Whew...

I can finally breathe.  We're all moved and getting settled in.  I never thought it'd take me almost two weeks to get everything unpacked but it's finally done.  Now, to get the pictures hung and the decorating done.  I'm already driving Matt nuts with my honey-do list and there is so much I want to buy for/do to the house.  We are loving being in a whole house, not just a TTT.  Everyone has their own room (not that Andrew is sleeping in his at night juuuuuust yet) and we have plenty of space.  Banks has been out the back door 2,000 times and I love getting to watch that little boy play in the backyard!  We've had our first group of friends over for dinner and I loved getting out my McCarty and cooking for everyone.  It's a good thing they're our friends since the A/C unit broke and leaked water all over the floor while they were here.  Oh, the joys of home ownership!!!

Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to lately:

Roo-Roo started using the bumbo and loves his new perspective.

We went to our first Double Decker Festival since being residents of Oxford (does that make us Oxonians?  Oxfordonians??).  We never could have made it without our friend who let us use his office on the Square as our resting/bottle warming/baby feeding station.

This little cheezer turned 3 months old.  I swear, he is the happiest baby!

Had a fabulous Mother's Day with my boys!

It has returned...

It happened two nights ago and then last night, it happened again.  Sleep, that is.  Praise the Lord, Hallelujah.  Andrew is sleeping through the night!  He has a bottle at 10:00 pm and then doesn't eat again until 7:00 am! 

A full nights sleep makes everybody happy!!!

It took much longer for this to happen with Banks.  Which brings me to my next point.  Is that what I'm going to do for the rest of their lives?  Compare them to each other?  Since I'm an only child, I don't know what siblings think about that; always being compared to each other.  I'd imagine they hate it.  It just comes out of my mouth.  People ask what kind of baby Andrew is and I immediately say "oh, he's soooooo much easier than Banks."  Which he is.  But poor Banks will always be labeled as the high maintenance one.  Which he is.  That's what he gets for being just like me. 

Mr. High Maintenance: big boy underware on over the shorts over the diaper and couldn't be prouder!

I'm also realizing what role I played in contributing to Banks' high maintenance-ness.  I was always up in his face trying to entertain him when he didn't necessarily need that.  Andrew can entertain himself staring at a burp cloth hanging from his bassinet (can I get an Amen?).  Please tell me you all did the same to your first born.  Just didn't know any better and felt the need to teach, sing, read, stare and pretty much suffocate the poor baby.  And now Banks "needs" that type of attention from me.  He's gotten somewhat better at being patient and entertaining himself since Andrew has been born.  However, patience is not his virtue.  He's two so I'm not sure how many virtues he has other than tantrumness and irritability.

Speaking of irritability; you can blame my lack of posting on the fact that we are packing up to move yet again.  Bleh.  This will be the third time we've moved in almost 12 months.  Bleh again.  However, this time we're finally getting rid of the TTT and moving into a house of our very own!  I am so excited for a yard, more space and for everyone to have a room of their own!  Andrew slept through the night just in time to move into his new nursery!  I have literally started a list in my phone of people we want to have over once we get settled.  SO many of our friends have had us over for dinner or for playdates and we owe them big time!  Plus, I love entertaining and this house will be perfect for that!  So pray for me as we get moved in over the next week.  I have something very precious that will have to be moved.  So precious that it will make a special trip to the house all by itself in my car so that I can ensure its safety.

Gold.  Liquid gold.  That's right...bags and bags and bags of frozen breastmilk.

Easter photo dump

Egg hunt 1 of 6.  Yes, SIX egg hunts this year.  Wowza.  This one was at Faulkner's house and he had a blast!

This pretty much sums up how Banks feels about most things at this point in his life.  Terrible two's are NO JOKE people. 

"La, la, la...can't hear you..."

 

Andrew getting in on a little Easter fun!

April showers...he had a ball playing in the rain one day.

 Easter loot.  The umbrella was the big hit this year.  It only took 5 days for it to be destroyed.

 Look at that grumpy look on Andrew's face!  I think he might be terrified of Banks!!!

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.