Life with Two Under Two 👊

Wow. Time is such a strange thing. I can't believe Jude is one month old. That the holidays have come and gone. That we've been a family of four for 30 days. That Jeffrey's paternity leave is over and he's back at work (cue my tears). 

We did a lot this past month. We had my mom and two brothers stay with us the week of Christmas. We did shopping and wrapping and celebrating Jude's first Christmas, and Eleanor's first REAL Christmas where she can actually open presents and be excited about the whole day. We took our babies to church for the first time. We went on our first family vacation to Napa with my dad and Julie, uncles, aunts and grandpa that flew in from all over to spend New Years together. We went to Jeffrey's favorite brewery and ate out at fancy restaurants where Elle learned how to take of her shirt by herself. In public. Awesome. 

Jeffrey and I both lost our cell phones at different times and had to undergo search parties for hours to find them. (His was left outside overnight and had frost on it in the morning. Mine was left in a menu and taken back to the hostess stand.) To say we're losing our minds a bit is an understatement. 

Then we got home after New Years and had a week to just breathe and sleep and get into a routine before Jeffrey went back to work. Then last Sunday I came down with the 24 hour stomach flu. I was throwing up over the toilet as Jeffrey walked out the door for work Monday morning and I was alone with both babies for the first time. Really, just perfect timing. So it's Wednesday. We survived three days with only one trip to the ER (Jude), one tube of lipstick eaten (Eleanor), and a handful of breakdowns (me). As a bonus Jude peed on me this morning and I never got a chance to change my dress all day. Also three people told me I have food on my face today and it was a pimple. Cool. 

This is life with two under two. 

Now before I scare all my mama friends into not having a second child--lemme just say...this is not even half the crazy. 

I'm kidding. Sort of. 

But also it's just not the whole picture. Call us crazy, but in the midst of it all Jeffrey and I have laughed so many times --mostly at our toddler and the ridiculous things she does. Why are toddlers just the most entertaining thing?? Like we've laughed so hard we've cried. 

And I've cried WAY more tears of joy when I stop and look at my two babies faces, than tears of frustration or tiredness. My days are so full now but I love them so much. I go to bed (most days, because let's be honest we all have "those days") feeling so very grateful for this season. It's hard in many ways (reread paragraph four for a refresher), but it's also so beautiful. I mean I forgot how wonderful it feels to have a newborn sleep on your chest for hours. Or how sweet it is to nurse and have their tiny little fingers wrap around yours. And I'm learning as our family grows, the fun grows (cheesy mom line, I know). But for real. We feel even more like a family now that Jude is here. I love the time right before bedtime the most. When we're all laying in the big bed together, reading a story (probably the same book for the upmteenth time even though Eleanor has fifty-three other books she insists on "I'm a Big Sister"). In these moments my heart just feels like it's about to burst with love. How can life be so simple yet so beautiful? I have no clue. Honestly. I struggle with how unsexy our life is at times. Not a whole lot of jet setting or being out past 9pm going on around here lately. Yet it is the most fun I've had in my life.

So here's to month one. To the crazy and the crazy beautiful. To laughing when I find my toddler with lipstick all over the walls and on my favorite free people sweater (honestly, it couldn't have been the target sweater??). To leaving the house a little messier at night if it means snuggling up on the couch a little longer with my babies. To forgetting the "shoulds" I hear in the back of my head and giving myself grace because #twoundertwo. 

Here's to month one. To not just "surviving", but thriving. 

(Okay I'll stop with the cheesy mom quotes. I just can't help it sometimes...)