Adventures of a Family

Having two children is not as easy as having one. Of course no one in their right mind said it would be but I still didn't imagine that it would seem more than twice as challenging. For me it often is. Things I thought I'd still have time for, like writing for our family blog, pulling weeds from the garden or taking deep breaths seem to have been pushed to the side for the past 10 months. I often wonder if years later Jonah and Mae will read these entries and realize that many moments of Jonah's early life were catalogued here whereas Mae will wonder to herself, "I wonder if they love Jonah more than they love me." Not possible my little Mae. So many things have gone un-recorded here and to recreate a bunch of posts to relive them will not do it all justice so I have put together a bulleted list of the many things I missed posting but think about each and every day when I see my sweet little girl. You say dadda like it is the best word in the world (nevermin...

Mae turns 6 months old this Wednesday and I can hardly believe it. So here are some of the things I have been thinking about: There is a direct correlation between number of kids and reduction of "free" time. Though for some reason it doesn't seem to matter much. Mae is in love with all of us. She has the most beautiful sparkle in her eyes when she looks at Hallie and me. When she looks at Jonah it makes me jealous that she doesn't look at me that way. She LOVES Jonah. Anything he does is funny to her. He touches her on the head and says in a sweet voice, "Hi Mae" and she sighs, giggles and wiggles with delight. Hallie says that this is the reason that older siblings can totally take advantage of their younger brothers or sisters. Now I think that is not true but don't talk to my sister about that. She'll just lie and tell you a story about how I used to make her look in the sleeve of my long sleeve shirt (while I was wearing it) and then...

Today is Monday. I have been to work exactly five times in the past eight weeks. I came home from work, looked through the dining room window and heard squealing with delight from the other side of the glass. Jonah was happy to see me. Happy isn't the right word. It seemed like he had that feeling you get as you approach the front of a 45 minute line waiting for a 1.5 minute roller-coaster, the sensation while on the roller-coaster AND just after you get off the ride all in one. He squealed, pointed to the door and ran. I went to the door, opened it and stepped inside. With a huge grin from ear to ear and a slight sway back and forth, Jonah ran to give me a hug. He then stood back a bit. Swayed some more. Looked at me and cooed with the most sincere tone, "Miss(ed) you daddy."

Jonah is beginnning to really enjoy having his sister around. He calls out for her when he hears her make noise, he asks for her at bed time and loves to touch her hair. In fact, Jonah even said one of his first big sentences when describing Mae's hair; pointing at Mae's hair "Mae hair up funny."

I realize some of you may not believe that my child's invented spelling is of his own making so I have included a video that shows Jonah in action.

Today I saw an image of my mommy on a camera screen and then I heard her voice on the cell phone speaking to me I squealed with delight and drooled for my mom She'll be home to see me, I'll have my best smile on.

Today I had a revelation. Of course Hallie has been thinking this since the very beginning; I wish that I could take each and every moment of Jonah's life and catalog everything about it. My feeling, his sounds, expressions and flailing, glimpses of learning in his eyes, his smell, the weather, the junk mail that came that day, the music we listened to together, the feeling that I forgot to take a breath while staring at his face ... Absolutely everything. I want to be able to call those moments up and step into them. Maybe even a way to step from one moment to another instantly and note the change. It isn't that I wish he could stop growing and be exactly like he is today. I want tomorrow too. I want to feel like I felt yesterday, feel like I feel today and be surprised by all of the emotions that are to come.