In case you missed it

Just in case you've yet to see this gem, I give you a portrait of simultaneous sheer joy and utter terror:

Laura faked us out this time, though, as she was SO excited while we were waiting in line, shouting "Bunny!" to everyone within earshot. When we were next in line, though, she started with the clutch and turn away maneuver. But she recovered very quickly, and even carried around her own personal copy of this, showing it to anyone and everyone who would look at it. She's such funny girl, that one.

Will is spending some time in WV this week so Laura and I have been getting some much-appreciated girl time while he's been there. We've lived it up, going out to eat (a rarity with both of them), a leisurely trip to Barnes and Noble just to browse, and she's just happy as can be to be out and about with us.

(Tangent:  Someone inevitably comments on how well-behaved and pleasant Laura is while we're out at any number of places. And she is. I usually smile and nod and say something about how she's been this way for most of her life, that we got really lucky with her temperament, that it's nothing that we've done as parents, etc. And then a shockingly high percentage of these same people say something like, "Well, just wait till she's a teenager"or something along those lines. I know that at some point, Laura will really bust out and disappoint us, but really? Can't you let me enjoy my moment here? Especially seeing as I'm all too familiar with the other side of the coin. I'm not exactly worried about what she's going to be like as a teenager. I'm more concerned with enjoying her at this relatively simple part of her life, not with what may or may not happen 10 or so years from now. Tangent over.)

(Or actually not. Tangent two:  I was waiting in line at Starbucks the other day behind a couple of older women who started talking to a young family sitting at a nearby table.They had a boy who was three [the older women asked how old he was] and twin boys who looked to be about nine or 10 months old or so. The women chatted with them pleasantly about how busy their lives were with the three young boys and then one of them just asked, as though this were the most normal thing in the world, "So are you going to try for a girl?" And, despite the fact that I have both a boy and a girl, I was irritated for these people, even though the parents were perfectly gracious and laughed it off. First of all, is it really anyone else's concern? And secondly, to ask that question is to suggest that they are somehow deficient, lacking as a family since they only have boys. I know the woman probably didn't mean anything by her question, but I'm not certain that my response would have been quite as polite as theirs had I been asked the same. What is it with people and their nosy questions? Or with people who feel that it's perfectly acceptable to loudly and insistently talk about the forbidden subjects [religion and politics, namely] in very public places as if their own opinions are the only possible ones? I'm talking to you, old man at the gym who rails about the "liberal media" ad nauseum to anyone and everyone within earshot and beyond. Tangent really over this time.)

Happy Thursday!

Our other baby is five

Five years ago at this very moment, on a sunny day very similar to today, I was in a different hospital bed, in a state approximately 12 hours from our families. To this day, I feel guilty about my reaction to the news of Will's imminent arrival. At two days shy of five weeks early, I was pretty much scared out of my mind. Rationally, of course, I knew that babies born at this point have a very, very high likelihood of being just fine but a woman in labor is nothing if not irrational. I felt, somehow, like I was watching someone else have a baby.

But before I really knew what was happening, he was there, screaming from the first second they got him out. All 6 pounds and 7 ounces of him, alert and perfectly fine. He seemed to be perfectly at ease with life outside the womb from his very first breaths. He seemed to know what he was doing. So I started to follow his lead, confident that this crazy boy was going to be fine.

I should have known at that point that all that was really required of me was to sit down and hang on for dear life, because that's exactly what parenting Will is like. I chuckle to myself when people describe their kids as "spunky" or "spirited" or "strong-willed." Will is those things taken to their logical (and oftentimes illogical) extreme. He does not deal in the gray areas of life, preferring to see only black and white. He's persistent (oh my god, is he persistent) and argumentative and so incredibly perceptive and observant that sometimes it's frightening. He doesn't think like other kids. He never has and most likely never will. He knows exactly who he is and what he likes and what he wants. Really, we should all be so lucky.

And while this may sound like complaining, I am so very proud of this incredibly complex little being we're raising. Whereas Baby Sister makes parenting easy, Big Brother makes us work for it. Hard. Every single day. He's completely changed the way we think about parenting, the way we see others as parents, how judgmental (or non-judgmental, rather) we are toward other parents and families.

Will is never going to be the most well-behaved kid, nor will he ever be completely compliant and accepting. He has to find things out for himself, regardless of how many times he hears something from us. He probably won't win any awards for his self-control or his patience, but he can most certainly ask you questions and formulate his own answers well enough that it makes your head spin. Honestly, it can be a little unsettling to try to parent a five-year-old who's very often right.

Whatever Will does and however he arrives at doing it, I'm just glad to be along for the ride. I'm reminded every day of some of the more difficult kids I taught. Because those kids? The ones who drove me crazy and made me  question my decision to become a teacher every single day? They're the ones I'm being proudest of now, because every single achievement and accomplishment was so hard-fought.

I know, in my very bones, that Will is going to do something great with his life. He will change the world somehow, if even in a small way, just like he's changed our world. Because that's just how he rolls.

Happy 5th birthday, crazy boy! We love you!

Our baby is two

Two years ago, I was hanging out in the hospital, happily drugged and awaiting the same little girl who's snoozing in her crib now. Two years ago, I didn't know who Laura was or what she looked like or what her personality would be. Now, 730 days hence, it seems unimaginable that there was ever one single second that I didn't know her, didn't know what her hair feels like or how it curls under, except for the back right side, which has a mind of its own and flips whichever way it pleases at that given moment. Or that I didn't know what her tiny little finger looks like curled around mine or how her funny little naked body looks running around post-bath.

Also unimaginable is the fact that I worried way, way too much about how having her would disrupt our life, a relatively easy one (even with Big Brother's definitely-not-easy temperament) with only one extra mouth to feed, one little bum to clothe, one person to exert our influence on and hopefully steer in the right direction. I worried about raising a girl and all the potential minefields out there that we'd one day have to pick our clumsy way through. I worried about teaching two kids to get along and, with any luck, actually like each other.

But at 10:57, late in the evening on March 28, my doctor laid her tiny, slippery little self on my chest and I stopped worrying. None of that stuff mattered. It still doesn't. It was, and still is, the most profoundly peaceful moment of my whole life. From her very first breath, I knew her. I knew that everything good and pure and right in the world was distilled in all her 6 pounds and one ounce. I knew that she would change us in the best possible way. And she has. I wasn't "me" and we weren't "we" until she was here.

It is such a privilege to raise her. She's still pure goodness in one little body. When I try to talk about her and what she is to us, words inevitably fail me. They always will. I am, now more than ever, keenly aware of just how fortunate we are to call these babies of ours our own. 

Two years later, I still can't believe our good fortune. She's ours. And we couldn't possibly love her more.

Happy 2nd birthday, Sis! We love you, sweet girl!

Dispatches from yet another playground

I'm writing this while Laura is STILL sleeping (at nearly 10 am!). This is, from my Early Bird Special from birth, highly unusual but she's a bit under the weather. And, like her Daddy, she is very pitiful and dramatic about it. Will and I are more in the minimal-complaining-just-deal-with-it camp but the other half of the family fully embraces the the-more-I-make-sad-faces-and/or-moan-the-better-I-will-feel philosophy. Oh, well. To each his or her own, right?

We've had really nice weather this past week and we've been to various parks and playgrounds to celebrate Jamison not having to go to Vegas this week.

She looks so old in this picture. How did this happen?

Will is learning how to propel himself on the swings. This is a surprisingly hard process, apparently.

Will is showing Laura some ants. Laura will pretty much look at anything her big brother wants to show her.

Just for some perspective, when I said that Laura looks older, it's not because she's tall or anything. This outfit is a size 6-9 months. I was digging through her "outside" clothes looking for something short-sleeved since it's apparently mid-June around here and this is what I came up with. It's kind of tight, but it still fit her. It's hard to believe she could squeeze into something so small just a week shy of turning two.

We're not planning on squeezing her into all of last year's clothes, though. We got her some new clothes this past weekend.

The kids love watching the garbage trucks. Simple pleasures.

Laura loves going into her closet and putting on whatever she can get to. All she needs here is a mismatched legwarmer or two.

I'll leave you with a small glimpse of my pitiful girl.

This doesn't quite capture her level of pitiful-ness accurately but it was also taken yesterday before she started feeling really out of sorts. And right now, she's crying in her bed saying "Sad" every few seconds just to reinforce her condition. Even when she's sick she's a funny girl.

I realize that I've kind of been lazy writing-wise, since pictures and commentary don't really take any thought. Maybe I'll try something a little more thoughtful here soon. Deep Thoughts with Sara or something equally serious.

This weekend

Our weekend kicked off with Will tripping on his vent and coming out of his room dripping blood from somewhere in his mouth, of course obscuring his front teeth so that I immediately thought he'd lost them both.

His lips aren't exactly small to begin with, so with his additional swelling, he reached Mick Jagger proportions.

I made blueberry muffins Saturday morning and both of the kids ate way too many muffins. (Will kept saying, "I love eating these things!" He had eaten six or seven by lunchtime. True story.)

After our muffin binge, we took a nice walk around the neighborhood.

We do not, in fact, have an endorsement deal with Horizon.

Will requested that I take his picture. This was his chosen pose. After seeing it on my phone, he deemed it acceptable. 

Laura got tired of walking and promptly fell asleep in this awkward position in the stroller.

This is not mold. It's chia seeds. Jamison brought some back after a trip to Whole Foods. He mixed up this appetizing potion and actually asked me if I wanted to try some. You'd think he would know me a little better after ten years together. He took a drink, looked at me and said, "This is even grosser than what you imagine." He then proceeded to drink the entire thing. I have nothing more to say on this subject. (However, he did clean out the garage this weekend so I won't make too much fun of him.)

Have a good (chia-seed-free) week!

Greetings from the playground

Today the weather is too good to be true, so we stopped off at the playground on our way home from picking Will up from school.

It's so nice out I'm almost tempted to do yard work. Almost.

A month later

Well, I would apologize for not writing anything here lately but I'm pretty sure you've made it just fine without any of my usual drivel. I would also vow to write more often but I'm also pretty sure that that would be an empty promise. So.

Where to start? We spent a week in WV while Jamison was in Milwaukee yet again and it felt like I was on vacation! With Grammie around constantly, I forgot how time consuming the mundane areas of life with kids (preparing food, cleaning, bathing, so forth and so on ad infinitum) can be as she did a fair bit of assisting with both of the kids. And to top it all off, my mother-in-law watched the kids for a few hours while my mom and I went to lunch. Alone! I can't remember going out to lunch with my mom alone since having any of the kids so this was a much-appreciated afternoon off. (Thanks, Mamaw Di!)

We spent a morning at my nephew's birthday party. Will loved all the rides and games.

Laura wasn't so sure. We'll be going back to the same place for the kids' party here in a few weeks so we'll see if she's a little more adventurous the second time around.

We had to go to the mall so Jamison could augment his extensive collection of corduroy pants before leaving on his trip. The bonus was that we got to ride this little train all around the mall. Will loved it. Laura was ready to disembark after a few minutes.

Photo by Will. We have about 446 pictures of various parts of the van's interior.

Our activity level while in WV completely overwhelmed Laura.

The kids both got haircuts.

It was Laura's first haircut. Such a big girl now. The woman cutting her hair (Normie) is a family friend who also cut Will's hair for the first time so I wanted to wait until we were home to continue the tradition. (And yes, that's a sucker in my not-even-two-year-old's hand. Will had his first sucker sometime well into his first year of preschool so we're obviously a little more lax this time around.)

We took the kids to the playground to enjoy the warm weather.

And to the library for story time.

Will got to ride his bike some while Sister was napping.

We also went on a long walk.

Will could walk around in the woods for hours. Sometimes I think we're doing him a disservice by living where we do, a little ways away from the kind of rural childhood I had.

We saw lots more cousins and family while home but I'm not exactly consistent with the picture-taking and have no pictures to show from all this.

I'm sorry this was so boring. My writing/communication skills in general appear to be a little rusty.

Hopefully it's as nice out where you are as it is here!