How's it going?

Lately, people have been asking us, "How's it going with two kids?".  Our answer, "Fantastic".  We are loving it.  Before Theo was born people would tell us, "You know it's going to be so hard with two kids so close in age!".  You think? ha!  We knew it would be a challenge and it certainly is, but much better than we thought it would be.  Tim and I didn't really know what to expect, except, how could we love someone as much as we love our little girl?  But our hearts have expanded even more and we are in love with our baby boy.  And ya know what else is great? Madelyn loves him too.  It'll be fun to watch them grow up together being so close in age.

Madelyn changes everyday.  She is very much an active toddler which makes things hard, but so much fun.  She reacts to situations and is trying to imitate everything you do.  She also understands more than we think she does.  Which can be fun and a little scary.  She's very good at playing independently, but loves it when you play with her.  I was getting ready the other morning while she was playing in her room.  When I came in to see her, what was she doing, reading to herself.  It's so cute to watch.  I figured she might be stringing toys all over her room (which this does happen..often), but no, she was sitting quietly on the ground reading to herself.  Madelyn's not much of a TV watcher, which is good and bad.  More good than bad I think.  It'll hold her attention for maybe 5 minutes, then she's off playing with something.  She loves turning on and off lights.  We've had to move her crib to just about the middle of the room so she doesn't flip her light on and off.  She said "light" for the very first time this morning.  I'm telling ya, something new every day.

Theo is changing everyday as well.  Getting bigger, smiling and watching everything his sister does.  Eating and sleeping like a champ.  He loves when you leave him unswaddled so he can find that thumb and suck away.  But mean old mom and dad swaddle him up so he can't get to it.  Sometimes (well many times) he gets mad and cries for awhile, but eventually falls asleep.

I keep both kids to a schedule, but you definitely have to be flexible with them as well.  I read the book "Babywise" before having Madelyn and it worked wonders.  And it's working for Theo as well.  They both takes naps about the same time and sleep well at night.  What more can you ask for? =)  

The doggies?  Yes, they're still around.  Of course, they have gone down the totem pole a little bit, but we still love them.  Sadie sits next to whoever is feeding Theo.  She likes to be right up next to him.  Daisy, well, she's our spacey dog.  Sits on top of the couch most of the day watching people, animals, leaves, whatever moves.  She has to be in the same room Sadie is or she goes crazy.  Daisy is our digger.  Loves digging holes outside.  This means we have to take her out on a leash.  Not really what we were hoping for since we specifically got a fenced in backyard for the dogs.  Sadie's fine out by herself, but Daisy, not so much.  That's ok..maybe someday she'll learn.  One can hope.

Tim and I are great.  Better than ever really.  I just started back at work two weeks ago.  I only work 2 days a week from 7am-4pm, but it's still...work.  It really is a nice schedule for me.  I get to stay at home with my babies some and then get out of the house and not change diapers for a couple days.  Tim has now added another job to his resume.  He's teaching PE and Music Application at the school where I work.  He'll do that everyday in the afternoon.  It's expensive to live up in Seattle, so we've gotta make things work somehow.  This means one of us having extra work.  Tim's also still doing seminary classes through Multnomah Seminary in Portland.  I'm also teaching 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School at church.  It'll be a busy year. 

When we moved into our house a couple years ago, we were thinking more houses would be built.  Well, they are finally all built and sold!  Yea!  Two Saturdays ago, we had our first neighborhood barbecue.  It was a lot of fun and had a good turn out.  Tim and I have met people as they have moved in, but it was good to see them again and learn more about them.  We have quite a diverse neighborhood-caucasion, hispanic, asian, middle eastern, african. 

That's what's going on with us.  Like I said, it'll be a fun and busy year.

-Megan