2 months.

I wanna rock!

Mr. Gibbles.

When Lyla was born I was anti-pacifier. I would see children who were far too old with a hunk of plastic hanging out of their mouth like an old cigar as they talked. It did not seem cute to me at all. On about day six of little Lyla’s life she just cried and cried, nothing consoled her. Being new scared parents we decided to give the pacifier a try just to see if it helped. Like a seal at feeding time, she grabbed that thing and then there was silence. We decided she could use it for a little while and then we would surely be done. We also decided it needed a name and Matt came up with Giblet. The Giblet went everywhere with us. We needed it as much as she did. I’d like to think it was our back-up to our wonderful parenting tricks but truth be told it was the first thing we went to in a time of chaos.

Like every good friend, nicknames surfaced quickly- Gibbles and Mr. Gibbles are the two favorites. Slowly we managed to get Mr. Gibbles down to only being used during naps and bedtime. Progress was being made. I would ask Lyla about not having Mr. Gibbles anymore and a flat-out “No” was always the answer.

When Savannah was born, we decided to give the pacifier a chance with her as well. Lyla was fascinated that more Mr. Gibbles were coming into the home. This was huge. New baby sister = more Gibbles. Jackpot! I decided one day to take Lyla to Target to help me shop for new pacifiers for Savannah. I had no intention of getting Lyla another pacifier. Well somehow LYLA ended up with TWO new Gibbles. My rationale in purchasing more was that we could phase out the old newborn one for one that was sized appropriately. Like socks, pacifiers come in sizes and she still has a newborn one. That’s what I told myself in Target anyway. It made sense to me. That’s all that matters, right? I also thought that old Mr. Gibbles could be easily replaced. That was my first mistake. Well actually my second mistake, the first one was the trip to Target. Pretty soon Lyla was skillfully managing two Mr. Gibbles also known as “New Gibbles” and “Old Gibbles”. The attachment was compounded. We had two Gibbles to care for. In the early days of having a newborn and a two year old, Lyla capitalized on our sleep deprivation and foggy heads and came out the victor in the Gibbles department. So now, Old Gibbles and New Gibbles are bargained for continuously by Lyla and they are trusty sidekicks she can’t imagine living without. I asked her the other day if she was ready to say goodbye to both of them and after she took a minute to really think about what I said, she looked at me and said “No”. I think Matt and I have to be ready to say goodbye too- Mr. Gibbles - old and new- are kind of part of the family right now- we can’t just throw our friend away.

6 weeks

Poop.

Poop makes up about 75% of our conversation these days. Seriously, no lies, that is all we talk about. Lyla is absolutely fascinated that Savannah poops. All we hear when we change Savannah's diaper is "want to see the poopoo's" over and over again. Keep in mind, she is a newborn and that means plenty of poops and possible poop situations. All of which keep Lyla way intrigued. When Lyla poops she builds a fortress around herself with all of her toys then announces abruptly after the fact that she needs to use the bathroom. If we don't jump up instantly we have a serious situation in the bathroom. She quickly runs in, strips off ALL of her clothes and wants to wipe and "see the poopoo's". If you haven't tried to teach a 2 year old bathroom etiquette, this is quite interesting. The biggest lesson thus far is that we don't touch poop. BIG lesson to learn in my book. Lyla knows it but sometimes events spiral out of control and shit happens, literally. The other hot topic is our dog Charlie's poop. Lyla points ALL of it out and wants it cleaned up pronto. This phase will pass for sure but in the mean time, it you stop by the house be prepared to openly talk about poop.

Then there were two...

Wow. Okay. Two small children are a lot of work. It's taxing. Thank god I don't have anything that I want to do or need to get done. I feel like I am here 100% to provide for these little girls. This is exactly where I want to be but it's exhausting. Not sure what would happen to me if Matt wasn't here. I'm pretty sure I would never eat or shower and we sure as hell wouldn't leave. We are managing though. Lyla is one little ball of energy. All she wants to do each day is jump off of things, climbing on things, be chased, play outside, throw balls, or run. That's pretty much it. She is also talking the ENTIRE time she is doing any one of these said activities. It is awesome. She says some of the funniest things I have heard in awhile. She has a funny sense of humor and her laugh is contagious. She cracks herself up a lot. But she is two and she has a certain way everything must be done. Matt and I often choose the wrong way to try anything and she is quick to point out our mistakes. Our new life as we know it.

There are a lot of things I wish I had known before crossing the threshold with Savannah. I wish I had worked more with Lyla on finding activities she could play by herself. This is huge. I also should have read the "newborn" section of my baby info books again. It's amazing how much you forget. However, so much of our day just works itself out. We try to have at least one "adventure" with Lyla each day. We call them adventures and her eyes just light up- way more fun for everyone. That varys from walks, to playing in the yard, to PetSmart, to the library or grocery shopping. The beauty of two years old is everywhere is fun if you use the right adjectives. The words "fancy", "super special" and "special treat" go a long way in our world these days. Lyla loves to take Savannah to the doctor. She likes the toys in the waiting room and the stickers she gets at the end of each visit simply for being there. Our days are all about being as creative as we can be and really just trying to keep up and have fun at the same time. I can tell you we are way better off a month in than we were on day three. We are learning and growing and giving it all we've got.

Sweet Savannah.

Our little Savannah Pearl finally made her appearance on December 28th at 7:53pm. She was 9lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long. My water broke at 12:30am on the 28th, ONLY 11days overdue. I tried to go to bed early that night because I had a feeling that she would be born on Wednesday the 28th, as that was the exact amount of time I was overdue with Lyla. I was too anxious and only got about 2 hours of sleep before my water broke. Once I was up, adrenaline took over and I was ready to go have a baby. Once my mom came over to watch Lyla; Matt and I went to the hospital at 2:30. We arrived at the hospital and met up with our Douala and everything was really good at this point. They sent us right to a room. Contractions were coming slow and steady. I had wanted to labor as long as possible at home, but once my water breaks I always have this mental picture of the baby somehow struggling because it's little comfy home is empty. I have been assured time and time again that this is not the case but I can't get past it. So each time I have let myself believe I would be home for hours laboring, but quite the contrary, I've got 2 hours max in me.

I will spare the details until I have fully organized and processed them. It will take a little bit of time. I had another unmedicated birth and it was a mental challenge like no other. It was 17.5 hours. A much harder labor than Lyla's. I am proud of myself though. I decided to have another unmedicated birth, not because I wanted to impress other people or needed to prove something, I did it for Savannah. Each woman has to do what feels right for them. I look at it as the first unique and special bond a mom has with her child. No one else can have it. I just can't understand how all the medicines at the very end of pregnancy can't have some impact on this new little person. Here's what I picture: 30 years from now there will be some commercial on TV saying "If you had your child between X year and Y year and you had (any birth drug) containing 'BlahBlahBlah' they are at risk for x,y,p,d and q. Yep, that's a glance into my brain. I can't get past that thought process. I hope I am wrong, but I'm not 100% convinced I will be. I don't want my children's birth to be part of some class action suit. If all I have to do is experience childbirth, a task my body was designed to do, then so be it. I'm in. I may never know if my lack of medicine made a difference or not, but I do know I felt every minute I worked to meet Savannah. That is a feeling only I will understand and that is special to me.

Savannah is one sweet little lady. She cries very little, really only when she is hungry. Her cry is this tiny little cry that sounds like one of those little baby dolls "whaaaaa, whaaaaaa, whaaaaaa". Her chin shakes too when she cries which makes it extra endearing and sad at the same time. She mostly just looks around and gives a smile every now and again. Matt and I were just discussing tonight how it just feels different having two girls- it feels right and it feels fun.