Life with Siena... so far!

I'm writing again. I thought I was going to give up blogging for good... but then came blurb. I saw a post on Ginger's birthday blog, written by TJ, with link for blurb, which helps you turn your blog into a book. My blog is definitely not publish-worthy, but I decided to do it anyways since I was giving up my blog and wanted a way to print it all out. I thought it might be a nice way to remember everything about Chase's first 2 years of life. Well, the last few days I've been editing my "book" with the blurb software (which is not the easiest thing, by the way), and I realized that I love that Chase's life has been documented in this way. I felt immediately guilty that Siena wouldn't have the same information about her life. Plus I could see how good it was for me to write about various things I was struggling with at the time, and to get the great advice from friends through their comments. SO, I decided to write again. I might start a new blog, or I might just change this one up a bit... we'll see. Don't be surprised if you see lots of little changes in the near future.

Anyways, life with Siena in it is nothing short of wonderful. I love that little girl. I wrote on my facebook profile that I'm "instantly in love with Siena" and that's the truth. She's adorable, even if she is Chase's identical twin in a dress. I could spend all day holding her, with my face close to hers, and just breathing her in. I think maybe it's easier to love her, now that I've seen how wonderful it is to have a child and watch them grow, as we have with Chase. With your first, it's exciting, but there's also this vast unknown ahead of you. Now we know: life with children is amazing, fascinating, and full of joy! I can't wait for every little milestone.

The first week at home had its ups and downs. My parents were here, which was great! They helped out SO much and took care of every little detail. My dad retrieved all of the baby stuff from the attic that we hadn't had time to pull down, since Siena arrived a little early! My mom cleaned the house like a pro, including my stove (second time this year!) and sewed buttons onto shirts and pants that had been sitting in a pile, waiting for me for I don't know how long. The one thing that none of us did during that first week was cook. I can't begin to describe how grateful I was to have a new meal delivered every night to our door by various friends and neighbors! The toughest part of the first week at home was adjusting to the change in my relationship with Chase. Its incredibly hard to go from being able to spend every waking moment with your child to having to cater to another child's every need. Chase's phrase of the week was "mommy do it!" in response to nearly every activity that Eric or my parents tried to do with him. He didn't want anyone else to fix him lunch, take him to the potty, put him down for a nap, or anything. As I was constantly feeding Siena (or so it seemed), I couldn't always get up to tend to Chase, and this resulted in HUGE temper tantrums! There were lots of tears, a few incidents of items being thrown across the room, and several "accidents" on the floor and the couches! It was so frustrating for me. I just wanted my sweet little boy back. He loved, and still loves Siena. He's so sweet to her... holds her hands, talks to her, gets burp cloths or blankets for her, and wants to make sure she's going with us everywhere we go. But he was just not happy with us, that's for sure.

Fortunately, things have gotten easier over the past 2 weeks. Eric is home for 5 weeks on paternity leave and Chase has slowly gotten used to him being around all day every day. He'll now let Eric take care of him, and we've had very few accidents lately. Things seem to be back to normal. Or maybe it's just the "new normal." It's still tough to adjust to the breastfeeding routine again... to be constantly on call when Siena starts crying. But as with Chase, breastfeeding for at least a year is a huge priority for me and I know that sometimes small sacrifices have to be made. I'm so lucky to have a supportive husband, who doesn't mind getting up with Chase in the middle of the night, letting me sleep late in the morning, or watching the kids while I go out for a (very therapeutic!) run! Actually, Eric more than a great husband, he's an amazing dad too. I think I knew he would be when we were dating, but I'm so impressed by how good he is with both of them. I wish I could stay as calm and patient as he is with Chase, and he's so attentive to Siena. I seriously don't know how I'm going to manage when he goes back to work! I've been spoiled lately.

Well it's getting late and I'm getting tired, so I'll end this post with a few pictures from the last 3 weeks.

At the playground (Siena's in the sling):

Chase and Siena's first bath together:

At the aquarium yesterday:

Just hangin' around: