Who Does Isaac Look Like?

When I look at Isaac and Jack together I don't see a whole lot of resemblance. All I see is that Jack is no longer my baby – a little boy has taken place of my chubby firstborn.

Isaac

 

Jack

I also have a hard time seeing me or Daniel in Isaac's features. But I recall feeling the same way with Jack – he was such a blend of us that I could never definitively say that he looked like either of us. However, I catch glimpses of familiar expressions from both of our families.

Isaac

Jack 

To compare the two, I took a little walk down memory lane. And then I see the resemblance of Isaac to Jack. As newborns there is a strong resemblance, these two are definitely brothers. 

 Isaac

 Jack

Daniel even showed some photos of Jack to Jack and asked him who it was. Jack said, "Isaac." I am excited to see what Isaac looks like in a few years.

 Daniel, born August 1980

Cheree, born November 1980

 

Jack, born November 2011

Isaac, born April 2015

Family, Family, Family

It is hard to believe that it has been FOUR weeks since we were preparing to go to the hospital to induce little Isaac into this world. 

This has been the week we have adjusted to being on our own for the first time – family has left and Daniel has returned to his crazy work schedule.

 

We loved having people here and everyone getting to meet our newest addition, but it has been nice to focus on settling into our normal routines again. 

Jack loved the non-stop attention – first his Nana (Daniel's mom) was here for several days. 

Then his Aunt Amy and Aunt Emily came and did lots of fun stuff with him. 

His Grammy (my mom) was here for a full two weeks – cooking, cleaning and taking lots of trips to the park across the street. 

In between we had great aunts and uncles and Great Grandmothers drop into visit. 

Finally, everything culminated with a house full (16 people to be exact) to celebrate Isaac's birth and Mothers' Day. 

My Nana came from Canada, my sister and her kids from Florida, my parents were here for Arkansas, and my brother and one of my aunts and her family were here from Nashville.

As my sister said on her Facebook album: "Think Dan in Real Life or Home Alone & that is what our family get togethers are like."

In other words, it was a bit crazy, but awesome. Family took care of cooking and cleaning. My uncle even did me a solid and cleaned my microwave and the outside of my stove. I will never turn down free cleaning :)

Since there is a newborn in the house, I didn't get a ton of sleep (even though Isaac really only wakes a couple of times a night). By the end of the weekend, we were all ready to take a full day of rest. 

This week we have been adjusting to life as usual. Every day Jack wants to know what we are going to do (he has had lots of people to do stuff with over the last month!). 

Isaac may have developed a slight case of lap colic (the boy did get held/passed around my tons of people last weekend). Also, he seems to love noise – as soon as everyone left he seemed to not nap quite as well.

This week I have been working at getting him back into his sleep routine (sans the crazy noise levels). Thankfully he seems to be a baby that will sleep anywhere.

Looking back, Jack went through some similar patterns – we visited family for Thanksgiving two weeks after his birth and he had a bit of trouble adjusting back to life as usual. 

I am so grateful to have two easy going boys. I am also grateful for all of our family jumping in to help us and to come meet and love on our boys. We feel incredibly blessed.

This week I managed to get back into my laundry routine and picking up the house (with Jack's help). Next week I hope to incorporate grocery shopping (our house is currently empty of food) and cooking back into my schedule. 

And for the days I can't get it done, well, The Pizza Place is only a phone call away...

Flying Solo, Part 2

It's interesting to look back and see how I handled becoming a new parent when Jack was born. Some things are the same with a second child, and some things are different. We are only 3 weeks in and I have to confess that it's been easier than I thought it would be.

The Same
1) With both Jack and Isaac, Daniel was able to take 3 weeks off at the time of their birth. I think in both cases this has helped tremendously with the transition of our growing family.

2) In terms of the baby part, Isaac is much the same as Jack was... he spends most of the day eating, sleeping and pooping. It sometimes feels like a never-ending cycle.

3) At three weeks in, Jack became more fussy, wanting to be held more. Isaac has followed a similar pattern. I initially thought it was because we just had a big weekend where he was held a lot, but looking back it seems like he is just following in his big brother's footsteps.

Different
1) In terms of different, the most obvious thing is that I am also juggling a 3 year old. Thankfully Jack is a good helper and I feel comfortable leaving him and Isaac alone in the same room (like when I need to swap out laundry). Jack is also a great helper – he will retrieve things for me and helps me with cleaning up, doing the laundry and getting his own snacks.

2) When I became a first-time mom, it seems like it was months before I took a shower with any kind of regularity. I was surprised that I was able to get Isaac down for a nap and Jack simultaneously occupied while I hopped in the shower before eating a late lunch. Also this time around I don't have the phantom baby crying in my head every time I get in the shower. 

3) It seems like our amount of laundry has increased ten-fold with the arrival of Isaac. I don't remember this much laundry before. It feels like we have been doing it non-stop since we came home from the hospital. We have already started using cloth diapers and that certainly isn't helping with the laundry situation.

4) I have yet to start cooking – family and friends have been amazing with providing meals and cooking and cleaning while they visit. We didn't have that with Jack (though I also didn't have a c-section, so there was less need), but it has been great this time around. We also had the luxury of a friends dropping in to visit this afternoon. Jack was thrilled with the impromptu play date and Isaac just slept.

5) We definitely experienced the witching hour today. Right before Daniel got home, Isaac was crying and Jack fell and hurt himself (and was also crying). It was the first time I had to pick between the two boys. I let Isaac cry and picked Jack up to make sure his arm wasn't badly hurt. I'm hoping I didn't hurt myself from lifting him, but the mom instinct kicked in and I felt like it was more important to make sure Jack was ok.

Overall things are going well. I didn't eat lunch until 2:30 and I am embracing the fact that a hot cup of coffee will be a figment of my imagination for about a year.

Jack at 3 weeks old

A look back: Flying Solo with Jack