Adjusting to Two

Well, here's the truth. It's been a week and a half, and the honest truth is that adjusting to life with two children, for me, is kind of easier than adjusting to life with one child was. I'm hesitant to plant my flag in this argument fully, because it could all fall apart tonight or tomorrow or in three weeks, but honestly, I am having an easier time adjusting to adding Jonah to our family than I had adding Charlotte. Either way, that is a very good thing. Jonah just kind of slides into what we already have going. Are we getting less sleep? Sure, and maybe not even less, but just more broken up. But in our house, we're making it work better than we did the last time around.

So, yes, it's easier because now we've done it once before. Our sleep schedules were already sort of a fluid concept. We know what to expect in terms of our lives and time not being our own. But there are definitely some other factors making this easier than last time. Adam didn't just change jobs, for one thing. He's comfortable in his job, and even though he has to drive an hour to get there, he really likes it. That's less stressful. Jonah didn't have any birth defects that we needed to address in his first week of life. That's less stressful. My parents were here the same day that Jonah was born, and that was just a flat-out blessing that I can't describe thankfully enough. There's a lot that's been different, and mostly, it's all been good.

So, how's Charlotte doing? Better. Though I am super grateful to my parents for being here, kids get kind of crazy around their out-of-town grandparents, and she definitely calmed down when they left. At first, she was sort of freaked out by Jonah, and that has tapered, thankfully. Now she is very intense with him, getting too close for too long and wanting to help him (and us) TOO much. It's loving, but in 3-year-old terms. When she's not focused on him, she's getting into everything in our house, sort of testing her boundaries. I don't know if that has anything to do with a new baby or not; she may be just testing us because of her age or to see if we still notice/love/enforce the rules now that Jonah is here.

I do know that every day gets a little bit better and a little less chaotic. We get more done every day, and I take less medicine for pain every day. Every day, we get closer and closer to a very low-key Christmas, and we're all looking very forward to it. We hope you're doing well in all of your holiday preparations, and as usual, Soli Deo Gloria.