As you can see, blogging got pushed WAY far down on my to do this these past 18 months. 18 months! James is 18 months old already. There's no way I can recap a year and a half in one blog post so I'll just give some of the highlights.
When I was pregnant I found a group of other pregnant woman who met on Zoom once a week. Everyone on the call was about to be a first time mom and we were in the thick of Covid so we were all quite isolated. I honestly don't even remember how I found this group but it has become our village. There are 18 of us that all mostly live within a few miles of each other and had babies within a 6 month period. To this day we keep in touch daily. We had to move from regular texting to an app with different channels/topics (clearly I don't really know what I'm talking about here) but the point is that we are all in constant communication and this group has come to our rescue multiple times. We have get togethers with all of the families or just the moms, and the dads have started their own texting group. I realize that a group like this is hard to find and I am so grateful to have happened upon such an amazing group of moms to go through parenthood with.
One of the things we did as a whole group was a joint 1-year birthday party for all of the babies. It was so fun to have them all in the same spot at the same time! We had someone come out to do music and songs with them and the kids got to run and play outside together. I'm sure this is a tradition that will continue on.
A few highlights from James' first year:
James met his BFF - Deb
He had lots of visitors and went to MN! We timed it so we could go to the Black Family Reunion so he really got to meet a lot of people there.
Went to LBI in New Jersey and got to go on a few boat rides
Went to PA to visit friends a few different times
Weekly park meet ups with his friends for the first few months of his life
Started daycare (he loves it!)
Went to the Outer Banks and got to see the ocean (again!) and attend his first wedding. He was a trooper!
Halloween party with the village (He was a Ninja Turtle) and Friendsgiving
First Thanksgiving spend with Uncle Dan cooking for us
Saw Santa!!!
12/8 - Found out he was going to be a big brother. He was thrilled!
First Christmas - we flew to Denver to meet Uncle John and cousins Brinley and Micah (and see Auntie Sarah again)
Spent a few days in NYC looking at all the big buildings and eating bagels
On 8/7/22 we spent the day walking around New York. We walked 4.5 miles on our last day as a family of 3 and then...
Enter: Samantha Jan!
We call her Sam, Samantha, Sammi, Sammi Jan. We haven't quite nailed it down yet but once James can start saying something along those lines we will go with whatever he calls her.
Sam was born at 8:55am on 8/8/22. She was 7 lbs, 14 oz. and absolutely perfect. We spent a couple days at the hospital where the nurses mostly left us alone. It was glorious. Auntie Lisa stayed with James and got to come snuggle Samantha at the hospital a couple times. Everything went so smoothly and we couldn't wait to get home.
We had prepped James by giving him a baby doll and talking about the baby, but you really can't prepare a 16 month old to meet their 2nd best friend (Deb was first, clearly). He's had some jealousy but overall has done really well with her. He points to her chair in the kitchen if she's not in there with us, he brings her pacifiers and blankets and throws toys her way (sometimes a little too hard), and he goes to her car seat anytime he wants to leave the house. He was in a room with babies at daycare so the cries don't seem to bother him although he does look at us and wonder why we don't calm her down faster. He loves to run to her bassinet when she wakes up and looks for her when we get in the car.
Having 2 kids 16 months apart is busy, but we absolutely love it. Some moments are so, so sweet that we just can't smile big enough. And then they both cry at the same time and we divide and conquer. Or if Andy's working and James is home sick from daycare I just figure it out somehow and I don't have an answer for how I do it because I just do.
We've had lots of family and friends come to meet Sam Jan and hang out with James. I am on maternity leave until January 9th (NJ has AMAZING paid maternity leave) so I am going to bring Sam to MN to meet the rest of the family that hasn't been able to make it out here yet. It will be our first Girls Trip of many! I am going to miss James so so much, but he loves his Daaadeeeeeeeeeee, so he will be ok.
So here we are, a family of 4. I have yet to feel like the days are long. It feels like Samantha and James have been with us our whole lives and I can't believe I've already been pregnant twice and have 2 kids in my car with me every day. It's the best!
Until the next baby! Just kidding. But my track record proves otherwise.
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