After an extended hiatus, I am back to writing columns! (Or at least going for the ole’ college try.) These 500 words or less will be punctuated by breaks you won’t see, hopefully. I am the mother of two boys now which means I don’t do any one activity for very long at all anymore! Aside from the obvious balancing act that I am still learning, it has been so much fun! I wasn’t really expecting that part. No one told me that! I was expecting all the hard stuff. Most people reacted to the news of a second boy with offers of prayers for my sanity, but I don’t suffer from my insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!  

I’m fairly new at this mommy of two thing, just over a month in; but I have learned a few encouraging things. I have discovered that having a 2nd child is easier in many ways. I knew what to expect for the most part. Not that there haven’t been surprises along the way! Mainly, our 2nd arrival, Andrew, arrived two weeks early and three days before Christmas! That, by far, was probably my best week ever. A total blur when I think about it now. I had a baby and my oldest child, Carson, turned into a big boy all in the same week!

Then we came home and had Christmas! I remember standing at the front door holding my sweet smelling baby bundle and watching his big brother learn to ride a real bike with training wheels! We were completely surrounded by my family and extended family, a ton of food, and so much love. Wrapping paper and laughter flew around my house and I just sat in the midst of the joy feeling incredibly blessed!

Another awesome surprise has been discovering that Carson was born to be a big brother. I was warned he’d be jealous, but we haven’t seen that at all. In fact, the only issue we’ve had is convincing Carson that baby Andrew isn’t going to do something spectacular if he leaves his side for a minute! He loves holding him and helping me. He loves singing to him too! Once, I was busy and the baby started to cry. I was rushing back in and found Carson singing “Jesus loves me” to his little brother. You know what? It worked! Andrew was staring at Carson and happily kicking his feet around!

I’ve had a lot of help as well. Craig, my family and Craig’s mom have all helped a great deal at different times. That has made my recovery and our adjustment as a family of four much easier, but it is challenging at times. I definitely don’t believe in evolution because if it were real, mothers would grow at least one extra arm per child.

I might look like a freak with four arms, but I’d get a lot more done!