We are past the 6-week-crunch!!!

Right before Pace was born, Mardel Landis (who we were living with at the time) gave me the good advice that the first six-weeks of a new baby are the hardest. Knowing that I just needed to get to week six was what kept me going with Pace. He didn't know how to eat for the first four-weeks and not eating, made him not sleep, which put Andy and me absolutely at the delusional stage of sleep deprivation. It's still surprising to look back at that time and know we survived it.

So with the approach of Satya we were steeling ourselves for a similar 6-week experience. You can imagine our suprises then that she came out not just being a fabulous eater, but that she arrived seemingly already well-adjusted to life outside the womb. Her alertness delights us; her strength surprises us; and knowing how to fall alseep shortly after Pace in the evening and sleep for 9 hours shocks us. Nothing seemed this easy with Pace. Is it just that she's an easy baby? Or is it the experience that comes with already having had gone through this with the first kid?



But lest I misleed you to think that these last seven and 1/2 weeks have been easy, I still feel like I'm begining to exhale for the first time since she was born. Transitioning to two has been jolting and lately I might add fun and deeply satisfying. I've been learning how to relate to Pace all over again. Having a newborn in the house slapped me in the face with the reality that Pace is not a baby anymore, that he is ready to go on to many next steps and my role as parent is changing dramatically. I must say that Andy has handled all these transitions instinctively well and has given me a lot of room to more slowly make them. He gets husband-of-the-year in the way he has sustained me and Pace through all of our transitions these past two months. Such a great husband!

Pace also gets brother-of-the-year for his patience and kindess toward Satya. He is very willing to rock her in the carseat, replace pacifiers, let me know that it's time to feed her, find her spit-up cloths, and entertain her with his jingle bells. And beside being a big brothers, he's transtioned out of his highchair and out of a crib this month! He's handled it all in stride (with the occasional breakdown (;) . Such a great kid!

I've also discovered in these last months that I really enjoy having kids. At first I wasn't sure I could to this. There were many moments in the beginning of self-pity and crying-out (especially when I slipped down the flight of stairs to our basement and couldn't keep a hold of Satya, so dropped her down the the last three steps! Thank goodness they are carpeted and she was okay.) but now the chaos, the multi-tasking, the humor, it's good. I'm excited to see what the future holds in store for our family of four; but for now, I'm just enjoy savoring the day to day.