Hi friends!!! Last weekend we had Penelope’s 2nd birthday party.  We originally planned on having it at the playground but the weather was unseasonably cold for May so we made the call to have it at our house.  I am glad we made that decision because several people were very glad to not have to spend the afternoon outside in the cold.  We actually had a wonderful turnout and I am so thankful that most people could come.  Here are some photos from the day…

My mom and her husband came to visit Chicago for the party and to meet Oliver for the first time!

Instead of a birthday cake, we did donuts (among other little treats) and it was a huge hit!  

Since there were only going to be a handful of kids at the party, I was able to splurge a little on the party favors…I did a little herb planting kit.

Penny and the other kids seemed to have a real good time so I think the day was a great success 🙂

In other news, Oliver got newborn photos taken.  The photo shoot was a complete disaster; we wanted to get pictures with Penny in them but both kids were NOT having it.  The whole ordeal took 3 hours and we didn’t get a single one with Penny so that was very disappointing.  At least the ones with Oliver came out nice, here are a couple:

And here is a picture of the kids together:

Classic.

Every morning, after Oliver has kept me up all night, I emerge from the bedroom to greet the day like this:

Facing another day by myself with a toddler and newborn is scary!  Especially after not sleeping!

Chase has wonderful benefits, including 16 weeks of maternity leave, which is wonderful but being at home with these kids alone all day is HARD!!!  It takes a lot for me to not reach for a glass (or FIVE!) of wine every night.  I applaud all you stay at homers out there, it is so much harder than going to an office every day.

Despite it all, I am really cherishing this time with my babies.

Anyway, it has been over a month since Oliver was born and in case anyone is interested, here are the details…I was scheduled for an induction for 1am on March 29th (at 39 weeks) because I was so uncomfortable and my body was already showing signs of labor so my doctor gave the green light.  When I got to the hospital I was already having regular contractions so the little mister would have come that day or the next, regardless of the induction.  Once I was started on pitocin, it would only take 5 hours for Oliver to arrive!  Here are a couple pictures from the day…

Here is the last picture of me pregnant:

Woof!  Before giving birth, the nurses asked me “how big does he feel to you?” I responded that I felt like he was slightly bigger than Penny (but I was far more uncomfortable this time around so I should have known better!).  Well, he was a whopping 8lb, 12 oz (Penny was born at 41 weeks and was 7lb, 1 oz)!

Going from 1 kid to 2 has been pretty crazy, hence the delay in writing this post.  I will be home with the kids until mid-July and the 3 hardest things are 1) figuring out what to feed Penny all day, everyday; 2) figure out how to get these kids out of the house; and 3) listening to one or both of them cry all day!!!!  AHHH!

There are a variety of activities we’ve been doing to keep momma’s sanity and, in addition to taking advantage of the free neighborhood events (Barnes & Noble story hour, Whole foods dance/music class) we’ve been doing the following:

Sensory bins

Park time, lots & lots of park time

Arts & craps

 

Story time

Long walks

And snuggling this guy

I am very grateful that this kid was not born in January!

Until next time 🙂