on looking through the eyes of my two year old...

Cubs is two...

 Technically he has only been two for the last 4 months. But he has been acting "TWO" for the last year...

 The terrible two are exactly as they sound... TERRIBLE.

And although I have paid my dues for a year, technically I still have 8 more months until he is three, so that means 8 MORE MONTHS of the twos!

Recently we have reached a new stage of the twos.

The days of screaming hysterically at the drop of a hat for no reason at all have pretty much stopped. This is partially due to the fact that before he could not tell you what he wanted so he would just lose it. Now he knows what he wants and is able to ask for it. Of course when what he is asking for is to run around the house with a permanent ink pen or eat an entire plate of cookies and you answer "NO", it still elicits the same response but at least now you have a warning.

Still life with this little guy can sure be frustrating. I am amazed at how many times I say NO in the course of my day. And how I can tell him something 4,357,968,467 times and yet he acts like it is brand new information every time. Things like "don't dump an entire glass of juice on the floor" or "you only take ONE piece of sacrament bread". Which directly translates into a sticky child sitting on time out most everyday and me dragging a screaming child out of church with his mouth stuffed with half of the tray of bread every Sunday.

My mom had some words of wisdom for me, probably from dealing with those crazy brothers of mine. She said that you have to look at things the way he does, through the eyes of a two year old. For example to him the impressive wave caused by dumping a glass full of juice on the floor and the added bonus of then being able to splash in the contents would be pretty cool if you were two and not worried about cleaning up the mess but rather living in the moment. Or when you see that tray pass by overflowing with bread, one piece of bread would be good, but a whole handful would be better! In a way it does kind of make sense. And although they know full well that mom said NO sometimes curiosity just gets the better of them

The other day my mom and I were walking through Target. Squish was sleeping peacefully in the car seat perched in the front of the cart and Cubs was playing with our assorted purchases in the back. When we passed by two children who had successfully finagled their way out of their respective carts and had now taken to racing up and down the isle. Cubs observed them for a moment and then swung one leg over the edge of the cart and announced that he wanted to get out. I attempted to convince him of the benefits of being trapped in the cart by using flowery language such as FUN and WOW!

 Then finally as distraction was clearly not working I asked the question "now why would you want to get out?" in the hopes that the answer would be "you know mom... I don't know. You make a lot of sense. Lets move on." It was a stupid question and the answer was simply "run." Because you see a two year old does not find great joy in shopping. Being stuck in a cart with nothing but a bottle of shampoo and some paper towel to play with while you mother compares prices of cleaning detergents is not actually very exciting. However, running up and down the isles narrowly dodging stacks of glass platters and nearly giving your mother a heart attack, sounds like good fun.

So I have decided to try and see things as my two year old does. Realize that he finds great joy and excitement in discovering things even though it makes my head hurt. And that I am now no longer able to go shopping with my children, I can go buying but not shopping. Meaning that when I enter the store I need to have a clear plan, get in grab a few things and get out quickly.

on an introduction...

Now that there are two little boys in my life I am realizing that blogging without using there names will get very confusing. So I will be using nicknames...

Meet Squish the newest member of our family...

and yes I really call him that.

Take one look and those cheeks and tell me that nickname doesn't fit.

A nickname for our first child is a little harder

Crazy ball of endless energy is kind of a long nickname...

So we'll have to go with an old one... cub or cubs or cubby. He earned this for not crawling on his knees like a normal child but rather doing the most amazing bear crawl I have ever seen...

And those are my boys.

on having a second...

Yep, we're talking child once again. Now if you have been with me from the beginning you will remember our first two chapters on having a second...

when I was considering it found here 

and when I was surprised by finding out that I was pregnant found here

Well... here we are on the other side.

I have two children. Crazy! and yet not as ridiculous as I had imagined.

When I was pregnant and freaking out at the idea of having two children a friend of mine told me not to worry that in her experience (she just had her second last April) things just sort of work themselves out. And amazingly enough I have found that is exactly what happens. That is not to say that life around here is easy or that our first is just fine sharing his parents attention but it is not at all how I thought it would be. Sure we still have temper tantrums and the terrible twos are still in full swing around here. There are many times when our first little boy will see me feeding the baby, pick up his glass which is filled to the brim with apple juice (note to self- stop filling his cup so full) and while looking right at me with a slightly defiant expression turn the glass over causing a rather spectacular wave of juice across our kitchen floor.

Jealous... um yes.

But then again there are those times when he is so sweet and you can see how much he already loves his little brother. He loves to kiss him and try and hold his hand. He is very concerned when the baby cries and runs to him to see what's wrong. When I tell him that the baby is hungry he goes and gets him a box of crackers which is sweet and funny at the same time. As observant as our little man is (ex. my hubby was playing with him one day and suddenly he started getting nervous and was pointing to his dad's hand saying Oh No. We looked down expecting to see a cut or bump... nothing. Finally on VERY close inspection we found the source of our child's worry was a tiny piece of dry skin by daddy's nail. Seriously the kid is a little ridiculous.) he still has not picked up on the rather obvious way that the baby eats, which is most certainly not out of a box.

And so we go on. Tackling one day and a time. In a strange way it is almost easier with two kids then with one. I think our little boy now has to be a little more independant because he now can't have our undivided attention anymore. Going out of the house is now a novelty so he is A LOT better. SO I think my friend was right there is no planning for another kid, but when the baby comes things just work out because they have to.

on nesting...

Last time around I did not nest. There was no need I had the baby's room ready like 3 months in advance our bags were packed early since my OB told us a month before my due date that it would be any day now since i was already dialating (to 1/2 an inch, I mean really I didn't know any better but she should have) so for the next month and a week at every appointment when she would say " I can't believe that your still here!" I felt completely justified in scowling at her and thinking mean thoughts. We were prepared for our first because I had nothing else to do all day long but sit around and prepare. Also i am not a cleaner, I never went into panic mode about the toilets not being cleaned when I brought my newborn baby home. He sure wasn't going to use the toilet so why did that matter? So I figured I would be a non-nester. Which was fine by me I didn't need to be scrambling around last minute vacumming the sofa cushions. I was happy to not have to freak out before having a baby.

But the other day I was at my OB's office and the week before she had checked me and nothing was happening, the nurse forgot that fact and got me ready to be checked again so my doctor did just for the heck of it and in a week's time I have dialated to a 2. With my first I entered the hospital when my water broke dialated to a 3.  This means that in all likelyhood this child will come sooner rather than later.

I went to target afterwards to grab some essentials before going to get my child from my mom's and suddenly it hit me, the need to nest. It was a little different thatn I expected, I still had no need to rush home and clean every surface in my house (much to my husband's dismay). But rather I had the need to grab every baby item in site and buy it. I stiffled the urge to empty the diaper isle of all of it's contents and instead circled aimlessly through the baby isles making a mental list of everything I needed to buy and do immediately to prepare for this child.

I thought of the clothes and blankets that had yet to be washed, where was I going to change the child, the changing pad is still in my first child's room, why did I have another child before the first was potty trained, should I buy another changing table?, does any home really need two changing tables? do I have enough diapers for baby #2 and 1, when was I going to be able to get to the store again? Should I stalk up on all diaper sizes just in case? And back to the diaper isle I went to contemplate this question and again resist the urge to purchase every diaper available as I did not know where I would put them all in our house. I needed to know how many outfits in each size I have for this little guy. What if he doesn't have enough clothes? Should I buy more? What sizes does he need? Should I buy them all just in case? We never got him a coming home outfit! How sad is that?! We have nothing special that is just his to bring him home in! And thus my mental and emotional breakdown began in the middle of target.

I thought my brain was going to explode from the mass of emotions and thoughts that flooded in in that instant. So I did what any women would do. I swung by the half off Christmas candy and picked up a bag of assorted chocolate candy that I proceeded to devore on my way home. Chocolate had an amazing power to soothe in a moment of crisis. I went home laundered every article of clothing in sight, counted diapers, made lists, and organized my life. I have become a mommy possesed with the need to clean and organize, but only baby items (again much to my husbands dismay.)

And so begins my time as a nester.