31 Days

Our tiny Huck Finn is one month old today. Let me tell you, friends: I feel a sense of genuine satisfaction and pride that we have kept two children alive and relatively happy for one whole month. Man oh man... I truly could not have imagined just how challenging and exhausting it is to parent more than one child. It has been quite a month, but just look at his precious little face. If ever there was a worthy enough reason for total life disruption, that face would be it. We couldn't be more grateful or joyful.

Henry is asleep on my chest as I type this post. I thought about putting him down in his crib to nap so I could get a few things done, but I remembered just how fast those chest-snuggling days passed with Madelyn so alas...emptying the dishwasher and organizing the medicine cabinet can wait. Snuggling with a newborn -- my newborn -- is worth a messy house. Pure bliss, in fact.

A few observations thus far:

-Boys are so noisy! Madelyn was a pretty quiet, chill little baby, but Henry grunts and squeaks and chirps and otherwise comments on his experiences constantly. I wear earplugs at night because he's so loud!

-I'm pretty sure he has my toes, poor kid.

-Henry is making sure that, as the second child, he doesn't go unnoticed or forgotten. This little baby wants to be held all the time. And I do mean all the time! Let's just say that we're not exactly discouraging him :) Thank God for the Moby wrap or Madelyn would never eat lunch and I would never pee.

-Our little man is already buttering up his dad for a motorcycle. Kurt and I take a "zone defense" to the nighttime shift: he's on from 9pm to 2am and I'm on from 2am to 7am. The last few nights, Henry has slept over four hours on Kurt's shift but still wakes up every 2-3 hours on my shift, little stinker!

-I forgot how awesome babies' milk-drunk faces are!

-Everyone was right: watching Madelyn's and Henry's relationship begin to develop even at this early stage is just fantastic. Nothing in my life thus far has brought me more joy than seeing her try to gently comfort him when she thinks no one is watching and him calm to her voice. God willing, they will have each other for a long, long time.