The 2nd Month

 Jack has taken to being quite the photographer. His latest includes taking pics of what he is watching on the telly.

 Jack is definitely my son. He LOVES to bake. And lick the bowl clean afterwards.

 Another Jack photo.

 Every kid loves to take a photo of the family dog.

Charlie maybe the first baby in history to love baths. He has not cried once since we have started giving him baths. Thank God.

Two months have come and gone. We have gotten to this great schedule of eating and napping and bedtimes.I have two weeks left of maternity leave. I will be sad to see my time with my kids go, but I want to go back to work and start contributing to the family bank again. How do stay at home moms do it? Every day, stay at home and try to think of new and inventive ways to be the fun mom so your kids are not bored at home. That was what plagued me this time around. I felt that I was not the cool enough, fun enough mom to Jack and Charlie. Everytime I would suggest to color, Jack would say no.My only backups were baking and watching a Wonderpets episode that Jack really likes, to which he would always say yes immediately.

Charlie is a great baby. We got his first smile on Christmas Eve, right in those early morning feedings. I told Charlie thanks for giving us a wonderful gift. He "a-goo"s a lot and often sounds like a cat when he is whiny and ready to eat. I can't complain much. I think we are raising some terrific kids.

The 2011 Moments

* The moment when Brian and I realized on our way to the circus that that was probably the last time that we would ever be out as the trio. It was kind of our way of saying goodbye to Jack as the only child before baby #2 came on board. Knowing this would explain why we splurged on getting Jack a $7 popcorn and a $12 snowcone.
* Telling Brian that I was pregnant - on our 10th year anniversary
* Summer - Jack was not afraid of the pool and jumped in with no fear.
* Constantly telling Jack not to squeeze my mother in law's dog to death, but secretly loving how his little face got so excited as he squeezed the poor dog to death.
* Leaving the house on November 13 to have Charlie, and instantly missing Jack as soon as I got in the car.
* Seeing Jack's face for the first time in the hospital, and hearing his words of "Can I watch TV?" I guess any kid would want to watch TV in the hospital room since it was a 43 in. plasma.
* Getting ice with Jack at the hospital. At one point, he gave my leg a huge squeeze. I took it as " I am soo happy to see you again Mama."
* Having Jack leave me at the hospital that night, crying my eyes out and deciding at that moment that I must leave the hospital the next day. I did.
* The 3 am smiles that we get from Charlie. I am getting used to the 3am feedings and I don't mind, since we get the 3am babbles.
* Christmas 2011 - the year of Thomas the train.
* New Years Eve-  exactly at midnight, Charlie decides to wake up to eat. Such a boy.

Cheers to 2012.

The 60 degree day

We live in Chicago. It is January. And today on January 6th, it was 60 degrees. A freak of nature I'm sure, but I do not care.
What I do care is that it is January, I am in the midst of my maternity leave, and I was able to leave the house with my two boys.
We went to the park and it just felt so great to walk down the street, no down coat on and go to the park.
That is what we did, and Jack felt my happiness as much as I did. At one point, he stopped walking just to give me a hug.
Who is the Greek god of brilliant weather? Zeus? Well thank you Zeus, you must have heard my one too many woah is me, I am stuck in the house blues.