WOW! It's been more than a month!

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Brothers!
Holy cow! Two kids plus taking care of a house is NO JOKE. I think that just having to care for an infant could be a blog killer, but caring for an infant and a three-year-old that does not nap leaves me absolutely no time to do anything besides survive.


Landon is starting to get used to having another kid around. He helps change diapers, and know that if Owen is crying, he either needs a diaper change, a feeding, or a burp. Aside from occasional squishing and trouble being gentle, Landon has drastically decreased the amount he tries to hurt Owen. At first, he really liked to get Owen to cry. I'm sure they will have many years of wailing on each other, but at this point, Owen is defenseless so I'm glad Landon doesn't do that as much anymore.

Content little sleeper
A short run-down of our lives the past month is in order. I'm hoping that I can go back and do individual blog posts about each of these events, but here's what we've been up to (besides caring for an infant and not sleeping!)

- My mom changed her travel plans and flew in earlier than planned because I was going into labor. She was able to get to us the morning before Austin and I went to the hospital, which was perfect because she was able to watch Landon over night, and bring him to the hospital to meet his new baby brother! She stayed until the Sunday before Thanksgiving and took Landon to the library, to T-ball, and to the Kohl's Children's Museum in the north suburbs. It was awesome to have her around, when she's in town my house is magic- the dishes clean themselves, laundry appears in my drawers, and everything gets picked up and put away. She saved my sanity during those first few weeks, I can't imagine we could have survived and fed ourselves without her!

- The same day my mom flew out, Austin's parents flew in for Thanksgiving. We had yummy food and loved spending time with the Browns. we even celebrated early Christmas with them- and Landon and Owen were spoiled by Grandma Ev, Grandpa Jim, and Auntie Em. They went to the Field Museum and learned all about dinosaurs! They left us at the beginning of December, and Austin went back to work after a glorious three weeks off.
Family picture

- I survived for several weeks without any help! I wasn't sure how it was going to go with no help and two kids at home, but I did it!

- Landon finished up his T-ball class. He had a hard time listening the last 15 minutes of class every week, but loved learning from Coach Steve!

- My brother, Greg flew in for Christmas a few days early so that Austin and I could celebrate our anniversary sans Landon. We went on a short get-away with Owen, and had a delicious Italian dinner in charming downtown Palatine. We had a peaceful time before Christmas craziness ensued!

- The rest of my family assembled in Chicago and we drove together to Harbert, Michigan to a house big enough for all of us. An unseasonably warm winter turned our activities from sledding, cross country skiing and ice skating to hiking, walking along the beaches of Lake Michigan and exploring Warren Dunes State Park. Baby snuggles were had by all and it was wonderful to be together for Christmas!

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