Blessed

It's been a few days, and they've been busy, but good days.
Thursday was Joshua's second birthday, and it might as well have been Christmas! From the second we reminded him it was his birthday in the morning he wanted to do presents, so we ended up in bed with a happy little boy ripping open gifts--how fun! We sang "Happy Birthday to You" every time he remembered it was his birthday thoughout the day and he's beam and laugh the whole way though. He was also thrilled by his little cupcake party with Mommy, Daddy, and Lydia, especially the fact that he got to decorate the cupcakes. I'd been hoping the baby would come soon enough I'd feel up to making a special cake, etc.--but the nice thing about 2 year olds is they're excited by the simple things in life, so using the "sprinkles" made it a treat as is.
Lydia's been taking the past few days to settle in and gradually right her days and nights. After a few rough nights with a wide-awake little baby, we finally were able to sleep more than we were awake last night! She only was up three times to nurse between 9pm to 8am, so Mommy is thrilled, but trying not to get her hopes up that the pattern will continue. She seems very laid back and relaxed for the most part, and spends much of her awake time just taking in all the commotion her big brother makes.
Joshua's big thrill on Friday was getting to introduce his "baby We-we-uh" to his "doc-doc Manda" (what he calls our pediatrician) and "helping" with the checks at her appointment. We also found that whoever entered Lydia's birth stats into the medical records software must have put the height into the weight slot, so we got to the clinic with them shaking their heads over how we had a 20lb. baby. (Mommy was even more glad than the staff that she wasn't!)
Joshua's also loving the fact that daddy is home all the time, and I'm sure he'll be really disappointed when the time comes for James to go back to work (so will I, it's been great to have his help).
Other than that we've just been enjoying our time as a family of four and continuing to figure out how we juggle two kids and still find time for ourselves and each other. We're certainly not there yet, but at least as repeat parents, we're finding it easier to view these first few weeks as a tunnel, not a cave--and we know there's light there somewhere. :-) We're spending the days feeling really blessed to have two happy, healthy children!
Take care and I'll try to put up a few pictures in this post later when I get another free minute!
~Liz