Someone told me long ago there's a calm before the storm. I know, it's been comin' for some time. When it's over, so they say, it'll rain a sunny day. I know, shinin' down like water. I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain? I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain? Comin' down on a sunny day...

So, here we are 6 months into this new life as a family of 4.

In a word... Rainy. Sometimes.

It has been a doozie! With such limited experience with toddlers prior to having one of our own, I must say, it's been quite eye opening.

The baby grows into a toddler... Good to know. 

Evie has been worse than a PMSing, 15 year old girl... I mean, emotions are all.over.the.place. We're happy, we're sad. We're sad and we don't know why we're sad. We're happy because we're watching Elmo. We're sad because we're watching Elmo. We want a snack... and we want it now. "Why aren't you moving your ass faster, Dada? Seriously. I need those Goldfish, dammit!" I embellish a bit, but you get the gist. When we're up- we're way up. And when we're down... well that's one hell of a rainy day.

And Weston. Well, let's just say, if you haven't heard of Wonder Weeks, let me just tell you, they're a real bitch. We are finally getting over one now, and Weston has been an absolute bear for much of this most recent 'leap' (mental leap that is- freaking bastards that came up with these lovely little monikers like "Wonder Weeks" and "mental leaps" need to get donkey punched). Weston was an absolute cherub nightmare through this last leap. Sleep was all over the place. He cried almost enough to match his sister and her meltdowns... Wait, that is a lie, he wasn't even close to that. Thank G! But, we got through that storm... and things are looking pretty sunny at the moment. 

We are surviving. And some days, dare I even say, thriving. Maybe that's a stretch...

I said this in a previous blog post, but I will say it again... Things are so different with kid #2. I remember not wanting to be away from Evie for even one night... And I wasn't, until she was 18 months old. Crazy. Now, if someone told me "Hey, how about I watch your kids for a weekend and you can go take a trip somewhere." I wouldn't even let them finish that sentence before I would be packing their bags, ready and willing to pass off the kiddos.

With Evie, I was so anti-sleep training until I hit my absolute breaking point around 6.5 mos. With Weston that point came around 3.5 months... and we actually started it at 4 months because I felt too guilty starting it so early when I started so late with his sister. I will say, we did a different method this time around, and it ended up working really for us... Very few tears, and W is doing really, really well when it comes to most things sleep... except for sleeping through the night. UGH... Why, oh why must we continue to wake at 2am for a feeding? Why?! You're cute, but I would be happy to wait another 5 hours to see your sweet, sweet face. Ya heard? K, thanks.

With Evie, we did full Baby Led Weaning. I LOVED it! Evie LOVED it! It was fantastic. Well, enter Weston... and let's just say, we're doing a modified BLW. I am still aiming to introduce him to finger foods like I did with Ev, but I have given him a few purees... I never did that at all with Evie. But, this is what is working for us right now. I have no guilt about it. I used to have time to prep all sorts of food for Evie... and I just don't have that kind of time anymore. I truly feel like we are doing the best we can, and I'm good with that. Weston is happy, so I'm happy.

With Evie, she did not watch a lick of television until she was 2. Legit, 2 years old. From about 15 months on, I tried to get to her to watch something, anything... but she had no interest. As soon as she turned 2, she could not get enough of "Elmo & Abby" - we have ONE episode that we watch over and over. She doesn't want to watch any other one. I rue the day that we accidentally delete it, because I think you will hear her cries from a few states away. It will be a travesty of the greatest kind... I can actually see Evie having an exorcist like moment... Head coming off, spinning around, vomit everywhere. <shudder>

Yikes, gotta shake that image out of my mind... Anyway, we didn't really introduce TV to E when she was a baby... I would have the Today Show or the news on in the background during the day, but she didn't really watch it. Well, enter Weston, and I swear the poor kids first word is going to be 'Elmo' because Sesame Street is on all the time, and he can't keep his eyes off of it. I actually found myself putting him on his mat with the TV on today, just to give him a distraction. Yep, guilty as charged. Judge away... I've used the TV as a form of entertainment for my 6 month old. And guess what? I don't even care. As I mentioned before, we're doing the best that we can... and if that means giving the kid 15 minutes of screen time so I can get his clothes laundered? Well, so be it.

I love our life. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. But I'd be lying if I said it was easy. I know some day it will be easier, and I look forward to that... Some days are just so tough... And that is why God made tequila.

Until next time...