Sibling Love

Now that Mealea is crawling she loves to follow Sawyer everywhere. She watches everything he does, and plays with all his favorite toys. Sawyer gets jealous and pulls the toys away, but I remind him to share and he usually gives it back (even though its really hard for him). As hard as it can be having two kids, I love it more than anything. I love to watch them interact together. I can tell they love each other, and that makes me so happy! Sawyer will ask me "where's baby?" when he can't find her. Sometimes he answers his own question with "baby night night".

Before she was born, I was worried that Sawyer would be jealous of her, or act out because he's not getting as much attention. I worried for months, researching ways to help a toddler adjust to a new baby. Sawyer was only 18 months when Mealea was born, still a baby himself. I felt bad that he didn't have more time with just Mom and Dad before a new sibling came. But then I realized every baby after the first doesn't get that time anyway. After Mealea was born, I was pleasantly surprised when Sawyer showed no jealousy at all. He even showed a little interest in her and wanted to pat her head and give her a binky, bottle and blankets. We taught him to be soft and nice to her so she didn't get hurt. We were also surprised to find he was just naturally careful around her as to not hurt her. Since then he has grown to love her more. Once when Mealea was about a month old she was in her car seat in the living room screaming. Sawyer ran over and paced the floor looking a little worried and anxious. He scanned the area and found her binky and put it in her mouth (upside down so it fell out). Then he found her blanket and gently put it over her body careful to keep her face free. That was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever seen. I have caught him numerous times since then watching how I comfort her and trying it out. He is such a sweet boy. I was worried for nothing ( I KNOW SAMONG...)

Mealea also loves her brother. When I get her out of her crib from a nap or in the morning Sawyer is usually with me. Her eyes burst with joy, love and excitement when she sees him. Her arms fly, her legs kick and she squeals in delight. As soon as I put her down, she grabs his head and licks it (gives kisses). I LOVE IT!

I wanted another boy because since they were close in age I thought it would be fun to have little best friends playing and laughing together. I have that now with a little boy and a little girl, its perfect.



Having two kids is an adventure, but it comes with some work. The past week 1/2, two weeks has been rough. Mealea cut her first tooth and it took a week just to pop up completely. It's still tiny, but it's done coming through the gums. A week of her crying all the time, not eating very good and just not being herself. That may not be that long, but it's long to me because all of Sawyer's teeth popped up in two days time. He was a little fussy, but back to normal in no time. Then she had a huge reaction when we fed her bananas and banana/apple/strawberry baby food on Monday. Her rash was so bad she stayed up all night (until 3:30 am) crying and scratching. The next two days she cried most of the day unless I held her. Her rash is getting better but it takes a while. Samong gets home from work Mon-thurs between 8-9pm right now so I am slowing going mad. He interview's for a new job on Tuesday, we really need this job. It's a big pay raise plus he will be home at a normal time.