That's what we're calling it these days, fun, because it is. I think we've all finally settled into our groove and are loving life as a family of four. Of course we all have our moments, but we all had our moments as a family of three and a family of two, etc. so I guess you could say that doesn't really count.
Landon is such a sweetie with Sam. When he wakes up each morning the first thing he does is wander out of his room and into Sam's room. If Sam isn't in his room he asks where he is and immediately sets out to find him and give him a kiss and a pat. The other day Sam was in his room in his swing, Landon had a sippy cup of water and as I rounded the corner out of Landon's room and into Sam's Landon stuck the sippy into Sam's mouth. When I told him not to put his sippy in baby Sam's mouth he was so excited, telling me, "Mommy, I share with baby Sam!" How can you scold that?
I seem to use the word "bittersweet" a lot these days. It's bittersweet (see?), but Sam is growing out of that newborn, sleepy, squishy stage and is pretty much a baby at this point. He's waking up and spending more and more time with his bright blue eyes (where did those come from?!?) focusing on lights, reacting to sounds and noticing anything remotely interesting. He doles out smiles in the morning and belly laughed in his sleep the other day. He's starting to lose his hair like a little old man and his eyebrows and lashes are so light and blond that I'm sure he'll be a blondie just like his big brother. Sam loves snuggles, loves to be held upright and is soothed when you "shsh" in his ear and pat him on the back. His cries sound just like Landon's did when he was a baby. He's a really great baby, we're pretty spoiled by him and I'm so grateful he's such a good sleeper. Generally he'll go down for the night between 8 and 10 and I'll wake him between 3 and 4 to eat and he'll go right back to sleep until between 7 and 8 when he wants to eat again and is awake and smiley.
Sam has some issues with his kidneys still and moved from being diagnosed with pelviectasis to hydronephrosis. He had a voiding hystogram done and although it came back normal the Urologist wants to get some further tests done to check the function of his kidneys. She has a few concerns; the size of his kidneys as they're on the larger end of abnormal, that it took him so long to pee after he was born, and that the doctor had a hard time getting the catheter in during the voiding hystogram. I know in the long run he'll be fine and we hope this is something he'll eventually grow out of without needing surgery to correct anything, but no parent ever likes to hear that there's anything wrong with their child no matter how big or small the problem is. It also feels like we're one step closer to needing surgery to correct things, and while he certainly wouldn't be the first baby to undergo surgery he'd be MY first baby to undergo surgery and that's a scary thought. One step at a time though, I keep telling myself that if this is the worst thing we're faced with as parents then it isn't so bad, and that he will be just fine.
Having a baby in the house now makes me realize just what a big boy Landon is and will continue to be. Putting on his socks before Sam was born his feet seemed so small. Now, those little feet are ginormous compared to Sam's tiny tootsies. We've been pulling out all of Landon's old clothes and it just seems crazy to me that Landon used to fit into these little onesies, especially since I so vividly remember him in them and have pictures to prove it.
As time continues to fly I'm continually trying to live in each moment, being grateful for the time I have with both of my boys. They're only this small once and these moments are fleeting. As cliche as I know it is, I know I'm going to look back at this time when they're in elementary school, when they're playing high school sports, when we pack them for college and all of those milestones in life and wish for these early days with them again.
