Thank you all for your kind words, as well as nickname suggestions!

Button: I see JESUS!
Mama & Daddo:  Um… no, that’s Chuck E. Cheese.
Button: Chucky Jesus?
Mama & Daddo: No… Chuck E. Cheese’s
Button: Oh.  Ok.

I spent Father’s Day laid up in bed with a really sore back. I didn’t even get J a card. He says he doesn’t mind though because a) he got a son for Fathers Day, and b) he spent Mothers’ Day laid up in bed with an illness and the flowers he ordered for me never came - so he figures we’re even.

We’re all home and adjusting to life with 2 kids. My parents volunteered to relieve Button of her cabin fever this afternoon, so she’s currently swimming over at their house - undoubtedly having a blast. J’s parents are at a movie, so it’s just the two of us and a very sleepy baby. And it’s now that I realize how easy it is to care for just one child, especially a newborn. I suppose it’s all relative though, because I don’t remember feeling that it was easy the first time around.

Our little guy was induced on Thursday and everything went as planned with the exception that he made his appearance earlier than expected. Following his sister’s footsteps, I suppose. At least the doctor was already at the hospital this time - she almost missed it last time.

He tried to turn his head funny coming out, so I ended up with 3rd degree tears (again) but since he took a full 5 minutes of pushing to come out (instead of 10 seconds), the doctor did have time to do an episiotomy this time. Consequently, I think the healing process is going faster this time around.

And God bless Wayne, the epidural doctor. Sidestepping “Eve’s curse” is truly a lifesaver. I had a few minutes of experiencing a small fraction of what it would be like to go “natural” and believe me when I say I want no part of that.

The head-turn resulted in a squished nose for the baby, but fortunately it’s straightening itself out.

I have a ton of pictures on my camera that I have yet to download or look at, but when I do I’ll be sure to post a couple here.

Honestly, the most difficult part of this has been Little Button. She did not do too well with us both being gone at the hospital, and suffered quite a bit of anxiety and outright sadness about it, especially at night. It was heartbreaking, and there was nothing we could do about it. Unfortunately, “Mama and Daddo will be home soon” wasn’t much consolation, and her inability to sleep well contributed to her overall stress level.

She’s much happier now that we’re home, and she’s totally in love with her Baby Brother. Which is, of course, good and bad. She’s a bit overstimulated and has more energy than normal (which is, um, a lot), so getting her to be still and calm and quiet around the baby has been a total lost cause.

Being the incredibly tactile kid that she is, she wants to hold/touch/kiss him 24 hours per day and does not understand why she can’t. My heart has skipped a thousand beats so far. We’ve let her hold the baby in her lap, but it requires constant attentiveness because, well, SHE’S TWO.

When she’s not holding the baby, she’s trying to climb onto whoever is. She’s relentless and spends every waking minute trying to touch the baby, which is stressful because there is literally no “safe” place we can put him that she can’t get to, aside from holding him while we’re standing up. So we’ve had to begin a pretty intense “training” session with her on where the boundaries are, with strict and consistent consequences. It requires constant energy, and more of it than I have at this time.

I know that sounds like a lot of complaining, and I don’t mean to imply that she’s being “bad.” She’s just TWO and very fascinated by this new person in her household. She calls him “Sweetheart” and “Little Fella” and becomes very concerned about his well-being at the slightest frown. She offers him pacifiers and blankets and words of comfort while she gently strokes the back of his head. “It’s alright, Sweetheart, you don’t have to be upset. Are you hungry Little Fella?” And once we get past this “training” period, I’m sure my stress level will lower substantially.  It’s already getting better as she’s learning the “new rules.”

Anyway, our little guy is an exceptional sweetie and we’ve really enjoyed having him so far.

Disclaimer: Ok, technically it’s not her first haircut… but it is the first one in about… 2 years? Give or take. I cut her hair a couple of times when she was a baby because it would grow in at all different lengths. But this is the first “big girl” haircut.

It’s probably not perfectly even, but the client isn’t complaining.  With all my pleading with her to SIT STILL while I was waiving a pair of scissors around, she’s probably just relieved that both her ears are still attached.

And so am I.

We attended my parents’ neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, as is our annual tradition.  This year, it was being sponsored by our (huge) church, so the attendance was at least double the usual (and it’s usually a fairly good turnout).  The egg hunt for Little Button’s age lasted approximately 10 seconds because the ratio of eggs to children was completely underestimated.  I’m told they actually had 1,000 more eggs to put out, but the HOA queen wouldn’t let them.  Button scored 1 egg during that hunt, and she only managed that one because a nice lady took one of her son’s eggs and laid it down in front of Button to pick up.  Thank you Nice Lady, whoever you are.

Fortunately, Button is still of the age where she doesn’t realize she didn’t get “enough” eggs.  We let Button jump in on the older kids’ hunt and she managed to find 3-4 more eggs, so she walked away with enough treasures to satisfy.  I did see some kids in tears over the lack of eggs to be found, and was glad we didn’t have to cross that bridge yet.

Her favorite part of the day was meeting the Easter Bunny.  She met him 3 or 4 times because she just couldn’t get enough.  She gave him hugs, high-fives, shook his hand (paw?) and posed for pictures in his lap.  Mr. Bunny is totally the Mac Daddy.

Oh yeah, pictures…

After the egg hunt was over, we walked back to Grandmommy and Grandpa’s house.  Ok, J and I walked - Button (as usual) ran.

When we finally caught up to her, she was sitting on G&G’s front yard, waiting patiently and playing with some of her “loot” from the egg hunt.