life with two

At nearly three months in, I find that we've really settled into life with two. It feels so natural, like it's always been. Both Steve and I are so very in love with Raina, and each day watching her little personality bloom further deepens our feelings for her. Riggs has handled the change like a champ, and he is even funnier and cheekier than he's ever been, if that's even possible. 

Of course, some moments are hard. But they've gotten so much better that I'm already forgetting how it felt in the beginning. I look at my life and feel like pinching myself to make sure it's real. I was tearing up last night as I fed Raina a bottle (something I never did with Riggs), and Steve looked over and asked me what was wrong. I smiled up at him. "Of course I love breastfeeding. But it fulfills some deep twenty-something-year-old longing in me to feed her this way." He looked confused. "It's just that I vividly remember carefully holding my baby sister and giving her a bottle as my mom watched over us nearby. As a child I can't think of something I looked forward to more than the day when I would have my very own baby to cuddle and feed."

I don't think Steve really got it, but he shrugged and turned back to what he had been doing. As I sat there thinking about it, I was struck by how surreal it feels to truly be a mother now, not just to one, but to two babies. Two beautiful, happy, and healthy babies. And I'm so glad it's even better than I ever imagined; those two babies, how I love them so.

toddler soccer practice

Saturday Riggs had his first day of Soccer. It's his first organized anything other than nursery and library group so I was pretty nervous about how it would go. Luckily my friend Nancy and her adorable son Griffin were in our class too. I put Riggs in the 18-30m class even though he's just a little over 2.5 now so that he could ease into a class like this. If he needs to we'll transfer him up to the 2.5-3.5 year old class later. 

Just seeing his little uniform laying out the night before made me just about die of cuteness. Then when he put it on with his tiny little soccer socks and everything? heart. melted. I wish I could say my heart was just bursting with happiness during the class, but that would be a lie. It was pure craziness at first, with lots of toddlers and even more parents and grandparents milling around and soccer balls everywhere.

Riggs was definitely overwhelmed at all the people, and quickly proceeded to grab a soccer ball from the ground and cling to it for dear life. When the class started, we were supposed to go sit in a circle and sit quietly while the ball was passed around to introduce each child. Cue mass crying each time the ball had to be taken passed from one child and given to the next. Of course Riggs didn't want to sit still for this, and he didn't want to do the little stretches they did after that too. But then he warmed up and had a great time. I'm excited for next week and especially excited for when Steve will be able to come and I can just watch on the sidelines with Raina ;)

Labor Day weekend recap

This space has been very quiet over the last couple of weeks and I find myself wanting to catch up now. I really like to post the fun things we do as a family since I use this space as a personal journal of sorts and so I think I'll spend the rest of this week posting all of the things we've been up to. 

We had a lot planned for Labor Day weekend but some of what we wanted to do was put on hold due to Riggs getting pretty sick. Both sides of our families came out to the Valley to visit and it was great to see everyone. Dotti and Rick (Steve's mom and her husband) came out Friday to visit and then they also watched Riggs for us so we could go on a date (with Raina as a third wheel haha). Saturday we went out to meet them at Bonnie Lake but never really found them. We had a fun time despite not being able to connect, it was a beautiful day and the area north of Palmer is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. 

By the time we got home Riggs was pretty sick and had a fever of 103. I felt so bad for him, but it was kind of nice because all he wanted to do was snuggle with me or Steve. We went to a bonfire with my family at the Knik river (right by our house) which we've all been wanting to do all summer. Better late than never, right?!!

Steve rode his dirtbike and John (my sister's fire-fighter husband) built us a great fire for roasting hotdogs (bratwursts in my case - thanks Dad!) and marshmallows. I wish Riggs would have felt better so he could have had more fun, but it was nice to cuddle with him most of the night!

I think the highlight of the evening was watching the sun go down with my whole family around me. It was just missing my little sister and her fiance, who are off at medical school in Colorado right now.

our Alaska State Fair 2014

We managed to make it to the fair a few times this year and had so much fun every time we were there. I'm a little sad because we planned on going back for the last weekend as a family so that Riggs could ride some rides but because he was sick we didn't get to. I guess there's always next year!

I went on the first day (during $2 admission, hurray!) with just the kids, which was actually really fun and relaxing. It wasn't too busy yet even though it was a beautiful day and since it was just me I was able to visit the exact shops I wanted to without feeling like I was inconveniencing/boring anyone else (other than maybe Riggs, ha).

We next Friday with Sarah, Lyla and Sarah's mom Vivian. It was so much fun and such a huge help to have a grandma along! Vivian was so sweet, even changing Raina's diaper when my hands were full with Riggs. Thank you Vivian!!

I think this was the best hour and half of our day: all three of them asleep at the SAME TIME

Steve and I went with the kids Saturday after he got off work and we watched the motocross and ate dinner there. It was really fun but I was expecting Riggs to fall asleep in the stoller and he never did. So that was a little tricky. But it was still fun to be out and about and it was soo nice to walk around in the dark just talking with Steve (it doesn't really get dark in the summer here, unless you stay up until 2am and even this there's still a fair amount of light). 

Then the next Friday Steve and I went with just Raina while Grandma Dotti (Steve's mom) watched Riggs. THAT was fun. Even though we missed our Riggy, it was nice to have a little bit of a break from his never-ending commentary (I swear, the kid never. stops. talking).

We had lots of fun but I'm already looking forward to next year. I don't know why but I feel a little disappointed, like I didn't quite get to do all the things I wanted to do. I think partially becasue I never made a trip with my older sister and her boys, which is pretty much tradition, and because I really wanted to see Riggs ride some rides and we didn't get to do that either. Also when Steve and I went we wished we could have ridden some rides together...maybe next year we can leave both kids with grandma for the night have a real date night there together ♥