throwing his napkin on the ground for the 100th time.  Matt asked him what he had said about throwing his napkin on the ground and Banks replies, "hmm, let me see if I can figure it out."  Hilarious!

Banks likes to photo-bomb my pictures when I'm trying to get a good one of Andrew.  See the top of little Andrew's head before he got eclipsed by Banks?!?!?

And now for the comparison...can you tell who is who???  They look sooooo similar to me!

Banks is at the top and Andrew is on the bottom.  Don't you think they look alike???

Today I love...

1.  The little sucky noises that Andrew makes when he is working his paci.
2.  How Andrew smells of spoiled milk (is that weird?).
3.  How Matt has totally stepped it up and takes Banks for outings almost everyday.
4.  Banks' big blue eyes.
5.  Watching Banks learn what it means to wait and being sweet about it.

Andrew's "only child" weekend

Matt's brother and his wife graciously offered to keep Banks for us for a long weekend.  I drove both boys (without any meltdowns) to Memphis by myself Thursday, thus beginning Andrew's reign as an only child.  I must say, both he and I loved it!  Lots of uninterrupted snuggle time.

Being down a child means that lots of things that happened this weekend that don't normally happen:

-we slept til 9:30 every morning

-we ate breakfast at Bottletree

-we tooled around the Square

-we watched grown-up TV (all in all I watched three movies)

-we cleaned the house from top to bottom

It might be the most productive weekend I've had in a long while.  Again, why did I think having only ONE child (and a sleepy newborn at that) was so hard???  There were no tantrums, no battles over food, no arguments over which clothes to wear, etc.  But I will say, it was mighty quiet in this house!  I missed having funny conversations with my little man, reading books to him, and getting good hugs from him.  I missed that little blonde fireball!  Thank goodness he is home now and things are returning to normal...all toys have been drug out, we've watched two cartoons already, and he's had one major meltdown so far.  Ah, normalcy.  Here's to my first week with both chirrens and no help.  I'm a big girl, surely I can handle it.  And if I can't...well, there's always wine.