Lest I give the wrong impression . . .

Before Bennett was born, someone told me that having two kids was twice as hard as having one. And I now refer to that person as BIG FAT LIAR! It's about ten times as hard. While hearing parents of one child talk about having another makes me want to issue warnings and wave red flags of caution about being 100% ready for the challenge before taking the plunge, I know that these feelings will pass and that normalcy will come soon enough.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm miserable or that we're barely getting by. We are having fun. I am loving being a mom to two fantastic boys. And life is good. Here are some of the high points:

• Bennett does not give smiles as freely as Jack did, but he did start sooner. Jack was three or four weeks when he started giving the coveted "social smiles" but Ben started over last weekend. He smiled really big for my dad when he was playing with him. He's smiled a few times for me when we were playing and he flashed Kyle a big grin shortly after his first bottle. We do get plenty of the gassy/sleepy smiles, but we have to work for the real thing. It's totally worth the effort.
  
  
• I'm heading back to work tomorrow and Friday. I've been reminded that I have lots of maternity leave time left, but I am about to go insane being at home so much. I need to get out of the house and since Ben is fairly portable, and my office is big enough for a pack and play, it's doable. I think Jack is going to be thrilled to see Kelsey at our door tomorrow morning.
  
  
• I don't have tons of time for tv, but there are a few new televisions shows that I'm loving . . . The Good Wife, Glee and Flash Forward, to name a few.
  
  
• Getting so many Christmas card orders is REALLY getting me excited for Christmas. We've started listening to Christmas music (at Jack's request) and it just makes me feel . . . well, merry.
  
  
• Ben slept REALLY well the last two nights. My night time routine is this (at least this is what I aspire to): Both boys get a bath around 6:30 or 7 and then we try to get them down for bedtime between 7 and 8, with a feeding for Ben.
  
  When Ben's down, we work on getting Jack down to bed if Kyle hasn't already had success with that. When they're both down, we work on laundry, watch tv, I catch up on orders and and e-mail and just try to relax. I get Bennett up to eat between 10 and 11 . . . right before we're ready for bed. He sleeps right through the feeding, but gets enough so that he's not waking us up 30 minutes after we go to bed. Then he wakes up around 2 and sometimes around 4. But two nights ago, he slept from 2:30 until 7 AM! It was glorious. Jack actually woke us up before Ben did.
  
  
• The thrush looks remarkably better today. I know that we still have a long way to go and I'm not about to stop the medicine, but I have a more positive outlook on things. I should have mentioned yesterday that I am doing block feeding . . . only nursing on one side for every 2- 3 hours.
  
  
• Bennett doesn't get to leave the house nearly as much as Jack did. With Jack, we were at camp every day. But we went from Monday afternoon until Saturday afternoon without leaving the house with him once! But he has had his fair share of trips to Target, has been to church the last two Sundays and has been to an embarrassing number of restaurants . . . I'm still working on getting meals straightened out.
  
  
• Jack and I went on an "adventure" to the library and to buy a present for his cousin's birthday last week. It was my first little bit away from Bennett and a great time for Jack and I to spend time together. Bennett took his bottle from Kyle slowly, but did well. I'm thankful for that.
  
  
• Jack had his first haircut the other night . . . it was long overdue. Kyle cut it and it's, well, really short. Jack has definitely moved from babyhood to boyhood.