Abundant Blessings: An Infant and a Toddler

I remember when my son Cael was born...the midwife said, "Wow! This is a big boy!" He was one ounce shy of 10 pounds and he had a huge amount of dark hair covering his head.

Cael, 2 months old, Liz 2 years old

I honestly thought..."I just gave birth to a toddler!"

The reality was that he was coming home to a "big" sister who was the actual toddler and they were about the same size. (slight over exaggeration....slight)

Those ~~days~~, ~~weeks,~~ months after Cael came home are a bit of a blur. One thing I do remember...they were hard! I was so thankful for our family who came and helped out. I was thankful for my friends who brought us meals and prayed for us. I was thankful for it to be over.

Of course, there were many wonderful moments as a mother to an infant and toddler. There were times when I felt perfectly content snuggling one or both of my kids reading them a book, singing them a song, or taking a nap. Times when they would play together and make each other laugh. Times when I had one in the baby carrier and one in the stroller and we could enjoy a walk outside on a nice day. I love all those memories.

Now that infant is 10 years old and that toddler is 12. They are awesome kids!

I have a new infant and toddler. They are much bigger than the average infant and toddler but my feelings and actions are almost identical. I have a feeling they are going to "grow up" much quicker then the first two did...granted they already know how to walk and feed themselves.

But when people ask how things are going, I think describing our new life with Gabriel and Debo as a new infant and toddler paints a pretty good picture. The infant likes to be held all the time, wants to be snuggled and rocked and babied. She thinks the world revolves around her and is learning that is actually doesn't. The toddler wants to do everything by himself and yet doesn't have a great grasp on obedience and consequences. The toddler thinks he knows everything but still has so much to learn.

It is exhausting and challenging to parent a newborn and toddler but it is very rewarding. Our first two continually amaze us and these second two are already making great strides.

We are so blessed to have this time to nurture and pour love into these four little lives. They are each such a great blessing!

A few updates:

Coming off the bus his first day of school.
He wanted his bike to be waiting for him.

After a very unsuccessful attempt to introduce Gabriel to school last week, he announced this weekend that he wanted to start on Monday. We were shocked based on his comments from last week. We made sure he understood what "starting school" would mean and he did. So today Gabriel went to school. all day. rode the bus home. did his homework. He did great! We are so proud of him and thankful for our amazing elementary school and his amazing teachers!!!
Cael did a great job playing catcher and pitcher for his baseball team on Saturday and again tonight. We were all there to cheer him on for Saturday's opening game. He is trying to be a good big brother but it is certainly not an easy role for him right now. Prayers appreciated.
Gabriel had another great soccer game on Saturday and told Adam before the game that he wasn't going to score any goals in the first half and then he would only score two in the second and that is exactly what he did. He had a lot of fun and was all smiles. He could have scored a few more goals if he wanted to and the coach let him, but we are just so happy to see his enthusiasm for the game and his restraint in his position.
Debo is starting a gymnastics class on Thursday and is very excited to follow in big sister's footsteps.
Liz got her roundoff, back handspring, back tuck this week and is very close to having her standing back tuck. Big news for our cheerleading girl!