First Month with Two Kids

We made it past the very first month and a half with two kids! Time to hand out the awards, in order of merit - but really, it was a very close call! Feel free to jump to the category you'd like:

• The "Big Sister" Award
• The "Turn the Hardest Month into the Fun Month!" Award
• The "Least Effort, Best Results" Award
• The "Best Duo" Award

 

The "Big Sister Award" goes to Mara, for taking in stride all the changes to our family by doing what she does best:

Cause havoc in the postpartum hospital room, to entertain everyone.

Come happily to take Mommy and Daddy home from the hospital.

Baby Gaius too, if we really must, she conceded after some deliberation - he is cute, we'll keep him!

Interact with baby Gaius on early mornings, when both parents just want to lie down.

Or just ignore him and play around, it's not like he's going anywhere.

 

The "Turn the Hardest Month into the Fun Month!" Award goes to the Grandparents who stayed with us for no less than four weeks. As a result, at any point in time, Mara got to choose between four loving pairs of arms which turned into an endless cycle of "Daddy hold Mara!", "Grandpa hold Mara!", "Mommy hold Mara!", "Grandma hold Mara!".

Every now and then, the desired pair of arms was temporarily unavailable due to Baby Gaius being held. This made for some tense emotional moments. Reasoning with a 21mo tends to escalate quickly, we found out.

It would start with a simple: "Daddy hold Mara!", her arms reaching up as far as they could.

If unheeded, it would quickly turn into: "Daddy no hold Baby Gaius!" and a vigorous shake of the head, while tears are starting to well up in her eyes.

If we still didn't give in, it would culminate with a very explicit complete solution to our impediment:

"Baby Gaius to... Grandma!... "
"Grandma... hold... Baby Gaius!..."
"Daddy hold Mara!".

I wish I could emphasize enough in writing the full tonality of these conversations, but rest assured we shall always remember the strength of her words, the emotion she put in her problem solving, and the fact that every single time she wanted Daddy above all others.

 

The "Least Effort, Best Results" Award goes to amazing Baby Gaius who is just wonderful at what babies of this age do.

Being so darn cute on their third day of life, ready to leave the hospital room.

Ride in the car quietly and in style, next to Mommy and a giggling Mara.

Look thoroughly existential on early mornings. 

Stretch like he's been spending 8.5 months in confinement, and he's finally gotten out.

Look very satisfied with the world.

Look at Mommy as if ready to tell her something, then shy away.

Yeah, I forgot, it'll take about 1 year till we get to that part. Expectations are so much higher on the second baby - what? you can't make full sentences like your sister? better start practicing those prepositions.

Sleep soundly on people.

Wait in an extremely dignified manner for the diaper change to start.

Prove your gene inheritance, by doing what Daddy does in his sleep in the mornings.

Look all European after a bath, with his cute little ad-hoc mohawk hair.

Wiggle on Daddy out in the back yard. Must have seen that squirrel again.

And of course, nurse like a champ, on a soundtrack of snorts and sighs and thoroughly labored breathing. Nope, not sharing photos on that one, but trust us on the cuteness.

 

Last but most importantly, the "Best Duo Award" goes to Mara and Gaius, who have been building upon their relationship so much over the past month and a half!

First minutes after birth: From her high vantage point in Daddy's arms Mara frowns at the new squealing person in Mommy's arms, then points her right arm to the door: "This way!". Yet she can't take her eyes off him, unsure whether it is because of how powerfully intriguing he is, or because of a  "don't turn your back on your foe" instinct.

The first day of Gaius's life: Mara concedes to getting close enough to touch him with a finger, but no more and it doesn't last long. We manage to take some photos of all of us together, but we don't push it - more baby for us, and she'll have more chances later at home on her own territory.

The first week at home: Mara loves reading the little Romanian Larousse book about a new baby in the family, "Bebelusul" (here is someone else's detailed blog post about this book, it's a wonderful resource to have to explain and recap the changes in the family; it definitely helped us a lot). She still likes to touch Gaius with one finger, but now she is giving him sweet kisses as well!

Three weeks: Mara is used to us being a family of four, yet she still goes on with her "X hold Y" requests. This particular morning, Mara was trying to get into Daddy's arms, who was holding Gaius. She went very quickly through the following sequence:

"Daddy hold Mara!"

"Daddy no hold Baby Gaius!"

"Baby... Gaius to..."

"Mommy hold Mara"

"Mommy hold... Mommy"

"Mara hold... Mommy"

At this point, we've gotten close to extinguishing all possible combinations, so we can pretty much tell which request is about to follow. Mommy intervenes:

"What about Mara holds Baby Gaius?".

Mara brings her verbal exploration of possibilities to an immediate halt. Big eyes. A concerned frown toward the person in Daddy's arms. Daddy picks it up: 

"Mara, do you want to hold Baby Gaius?"

Mara nods with a whispered "Yeah" under her breath. And she did:

Mara holds Baby Gaius for the first time.

Here we are, at a little over a month, Mara wants to hold Gaius on her and we comply.

And here's the animated version of it. Note the variety of smiles: