Life with a busy toddler and a newborn...whew...!

We are still alive, but life has definitely changed now that we have 2 kids. Haha! But it's changed for the better - I can't imagine life without Grant now. We are very blessed to have two healthy, sweet children. I try to remind myself of that fact even during the difficult times when I'm busy with Grant and Jenna's in the other room pulling all the plastic Ziploc bags out of the drawer or when she's eating the dog food or just terrorizing the dog, or when she manages to pull my purse off the counter and finds my stash of gum, or when she wants to play with Grant like he's her baby doll or try to feed him the sticker that she was wearing. There's never a dull moment in our house, that's for sure.

Jenna is now 20 months old and as busy as can be! Sometimes I'm exhausted just watching her. She literally goes from one thing to the next and can quickly turn a room into a disaster zone. Drew and I are amazed at how she can have a room full of toys and yet only want to play with the things that are off limits. We have entered the stage of trying to discipline and train her and sometimes wonder if God has given us a strong-willed child. It is definitely challenging, but that keeps us on our knees searching and praying for God's wisdom to lovingly discipline her. We are noticing that she's very outgoing and is usually pretty bold to approach other children and adults. She always wants to play with other children at church or at the park and isn't shy to go right up to them. She's also big for her age, weighing in at 34 pounds, which is typically the size of a 3-4 year old. Which would explain why she's already wearing 3T pants and 4T shirts (yep, she's still got a belly on her and needs a little extra room in her tops). :) She is talking up a storm these days and seems to say/learn new words everyday. She's also started putting together short phrases like "Daddy work" or "Bailey walk". She LOVES being outside and would probably play out there all day if I would let her. I'm already getting nervous for the winter season and am realizing we'll have to figure out indoor activities and places to visit so we don't go stir-crazy inside!

Grant is 6 weeks old today. Drew and I are amazed at how quickly he's growing and filling out. Jenna had difficulty gaining weight the first few weeks after she was born (hard to believe looking at her now!) so it's surprising to us to see him getting so big. At Jenna's 2 month regular check-up, she weighed 12 lbs. We just weighed Grant when he was 5 weeks old and he was somewhere between 13.5 and 14 lbs! I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that he's a bigger boy since his Daddy is 6'8" and his Mommy is 5'10". I'm anxious to see how big he'll be at his 2-month appointment in a few weeks. We continually feel so blessed to have Grant in our lives. He's such a sweet baby and overall quite content. He sleeps pretty well at night, getting up to eat every 3-3 1/2 hrs. He has had some longer stretches of anywhere from 4-6 hours, so I'm hoping within the next few weeks he'll start going longer between feedings. We'll see! Jenna first slept through the night when she was 8 weeks old and continued it for about a month before falling back into the habit of getting up. Grant has started smiling at us some, which is so fun to see! I haven't captured it on camera yet, but hopefully will soon. Grant's also quite vocal and grunts and groans quite a bit. That was one reason we moved him from our bedroom into his own room a few weeks after he was born. I kept waking up thinking he was wanting to eat because of his grunting when really he was just being vocal.

Wow...that was long! If you made it through all of that, congrats! Now here are some pictures we took in July after we brought Grant home from the hospital. Looking at them now, Grant looks so much smaller!

Daddy adoring his son

Grandma and Grant

Grandma and the grand kids (and grand-dog)

Grant's first bath at home. He wasn't a fan of it then, but now LOVES his baths.

We thought Grant would appreciate it if we censored this picture. :)

So sweet!

One of my favorite things to do with my babies before they get too big for it.

First time in his swing. He's not a fan of his swings anymore. Really the only time he's happy in it is if we set him in it when he's already asleep.

Grant with his Great-Grandma Jones

Grant with his Great-Grandma Shafer

Grant with his Great-Grandpa Shafer

Grandpa with the grandkids

We loved how Grant's legs were all curled up against Drew.
Lately, he's starting to stretch out some more.

Jenna being silly and laying in Grant's bouncy seat.

Showing some love to her brother.
It doesn't look like he was too thrilled with it either.

Jenna opening some presents from her Auntie Angela and Uncle Mike
(one of my best girlfriends from high school).

Jenna taking a picture with her new camera from Grandpa and Grandma.

Poor guy...Mommy forgot to change the Boppy pillow cover to a more
"manly" color instead of the pink. Sorry Grant!

STRETCH....

I just had to include a picture of Bailey all curled up in the Boppy.

I'll update (hopefully) this week with some pictures from August. Drew is traveling to CA this week, so we'll see if I have enough energy to update the blog.