Summer Days in Wisconsin

I just recently returned from a wonderful trip visiting my parents home... here is a post from facebook describing a bit of our time there... and pictures to help paint the picture of delight! :-)

"You just can't beat the beauty of my parent's home in WI!! Ahhhhhhh!

The rose and grapevine path, the lushious garden with fresh veggies, bushes of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, currents and goosberries!

 Where even a hot day is perfect with the breeze off the lake...

Where flowers bloom with joyful ease and colorful birds come to eat. Where little boys run wild and free in nothing but diapers...

...their faces painted with fresh berry stains, catching frogs and playing with the cat.

Where laundry dances happily on the line...

...and mom pulls fresh sweet custard pies from the oven.

Where love and laughter abound...

 ...and peace resonates."

How I treasure these moments and how they fill my heart with joy! Summer Days...

Two easier than one?

Ok, so I have been considering the possibility that two kids might be easier than just one.

Now don't hold this against me when you see me pulling my hair out in the grocery store or lamenting I can't get out of the house without a child on my arm. Keep in mind you are reading a post from a sleep deprived mother who spends her days in a whirlwind of soothing tears, cleaning up spilled milk, or trying to balance being a calm soothing source to her almost asleep baby while firmly placing the two year old in a time out for hitting.

So, does it SOUND easier??

Should I elaborate?

See, I'm kind of a "go go" kind of person. I like adrenaline. I LOVE and thrive on busy. Busy, I love! (Now don't judge me when I say, can't I TAKE A BREAK and just RELAX!!!! Schizophrenic - maybe. I'm a woman I can have intense conflicting views without being crazy, its allowed - even, dare I say - expected?)

With one child I teeter between mental stimulation and boredom which causes exhaustion. For example...

Crying baby. Trying to soothe. Rocking. Swinging. Feeding. Mental brain slowening.

Bring in child number two...

Toddler finds it absolutely hilarious when  I knock him over while doing lunges to soothe crying baby. Knocking over toddler and listening to him laugh hysterically distracts me from the tedious soothing monotony.  And then all of a sudden the baby is sleeping without me even focusing on it and my toddler is having a blast and my brain has not numbed itself. You see when the numbing happens that's when you feel sleepy... SO sleepy. But you keep going and jumping from one adrenaline high to the next and you are flying!

After naps I fill Augustine's cup and have a snack ready in case Gianna is fussy and I can't retrieve said items while my toddler desperately pleads as if he has been starved through the dessert for 40 days. I do NOT exaggerate. My mind is kept alert and about 5 steps ahead.... will they need a snack? Are his shoes in an accessible area to quickly put on? Is the car prepped for a last minute outing to the park in case said toddler pleads for the park like his life depended on swinging through the air in a black rubber diaper swing. An alert mind is good for my mental health.

Don't get me wrong, I am exhausted at the end of the day but not like I was with just one child. Is that weird or what?? I LOVE having two kids it is invigorating! I mean if I'm going to be sitting and reading a book to toddler than why not be nursing baby too? If I'm going to be a bump on a log at the park watching my Toddler play why not strap on a newborn and see how well I can juggle the two?

I guess the moral of the story is, I do like a challenge, and so that is why having two kids is (mostly) easier than just having one. And maybe the word isn't easier but rather.... BETTER!

I am really blessed, I have an awesome job that challenges me and it is better and it is making me better.

Wait a minute...

and just treasure that minute.

 Soak in that cozy body like it is sunshine.

 Stop and gaze at those little feet and delight in those drooping cheeks...

 Don't rush time.

 Make it last.

 Smell the roses.

 Let joy fill your heart.

Even if just for this minute... Be present and be now.

Because sometimes as a mom you just have to take those moments when you get them.

Gianna or Augustine?

 Augustine day after he was born...

Gianna day after she was born...

Don't they look alike?? Wow!

I would have done a quiz but the blue outfit gives Augustine away and he looks a little bigger but --WOW!

 Gianna (above)

 Augustine (above)

Gianna (above)

Sibling Love

"The best gift you can give your child is a sibling"

This has been one of the most precious things for me to see as a parent. Augustine loves his little sister as I would imagine and hope that every big brother would. There is something sweet and mature about his love for Gianna and I can just imagine him being that awesome big brother that sticks up for his sister, enjoys a friendship with her and all the while threatens her prospective boy friends with, "Hurt her and you will hurt." You know the big brother stuff. :-)

I will forever remember Augustine bounding into the hospital room with exuberant energy and joy excited to see me and his eyes lit up when he saw - "Baby Gianna!"

He so tenderly kissed and hugged her and pointed to her "eyes" and "nose" and "mouth."

This picture melts my heart...

He so sweetly gazes at her as if it is love at first sight just like it was for me. He hated to leave without Mommy and Baby and Gianna when  it was time to go... and it was hard for me to see my, now old, little baby say goodbye. How does it work to love two little beings so fully and so differently? To say goodbye to the days when Augustine was my only baby to cuddle ...

...and to greet the days when my arms would long to hold both my children for hours... all the while staring down those dreaded dirty dishes and unswept floors that threatened to take my arms away from what they really wanted. The love grows but so do the chores... the diapers, the dirt, the mess, the clothes. I only loath them for the reason they take me from my babies.

The first day home with Gianna Augustine was overtired and threw lots of tantrums because he wanted to hold, "my baby" all the time. He was loving but it was exhausting. Since then he has calmed down a bit but still cries for her at bedtime when they are separated and asks for her immediately when he wakes from nap or bedtime.

When I try to have time just for me and Augustine, he begs for Gianna to join us. He wants to share his toys, books, and time with her. That touches my heart so very much!

When Gianna cries he will usually stop what he is doing and calmly go straight to her to give her a gentle kiss on the head... he then goes back to playing. He loves to do Tummy Time with her and he will even wipe her spit-up away unprompted. One day we were watching Sesame Street together while I nursed Gianna. Well, Augustine watched Elmo... I watched my precious gifts. Augustine turned from his show and gazed at Gianna sweetly and patted her on the head.... and back to watching his show. This moment replays in my mind often... it was as if he wants to assure his little sister, "I'm here for you, I love you." Am I reading too far into the mind of a two year old? Not with moments like these. They are two peas in a pod and I am one proud gardener.

Oh that your love for each other will grow. I pray you always find a friend in each other, that you protect and love each other and that... Gianna's little head doesn't get trampled by your eager feet.

Gianna Rae Ann Stanbary - is born!

I feel like I have so much catching up to do... and yet it has only been 2 weeks!

Gianna Rae Ann my beautiful daughter whom I have long waited to see was born, just as her brother was, smack dab on her due date, April 28th 2012, at 8lbs 3oz and 19in. Which, of course, was also the feast day of St. Gianna! What a divinely planned arrival.

I will write a post on her birth story... but for now I want to write about this beautiful little person that has entered my life in such a special way.

I've always known based on my wonderful experience carrying this little beauty that she was gentle on her mommy. I hoped this would also be the case after birth. Ive heard many stories about how the "second child" is the hard one, so I was a bit curious.

Well, Gianna, you are a sweet and beautiful soul. You entered the world without crying, in about 5 min of pushing, and you nestled on me and started nursing-- what a breeze! You were healthy and peaceful. Even now as I hold you in my arms there is a special gentleness to your soul, to your spirit. Many people say that is a newborn trait... but, in you, I feel something different... in your spirit. The last two weeks have not proven me wrong. You nurse perfectly, cry and fuss very little, once your need is met you are content. The second night home from the hospital you slept 5 hrs straight and the next night 6 hrs straight.

You go to bed early (around the same time as your brother).

You nap when it is most convenient for me...

...and you even smile on Mother's Day for me!

Oh, how you melt my heart and fill me with so much love!