on having two under two

Last weekend we willingly took on the pleasurable task of babysitting my nephew Noah while my sister and her husband wine-d in Napa and attended a wedding. The first two days were great because Noah slept through the night, and it was nice for Eddie to have a constant playmate. The TV never had to be turned on. They were too busy chasing each other through the house, pounding on the door to go outside and simply put, eating and pooping. There was one day where I swear they were tandem pooping; Noah had 4, Eddie 2. I felt like I was constantly either feeding them or changing diapers. And thank god for having a dog to help clean up all the meal messes. Noah is truly a messy eater; I never realized how good of an eater, both in terms of what is consumed and how it is consumed, Eddie was/is until I spent 4 full days with Noah. By day three, we were all a bit exhausted though. Noah had a rough night of sleep due to some arriving molars, and he became very clingy on me; he would only be held or changed or put to be by me. And that seemed to make little Eddie need me even more too. At one moment between the two boys and my needy dog Mara, I felt like I needed to have two more arms as my husband stood back laughing at the spectacle on the couch of Eddie nursing, Noah being fed a bottle and Mara cuddled up next to us. It feels good to be needed so much...but having two kids, especially two boys, under the age of two is not something I would wish upon anyone. It is seriously draining, and the only thing that gets you through it are those precious moments of child independence and tandem giggling during play.

sprinkler fun

Check out this footage of my guys from last weekend while we watched Noah:

LA man

We traveled to Los Angeles over the weekend to attend Uncle Charlie Washuk's wedding to Catherine Kucher and to baptize their 3 1/2 month old son Alex. Leading up to the trip Eddie came down with a wicked cold - started with the eye drainage on Father's Day which was diagnosed as official "pink eye" and had to take drops, and then progressed into major congestion, snot and cough. So needless to say, I was a bit worried about our travels. But Eddie did so awesome. It is evident that he is way more adaptable and more go-with-the-flow than his mother. On both flights he slept for an hour and a half, sat well in our laps, reading books and playing with cars, ate snacks, played with the headphone and only once did he request to walk up and down the aisle. We didn't even have to bust out the laptop and the Cars DVD. When we arrived at the hotel room I was immediately uneasy about its lack of a tub (only shower) since our nightly bath routine would have to be modified, and the "crib" I had ordered was really just a pack n' play. I think I said three times, "I should have just brought our own," worried that he would not sleep well in the hard, foreign beddy. But he did fine. I was also stressed about the scheduling of all the activities and how it would coordinate with his sleep schedule. But he proved that he can fall asleep in the car for a nap and still function as a delightful, entertaining little guy. We had a busy, fun-filled weekend of wedding activities, Alex's baptism and BBQ, then a trip to a pool party in the Hills. Eddie was lovin' the LA weather (cool 70's and sun every day) and the laid back lifestyle. Thanks for Katie and Charlie for carting us around all weekend and for all the fun! All the photos are posted on my Facebook page.