The past 2 months

We finally have our Internet back after over a week of dealing with Quest and being sent two different modems in the mail. I have gotten so used to typing on my little iPhone keyboard that I feel like having an entire full sized keyboard is a luxury. Anyway, so much has happened in the last 2 months. They are aren't huge life changing events but everyday with my boys is a new adventure, trial, mishap, discovery and joy. My 8 week old Fletcher started smiling this week. I forgot how in the middle of the most challenging day a little smile can bring me to tears. Granted, I still have those post partum hormones raging through me so crying is a daily occurrence but those little baby smiles are heart melting.

We had lots of visitors surrounding the birth of Baby R #2. All of my sisters were here in the 2 weeks prior to his birth. It was great to have them here help out, listen to my fears of having 2 kids, getting a little reprieve from the daily grind and for Archie to have his Aunts around. My Mom flew in the day Fletcher was born which was such a huge relief for Dave and myself. One of my biggest stressors in the month prior to Fletcher's birth was who would watch Archer while I was laboring and in the hospital. My Mom got tickets the second she found out I was in labor and was here 12 hours later. Words cannot express how much that meant to me. With Archer we had nobody visit us in the hospital b/c everyone was 1000+ miles away. It always made me a little sad especially since we are from such large families. Having my Mom here was just great!

My Dad flew in about a week and half later for a few days. Archer got to show Grandpa S. his mad alphabet skills and my Dad got a reminder as to what it was like having a 20 month old crawl into bed with you in the middle of the night. Good times were had by all! About a week after my parents left, Dave's parents came for 2 weeks. I will be eternally grateful for Grandma R. who spent the entire 2 weeks working on getting Archie to fall asleep in his crib and stay there all night. For the last year we have been bringing Archie into our bed every night around 2-3 a.m. He just couldn't put himself back to sleep and we had spent countless hours sitting his room rocking him just to have him wake up the second we set him down. Now he sleeps all night in crib and if he does wake up all we have to do is walk into his room, say "Archie lay down and go to sleep" and he does!! It's a miracle really.

A few days after they left Archer got a cold and then Fletcher developed a cough. We took him to an urgent care facility on a Saturday and the Dr. said it "was most likely a cold. We took him to our pediatrician on Monday and she sent us to the hospital for an overnight stay b/c his oxygen levels were low. The poor guy got two chest x-rays and was put on oxygen. It turned out that he had a respiratory virus called RSV. In an older child it presents itself as a cold, but babies have a harder time with it and Fletcher was on oxygen for about 10 days. He is all better now and we are hoping that between spending time in a billibed, staying overnight in the pediatric ward and being on oxygen for 10 days that he has all his illnesses out of the way for the year.

Archer is a bundle of fun these days. He is talking a lot more now and we can actually recognize many of the words he says. He is also stringing words together like "Night, night Momma" and "Alphabet please Momma". He is advocating for himself and letting us know what he wants. When his favorite shows are on you can hear him trying to sing the songs. This also means that Dave and I need to really start watching what we say and what television programs we are watching when he is around. He has been really good around his baby brother too. Sometimes he is a little rough but for the most part he softly pats Fletcher on the head, tries to give him his pacifier and points to him saying "baby".

Life as a family of four is great. I still am not brave enough to take both kids out by myself though so we spend our days at home. Weekends are now filled with getting all of our errands out of the way. We still want more kids, but are going to space them a little more apart. Having two kids 19 months apart is hard! Well Dave needs to leave for work soon so I have to relinquish my free time. Hopefully I will post more than every two months.