A Year With Two

     As of last week, a whole year has passed since we became parents of two. Leading up to Rachel's birth, we were nervous as to how we would handle having two children to care for. You know, at the same time. And then at first it was really easy. Newborns sleep a lot. I guess I had forgotten about that. The first month was really a breeze (and subsequently a confidence booster). But, around six weeks it got much harder. Rachel got fussy. Josh was not coping well. It makes it very hard when you are still a hormonal train wreck and your rock has turned to sand. Luckily that only lasted a few weeks, though they were difficult. Rachel's fussy period only lasted a little while, and Josh and I talked out many of the problems that we needed to deal with. After Josh went back to work, I had to get the hang of feeding three people meals simultaneously: baby on the boob, alternate spoonfuls of cereal between my mouth and toddler's mouth. Easy, right? I got the hang of it.
     Thankfully, Rachel is generally pretty low maintenance, and this past year has been much easier than it could have been, I'm sure. We have certainly had our ups and downs, moments-we'd-like-to-forget, and moments-to-remember. Laura has gone through phases of being an amazing big sister, and being... less-than-an-amazing big sister. We've gone through phases of being amazing parents, and being... less-than-amazing parents. Sometimes I feel like I could do this on my own (though I wouldn't want to), and very often it feels like having two parents isn't even enough. Would I change any of it? No. I love my life and my family more than anything, and am beyond grateful that I have been able to reach my goals and live my dream.

A small part of me still wishes we could expand our family by one more, but I'm very blessed to have what I already have.