It's crazytown around here, as you may imagine. We had a roofer in yesterday for an estimate (thanks, previous homeowners, for even more crappily done work that we have to have redone by actual professionals!) and he was all "Yeah, I have three kids all two years apart, but not THAT close together" when he found out Jo and Nora's ages. Jo is getting over a double ear infection, which caused a few days of very sad feverish Jo with lots of tears and need to constantly be in my arms or lap. She's never been a cuddler, so I did love all of the extra snuggles, but it made also having a newborn a bit more challenging. And Nora, who has awesomely been sleeping through the night most of the time for a while now, must be in a growth spurt because she's now waking to feed twice per night. And Jo has gone straight from molars to canines. Well, we assume. They're not beginning to come through yet but the chewing on fingers, excess drool, and night waking continue. Raj is in the homestretch of the end of residency, but it's an uphill climb hours-wise since he had a lot of his easier rotations scheduled around the time Nora was due. So he's basically always at work.
Help me, coffee, you're my only hope.
On the other hand, Jo does love Nora and wants to hold her hand and give her kisses (and touch her eyes and stick her fingers in her mouth, so, you know...). And Nora remains a super chill baby. She hung out quietly in her car seat to/from and during Jo's doctor appointment and was content in the Boppy Lounger next to me while I held sick sad Jo as long as I kept up with bottles of pumped milk for her. She's smiling and starting to chat these days, which is super cute and fun.
And holy cow is Jo making leaps with her language. New words every day and she's also better able to communicate nonverbally what she wants, which is making such a big difference. A while back she put together her first two word phrase, me bah, which means "please bear" because she wanted me to draw a bear for her on her Magnadoodle. Now she mostly uses two words to say please no. We are still working on getting her to say or even indicate yes. And while she says Mama, Daddy, and Elmo, she will not attempt Nora. Her name is Baby. End of story.
We have a babysitter now from 9-12 on Tuesday mornings so I can have a little time to myself or be able to schedule appointments for myself or for just one of them and leave the other. Josephine loves her and is happy to give me a kiss and say BYE and let me leave. I'm writing this from the quiet and calm of the seating area at Whole Foods with coffee and nobody competing for my attention. Which is wonderful. And I kind of miss my girls even though I've only been gone for two hours.
So often I find myself thinking "This is really my life" with a little bit of disbelief. For so many years, I wondered if I'd ever find a partner and then wanted so desperately to become a mom when it looked like it may not happen. Raj and my girls are real life dreams come true. I don't always remember that, especially when they're both crying and I'm overtired and Raj isn't getting home anytime soon. It's a lot of diapers and laundry and WHY ARE YOU CRYING I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. But Nora smiles at me just for talking to her and Jo runs to me for kisses on even the most minor of bumps and Raj comes home after a long, hard day and jumps right in with whatever we've got going on. And then I remember that I am the luckiest.