Snow Day #6...

So it's January 28th and we are already on snow day #6 {technically would be #7, except that we didn't have students last Friday when the rest of TC had a snow day}. 

We still have over two months of winter and most schools have exceeded their snow day limit for the year, which means making up days at the end of the year. Thankfully, GTA has longer school days {since when is anyone thankful for longer work days?!}, so we shouldn't have any make up days. 

I love snow days. I love staying home with my boys and knowing that it's just us for the day. I love that I still get paid. For teachers, snow days are like little presents from God. Here's a day off, with pay, in the middle of the week. No need to write lesson plans for a sub. Just relax at home. You will never hear me complain about a day at home with my babies. 

But this extreme cold has got to stop! It's simply insane. I can't tell you how many times recently that Grand Traverse County has urged citizens to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. We haven't seen temps above 10 degrees in I don't know how long and the windchills have been in the negatives for what seems like years. 

I'm tired of the cold. I'm tired of the snow. I'm tired of the wind. And we still have over two months left of winter. A couple years ago, we had a big blizzard at the end of April. So chances are, we won't see spring for a very looooong time. 

I guess it's a good thing that my career has perks that coincide with winter weather. 

Acts of Love...

Last year, I did 26 acts of kindness in memory of the victims of Sandy Hook. It felt so good to do random nice things for other people.

My blog friend, Sarah, did 28 acts of kindness in February - one for each day of the month. She called it 28 Acts of Love. This year, she's doing it again and I've decided to join her. 

I actually started a few days early because I just couldn't wait.

For my first acts of kindness, I wanted to do something nice for two friends that I have known forever who no longer live in Traverse City. 

Kristina is one of my dearest friends. 

She was my biggest helper in setting up/tearing down Leland's first birthday party.

We love when she comes to visit. Leland talks about "Tina" quite often.

We met in 2nd grade at our First Communion, and became friends in 7th grade when we went to the same junior high school. We have been in each other's lives ever since. She was my maid of honor in our wedding and has been there for me through thick and thin. 

Over the past few years, Kristina has lived in a few different states because of her job. She is currently living in West Virginia and I miss her oh so much. She comes home to visit pretty often, but not nearly enough. Kristina spoils my boys and I quite often, and although I'm not in a financial position to spoil her back, I wanted to do something nice for her to let her know we were thinking of her. 

Another friend of mine has been in my life since elementary school. Katie and I met in 1st grade and have remained friends ever since. 

I stole this pic from Katie's facebook page, because I couldn't find the one I have of her holding Alden when she last visited.

She is the funniest person I know. She is also very crafty and has gifted me with samples of her creations, like a hand-stamped necklace with Leland's initial, painted signs, fun prints for my boys' rooms, etc. She is a great friend and I am so lucky to have her in my life. 

Katie moved to Lansing last year, which is about a three hour drive from TC. So I wanted to send her a little something as well. 

Because these two friends no longer live here in the Cherry Capital, I decided to send them some love - TC style. Which meant a visit to Cherry Republic, a local store that sells delicious cherry goodies. 

I sent them each a package of cherry sour candies and chocolate covered cherries - my two favorite treats. 

I also sent Kristina some cherry jam. 

They weren't huge, expensive gifts, but I hope they brought smiles to their faces and gave them a little taste of home.

And now I look forward to working through the rest of my list.

33...

Happy  Birthday to this guy!

 To my husband and friend...

To the greatest daddy to our two boys...

To a hard-working man who always puts his family first.

To celebrate his birthday, Dave requested a cheesecake instead of a regular cake. I happily obliged - I didn't mind sharing that bad boy with him. 

We also went out for Chinese as a family on Saturday night. We haven't gone out to eat much since Alden was born, since Alden still wants to nurse all the time and the adult to child ratio isn't really in our favor anymore. But it was fun - Leland loved his dinner {as did we} and Alden did great too.

Dave is the hardest person in the world to buy gifts for because he really doesn't ever want anything. We got him some snacks and treats - peanut m&m's, Mike & Ikes, and turkey jerky {all his faves} and a new shovel. Yeah...a snow shovel - that's what he really wanted. I guess we know where Leland gets his excitement for snow removal appliances, huh? Apparently, it's a really nice one. I didn't realize there were "really nice" shovels, but Dave says it's top notch. Good to know.

We sort of celebrated all weekend. Meals and activities were Dave's choice, we rented movies, and just tried to make it a little extra special. 

Happy Birthday to my husband. I'm so glad that 33 years ago, his mama brought him into this world. 

Lazy Mama...

When Leland was a baby, because he was in the NICU, he was on a bottle from day one. He took a bottle better than nursing at first, and after a few weeks, he could go from breast to bottle without any issues. I never had to transition him to a bottle.

With Alden, I wanted to introduce him to a bottle fairly early because I didn't want him to have any issues with it. When he was about a month old, I gave him a bottle for the first time, and he took it so well. He sucked it right down and slept great after - no gas, no spit up, no problem. Well, this actually worried me a little, because at that time, we were having some nursing issues. I had a problem with oversupply which caused some difficulty for Alden when nursing. I was thrilled that he took the bottle so well, but I worried that he would like the bottle better than nursing.

I have several friends who have exclusively pumped for their babies. Some prefer it over nursing, and some never could get a good latch, and some use a mixture of formula with breast milk. Pumping just works better for them.

Personally, I prefer nursing. One reason is just the connection I feel to my baby when nursing. I enjoy it more than bottle feeding. But the other BIG reason is complete and utter laziness on my part. I hated giving Leland bottles. I hated waiting for them to warm up. I hated washing them. I hated having to pump so often. I hated having to wash all my pump parts. It was just a big pain in the butt to me. It's so much easier to just whip out a boob and feed him; nothing to prepare, nothing to wash.

So when Alden seemed to take the bottle better than nursing, I worried that he would wean himself from nursing. Out of fear, I didn't give him another bottle for a month. He took it okay, so I figured we'd be good when it was time for him to go to daycare and I wouldn't need to give him bottles at home any more before then {more laziness on my part}.

Well, Alden's first day at daycare was pretty rough. He wouldn't take his bottles, so after work, I made a quick Target run to try a different brand of bottles. That seemed to do the trick. Alden took his bottles much better the second day.

But Alden's daycare schedule hasn't been very regular yet. Between snow days, sick days, and weekends, he hasn't had bottles very consistently. Because of my laziness about giving bottles on the weekends, he's having a hard time with them again. So now I am forcing myself to give him at least one bottle a day on the weekends. It's no fun for me because it means more work in my eyes, but he needs to stay familiar with taking a bottle, so it's something I need to do.

Today, we actually have him two bottles. We tried one this morning and he only took about 1.5 oz. I tried again tonight and he sucked down 3 oz. like it was nothing and still wanted more. I'm hoping he continues that way so that his days at daycare will be a little easier. And maybe once he takes his bottles better {consistently}, I can go back to being lazy about them.

3 month pictures...

I posted Alden's three month letter on his three month birthday, but I didn't have any pictures because I didn't have my laptop. Now that I have my new computer, I am sharing his three month photos.

 

I'm excited for his four month photo shoot because I'll get to use my new 50mm lens! It didn't arrive in the mail until the day after I took these photos.

More Leland-isms...

This picture has nothing to do with this post. Just a pic I took when he was sleeping on my lap a few days ago. Crazy sweat head. 

Time for a few more examples of funny ways my kid says things. 

Yah-YAH-yah - lasagna. I don't know why, but this totally cracks me up. He emphasizes all the right parts, has the correct number of syllables, but all the syllables are the same. 

Ew - orange. Ha ha. He loves clementines (we call them oranges) and he'll eat like four in one sitting. But it's so funny that he calls them "ew" when he loves them so much. 

Every time he sees a Mountain Dew bottle, he says "dada." He knows daddy's drink for sure. 

He is still obsessed with Chuggington and it is the only show he will watch. But he does recognize Mickey characters and calls Mickey either "Kimmy" or "Kippy."

He calls his blanket "green." While his blanket is green (and brown), that's not why he says it. At daycare, there is a girl with a green fuzzy blanket and she calls it her green. So now Leland calls his blanket his green. This works fine at home, but his blanket at daycare is blue and he still calls it his green. I tried correcting him to say "blankie," but he insists on calling it "green." Whatever. I find it cute now. 

Leland has quite the sweet tooth. Not sure where he gets that. One of his favorite treats is donuts {sound familiar?}. We don't get them too often, only because we don't have a good bakery nearby. But when we do get them, Leland gets way excited and says "Doh-wah!" It sounds a lot like "Dora." Thankfully, he's not referring to that show, but to the delicious pastry sweetness that is the donut. 

Recently, Leland has enjoyed cleaning up after bath. He likes to put all of his bath toys in the little mesh bag that we keep in the tub. Then he dumps them all out again, but that's another story. When he cleans them up, he sings "mee-mup, mee-mup" - the clean up song, which is normally sung "clean up, clean up." I adore this. 

I love all the fun and funny ways he says things. He cracks me up daily. Sometimes I wish these Leland-isms would never go away. But I know that he'll be thankful to correctly pronounce lasagna when he's thirty. 

You Get What You Pray For...

The last couple of weeks, Alden has been somewhat "irregular." He used to go {you know, go} every day and then suddenly he didn't for six days!

I was so freaked out by that and decided to take matters into my own hands. Our doctor suggested a suppository to help move things along. It worked, but after that, he was still only going every 3-4 days. 

I started praying for Alden to poop on his own. I asked God for Alden to give me big poops every day because it would just make me feel better. 

Well, I sort of got my wish. Yesterday, Alden went a couple of times and I was so relieved. But then today, he had diarrhea at daycare - four times. He must have what Leland had last week. Oh man. I guess I should have been more specific in my prayers and asked for healthy poops. 

I'm a little worried about him, but I'm sure he'll be fine as long as he keeps nursing. 

On the funny side, when I texted fave to tell him about Alden's poop, he texted back, "Oh shit." Not sure whether the pun was intended but when I told my friend Courtney, she said she almost responded "Oh crap." Pun not intended. Then as we were talking about it, she said, "That really stinks." I cracked up. Get it? Stinks?

Then as we were walking out of school, I said, "Well I guess I know why he slept like crap last night." Again not intentional. 

We just kept saying these accidental puns back and forth. Definitely helped take the edge off a little.

Hopefully sickness #2 {see what I did there?} for my boys is a quick one. We're ready to be healthy. 

Mee-Mup...

Yesterday, Leland, Alden, and I were playing in the basement while Dave was snow blowing the driveway. Leland had a bunch of toys out when I decided it was time to go upstairs and start dinner. 

I planned to just leave the toys out because I figured we would go back down after dinner anyway. So I told Leland, "Okay, it's time to go upstairs." I expected a fight from him because he loves playing downstairs. 

Imagine my surprise when he not only complied, but started singing "mee-mup, mee-mup" {clean up, clean up}. The boy put all of his toys away without me saying a word!

Sometimes that kid just amazes me. 

Keeping Us On Our Toes...

This boy. Oh, this boy. 

The last month with Leland has been a pretty trying time for Dave and me. Leland is simply exhausting us with his tantrums.

It seems that, since Leland had the stomach flu, he has been super emotional. The smallest things turn into major fits. There are several reasons he may be doing this, but no matter what the reason, the behavior we're seeing is not okay. 

The last week has been even worse, to the point that it really feels like he's just spending the whole day crying. 

We're trying to ignore the tantrums as much as possible. We don't want to give him attention for negative behavior. Sometimes this is really difficult for me, because along with his tantrum, he often approaches me for comfort. I so want to hold him and comfort when he's upset, but we're trying to send the message that his behavior is not okay, and me picking him up probably won't send that message. And also, another issue we're dealing with is him wanting to be held all the time. So me picking him up wouldn't help us there either. 

I love to pick him up and give him snuggles, but lately he wants me to all the time. This is very different for Mr. Independent. I think it's a touch of jealousy - seeing that Alden cries and gets picked up. And I'm totally fine picking Leland up sometimes, but sometimes I can't and he needs to know that he can't be held ALL the time. 

To paint a picture for you, here's an example of a typical tantrum: Leland plays in the DVD cupboard, which he knows he's not supposed to do. I tell him no. He ignores me, so I have to physically  remove the DVDs from his hands (gently, but telling him no at the same time). He cries and throws himself around. Then he comes to me shouting and crying for me to pick him up. 

In this moment, I don't pick him up. I sometimes walk away until he has calmed down a little and then I will comfort him. Or sometimes, when he wants me to pick him up, I bend down and hug him. So he gets affection, but not exactly what he's asking for. 

Like I said, the last week has been especially difficult. Probably because I was sick and didn't have the patience to deal with it. 

Yesterday, I seriously was ready to call Super Nanny. Funny, because not too long ago, I was referred to as Super Nanny by several families that I babysat for. I could handle any issue and correct these kinds of behaviors without a problem. But it's a whole new ball game when it's my own kid, because I'm more emotionally involved. I can't turn off my emotions during his fits. I feel like he cried all day yesterday. He didn't really, but it felt like it, and Dave and I were exhausted. 

Today, though, went much better. I'm not sure why. Maybe he got better sleep. Maybe ignoring the tantrums is starting to work. Maybe he's as irritated by them as we are. I don't know. But I was so thankful for an easier day today. 

Three Months...

Unfortunately, my new laptop hasn't arrived yet, so I can't upload the photos I took of Alden at 3 months. But I will update with photos when I can. 

Dear Alden,

Today you are three months old. This last month has been a blur. You celebrated your first Christmas! Though it was the same as any other day for you: eat, sleep, poop, repeat.

You started daycare last week. You haven't gone a full week yet due to snow days and sick days for me and your brother, but you are doing great there. The first day was rough because you didn't like your bottle, but we tried a different brand and you've done great with them. You eat about 3 oz every 2-3 hours. At home, you eat more often. You nap better at daycare; meaning you actually sleep in a crib on your own. At home, you only sleeping your own if you're on your side. 

Your personality has really started to shine this month. You smile all the time and really love to interact with people. You are the happiest baby ever. I even got you to giggle the other day by tickling your tummy.

I don't know what you weigh because we don't have a well check until next month, but I would guess around 15 pounds. You still wear 6 month size clothes, though some of your footed sleepers seem a little short. You also still wear size 2 diapers. 

Your sleep is improving slowly but surely. You give me a good stretch when you first fall asleep at night, usually 3-4 hours. After that, you're up every two hours to nurse. But you fight sleep at first. Oh boy, do you fight sleep. Some nights, even though we know you're tired, it can take an hour to get you to fall asleep. When you wake up in middle of the night, you go right back to sleep after nursing, which I greatly appreciate. I'm hoping that daycare will help create a good routine for you, once you're on a real schedule, not having snow days and sick days. That's when your brother started a regular sleep routine. 

Sweet baby boy, you bring such joy to our family. When you smile, your eyes sparkle and you just light up the room. I am so thankful God picked me to be your mama. 

Happy three months, Alden! I love you!

Love,

Mama 

Moms Don't Get Sick Days...

To continue from my post yesterday, I suddenly felt way worse last night. My throat got so swollen and sore that I couldn't swallow and it was difficult even talking. Needless to say, I requested a sub again {again the request wasn't filled and the school had to fill it internally}.

I took the boys to daycare and drove across town to the Urgent Care that opens at 7:00 {the one close to me doesn't open until 9:00}. Sure enough, just as I suspected, I have strep. 

Before heading into the doctor, I was daydreaming about a day in bed, just creating without any responsibilities to any other people. Can't remember the last time that happened and it sounded heavenly. 

While I was waiting for the doctor, I texted Mindy to see how Leland was doing. He's been awfully whiny lately and I was curious if it was just for me or if he was like that at daycare too. Mindy said he was having a rough morning, so I decided that, since I have the option today {most days I don't}, I would pick him up. 

There are various dynamics going on in Leland's life right now that could be causing his whiny behavior: (1) two molars coming in; (2) not feeling well earlier in the week; (3) too much time spent indoors due to cold weather and illnesses; and (4) just being a two year old.

But one thing that I have noticed is that Leland starts to whine a lot when I pick up Alden. He cries and asks me to pick him up. So, I think part of his behavior could be some jealousy or just wanting more individual attention.

So today, instead of spending my day in bed watching TV, I picked Leland up from daycare after getting my prescriptions. He had lots of one-on-one mommy time, and I must say he was significantly less whiny. He still had his moments, but I could definitely tell a difference.

Leland fell asleep on my lap and I moved him to his bed because I knew he would take a longer nap on his own. We both got a 2.5 hour nap in, and I actually woke up before he did!

A day spent at home alone did sound pretty amazing, and I know I need the rest. But I also know what I can and can't handle, and I knew I could handle Leland for the day. 

I tell myself often, as a reminder, that I'm a mom first. My boys are my first priority; that's what being a parent is all about. They come before work, play, and myself. 

It was nice having some alone time with Leland. We haven't had that a whole lot of that recently. Thankfully, he takes long afternoon naps and goes to bed early, so I'll still get plenty of rest tonight. And tomorrow is Friday - the weekend is practically here! Hopefully by Monday I'll feel like myself again and can go to work and be productive. 

Rough Week {and it's only Wednesday}...

It's been a tough week in the Nowak home. It actually started on Friday last week when Leland had {gross toddler TMI alert} diarrhea. He had it a few times Friday night, but then was fine all weekend.

Dave had to work on Saturday {a side job for a friend and a little extra cash}. Nothing bad happened that day, but I just like us to have our weekends together. 

Then Sunday, Dave broke my laptop. He threw a pillow across the room and it took a fall to the floor. And...it's dead. That was our only computer because I sold my desktop over the summer. Thus, I am typing this on my iPhone. Haven't had a chance to order another one yet, but I probably will today. So much for that extra cash Dave made on Saturday.

Then Monday, Leland had diarrhea again at daycare. So I planned to stay home with him Tuesday. Then I suddenly got sick. There is a nasty flu going around my school right now. Several staff members had it over the weekend and are STILL not feeling better. Students seem to be getting a 24-48 hour stomach flu. It hadn't hit my class yet, but last night, at least 6 of my kids were puking. There were at least 75 kids out sick from GTA yesterday, and SO MANY staff members. In fact, I made my sub request at about 7:00 Monday night and it never got filled. They usually fill super fast, like within 5 minutes, which tells me that there are not enough subs for all of the ill staff in the Traverse City area. They had to fill my request with a paraprofessional. And even more staff were going to be out today.

Side note: writing lesson plans without a computer is a pain. I had to hand-write my plans and take them to my friend Courtney to take to school with her yesterday. 

My illness doesn't seem to be as bad as most. I have a fever, major chills, then sweats, a sore throat, and body aches, but no puking. Thank goodness. 

So I was off yesterday with Leland and was thinking I may need today off for myself. But God knew we needed a snow day, so when the forecast called for a measly 1-3 inches of snow, He sent over 5 inches and very slippery roads. It took several people over an hour to get home yesterday, when it would normally be a 25 minute commute. Crazy. So...snow day today, and hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. And hopefully Alden doesn't get any yucky illness. I'm praying he gets all the good antibodies from breast milk. 

Lots of time spent on the couch yesterday. Thank goodness for Chuggington on demand, though I wish he would watch an actual movie. 

Lots of snuggles with this sweet one, too. The happiest baby ever. 

On Having Enough...

Before having Leland, Dave and I did pretty well financially. We both made what we considered decent wages and we always had more than enough financially. We could pay our bills, go out to eat anytime we wanted, go to movies, and still have plenty leftover to put in savings. We were very diligent about putting money in savings back then - on the 25th of each month, we put a certain amount of money in our savings. We were pretty proud of ourselves for being so young and having the savings account we had. 

Then, after my miscarriage, we suddenly had a hard time having that amount available at the end of each month. Nothing major had changed with our finances, except that the D&C was pretty expensive. Still, we found ourselves with more than enough most of the time. 

Once Leland arrived and we had to pay extra insurance and pay for daycare, we found ourselves not having quite so much extra. Really, hardly any at all. Enough to buy a pair of shoes if we needed, but not enough to put anything in savings. 

And now that Alden is here, and we're about to pay for two kids in daycare, well...I don't see us having extra at all in the near future. 

The past few months have been pretty rough on us financially. Dave was laid off from his job in September, and although he was able to work with a friend, he made significantly less money. Add that to the fact that I haven't had a paycheck since November, and things have been pretty tight around here.

Somehow, we've managed to make it through my maternity leave (and Christmas and birthday) without taking much out of savings. It's been pretty miraculous, actually. 

Sometimes I feel like such a failure for struggling the way we do financially. And as I see so many around me who have so much extra, I can't help but feel like we're doing something wrong. But what? We don't spend frivolously, and when we do spend big - like my stroller - we use my summer job money or Dave works on the side to pay for it. We don't have debt, except for student loans, my car, and our house. Those are all pretty normal debts (name one person who had their house and car paid for at 30) and they're not big payments. We both make decent wages. So I just don't understand why we don't have the "extra." 

I've even praying over the last few months to "just get through" my maternity leave and to just "have enough." I am so thankful that God has answered our prayers and provided us enough. In doing the math before Alden was born, I just didn't see that happening. But it has just worked out.

During this time, we've also been blessed by some amazing friends and their generous gifts (for my kids and for us). Toys for my kids, a membership to the children's museum (so we can go anytime we want for the next year), and a gift card are incredible blessings for us.

The other night, I saw someone on Instagram talking about praying for "more than enough." I have never prayed for more than enough because it seemed kind of greedy. I mean, there are so many people out there who have much less than we do so it didn't feel right to pray for more. 

That night, though, I prayed for enough to help Dave not feel so stressed about money. Dave is a major worrier. If there's one thing that causes stress in our marriage, it's our finances because he's always so stressed about it that he can't enjoy anything. So I prayed for enough for Dave to not have so much worry on his shoulders. 

Let me tell you that my jaw about dropped to the floor when he came home the very next day and said he got a raise at work. 

He just went back about three weeks ago from being laid off, and since then, he has received the biggest bonus he's ever gotten and a raise. To me, this is nothing short of a God thing. I am so incredibly thankful. God never ceases to amaze me.

I still wonder when we'll get back to having the extra that we used to have. Honestly, though, that probably won't happen until at least one kid is out of daycare (if then). But I feel so blessed to have enough, and even more than enough sometimes. Yes, we have to work extra jobs for our "extra," but I'm thankful for those opportunities.

Mistletoes...

I realize that Christmas is over, but I just made this craft with Alden today.

I made one for Leland last year for his first Christmas and wanted to make one for Alden too. I intended to do it around Christmas time, but I every time I went to the store, I either forgot to look for a plate, or they didn't have any plain white plates. So this weekend I put it on my list to get a freaking plate.

Now I have both of my boys' footprints from their first Christmases. Major difference with one at 12 months and one at 2 months though. 

Back to Work - For Real This Time...

When I went back to work in December, I was amazed at how easy my return was. I missed my boys, but I didn't break down and cry or anything like I did when I took Leland to daycare the first time. But I was only going back for a day and a half before Christmas break, so I think that made it a lot easier. Like it wasn't real yet.

This week, it became real. Well, after snow days on Monday and Tuesday. But yesterday was the real deal. And I definitely broke down. More than once.

Besides the obvious sadness over missing my boys, Mindy told me that Alden wasn't taking his bottles well. His first one, he pretty much refused (only took half an ounce). His second one, he took better, but his third one he gagged on the nipple and spit up the one ounce he drank.

I was an emotional mess worrying about whether or not Alden was eating.

After work, I drove like a mad woman to Target to pick up a different brand of bottles. We had used Born Free with Leland, but the nipple just seemed a little long for Alden. So I picked up some Tommee Tippee bottles, which are supposed to be more natural shaped. I was so hoping they would work, because if they didn't, I wasn't sure what we were going to do!

Thankfully, Alden seems to be doing really well with the new bottles. Mindy said he took all of his bottles well and was a very happy baby today. Oh, what a relief!

So, the first day back (for real) was pretty rough. But today was better, and how cool is it that tomorrow is already Friday?! Yay for lunch with a few great friends (Fridays are half days for students so we get to go out for lunch), and then the weekend!

Lucky...

This past weekend, I took the boys for a play date with my friend Sara's kids. Sara has a boy named Henry, who is six months older than Leland, and another boy named Wyatt, who is two weeks younger than Alden. It was nice to get together and catch up, since we hadn't seen each other since Henry was a baby and I was newly pregnant with Leland.

We compared notes about how our new babies are alike and different from our older ones. Sara asked me if the second time around has been easier or harder for me, and I said that in a lot of ways it's easier, but it's harder in some ways too. As Alden slept peacefully in my arms the entire time, Wyatt was a little fussy, and Sara made the comment that Alden looked like "Baby of the Year." I laughed because, yes, he is a pretty happy and content baby most of the time, but that doesn't mean he's easier than Wyatt. While Wyatt may be more fussy during the day and need to be bounced/rocked, he sleeps good five-hour stretches at night. Whereas Alden is still up every two hours.

Isn't it funny how sometimes the grass looks greener on the other side? But really, it still has its fair share of rough patches. I'm pretty sure all parents look at other kids sometimes and think I wish my kid would do that. But that other kid's parent may be thinking the same thing about some other aspect of their child.

The same thing happens whenever anyone sees me put Leland to bed. They can't believe how easy it is. I literally just lay him down, cover him up, and close the door and he goes to sleep. No crying or whining. No playing in his crib forever. Just quiet and he sleeps. Several people have told me how lucky I am that it's so easy. And I totally agree. Going to sleep is an easy thing for Leland and always has been. For that, I am incredibly grateful and do feel very lucky. However, that doesn't mean staying asleep has always been easy for us. Whenever anyone points out how lucky I am in this area, I make sure to tell them that, yes, we are lucky when it comes to falling asleep, but Leland didn't sleep through the night consistently until he was 21 months old! In fact, he still calls out for me about one night a week because he needs his paci {that damn paci - I'm so thankful Alden doesn't care for it}.

And again, with sleep. People think we're so lucky that Leland goes to bed so early. The truth is, Leland developed that bed time on his own. His first week of daycare, he fell asleep at 7:00 every night and slept five hours. He had never slept that long before that. And ever since then, that has been his bed time. Sometimes even earlier because he'll ask to go to bed. Is it nice to have him go to bed early? Yes and no. It's nice to get everything cleaned up and ready for the next day, and to have a little time to relax at night. But I also miss him when he goes to bed. Tonight was such a rush to make/eat dinner and have a bath, that I barely got to play with him. And when people tell me how nice it is that he goes to bed early, I quickly remind them that he is up at 6:30 every day. No sleeping in, even on weekends.

I guess my point to this post is that, yes, we lucked out in many areas with our kids. I love that Alden is such a happy baby and an amazing snuggler. And I love that Leland is such a good sleeper. But it would be nice to also have Alden sleep longer stretches and Leland sleep in a little bit.

So, while some may envy certain aspects of my life or children, I envy parts of theirs too. We all have our "lucky" areas.