So I tend to be a worst case scenario-type person. In all honesty, I think it’s my way of being prepared and working through my emotions ahead of time rather than me being down right pessimism.  Anyhow, as we approached the arrival of Owen I ran into a million well-meaning people that warned me about life with 2 kids. So, in my mind I began to prepare myself for the worst case scenario. Even with horrible reflux, behavioral outbursts from Jackson and many sleepless nights it has been really quite good so far.

Here are some of my recent random mommy thoughts….

Someone is going to be crying at some point throughout the day…may be Owen, may be Jackson, and if it isn’t one of them it might just be me! I had to let go of making everyone happy every moment. With 2 there are bound to be times when someone is waiting for attention. And that’s okay!

It is a blessing that God gave us 2 boys first because he must have anticipated that I would not be good at doing girls hair. He gave me a 2 yr grace period with Jackson and then boom…wild, wavy hair to manage. Owen’s hair has been receding and is now growing back…I better get ready!

With 2 kids we have double the possibility of someone waking up at any point in the night.  that translates to a lot less sleep..It applies in the same way to double sickness, etc.

Owen is starting to smile….having a second has reminded me of those wonderful milestones we enjoyed with Jackson. This time around I feel like I can anticipate and savor it more!

It is so apparent to me that God made Owen for us! He fits right in to our family and it feels a little like he has always been around. Yesterday Jackson went up with me to get him out of his bed and Jackson said “come downstairs Owen, and be part of our family”. We love having him around!

I cannot imagine being a single mom. In that same thought I am so thankful for Seth, a daddy who is a great daddy! These days he is smothered constantly by Jackson who thinks he hung the moon. Jackson is currently referring to Seth as “my own daddy”….so this morning it was “mommy, I want my own daddy to hold me”. We have had to start setting our timer throughout the evening when Seth is home so that Jackson will leave him alone for 10 mins here and there so Seth can at least check email or news.

There is plenty of love to go around. I know lots of people worry that when you have more kids it will be hard to love them as much as your first child. We love our boys and Jackson knows that we love Owen just as much as him…probably a healthy place for him to start understanding that he isn’t the first and favorite ( I think he still has confusion in this area)! It’s fun to hear Jackson talk to Owen about how much he loves him.

Teaching one little boy about God, the world, life, love and other mysteries feels daunting…adding another child doesn’t lessen the weight of that task. As Jackson asks about his world around him and seeks to learn I am humbled that God thought we could handle this….the great thing is he doesn’t want us to do it without his help. Last week on my birthday Seth and I saw a beautiful, full rainbow on our way to dinner. We took a picture because we knew Jackson would have loved to see it. After seeing the picture he rushed to get his bible to read the story of Noah.

A lifestyle that would include grandparents close by would be highly beneficial. I would love for the boys to get to have more time to learn from their grandparents and have quality times with them in ways they can’t with our constant moving.

I saw a 6 month old the other day, bouncing around on his moms lap trying with all of his might to get free and take off…..that leads me to our next worst case scenario in the Kolb house….moving again, this time with a 6 months old and an almost 3 yr old!!!! The house hunt has begun and the calendar is narrowing in on our takeoff dates.  For today I am going to enjoy the fact that life with 2 is better than expected!!

We are still smitten with our new little guy. He has been having a hard time with a cold first, diaper rash and then now reflux but we are getting through the long nights and enjoying his sweet personality. Jackson is enjoying being a big brother but wants full privilege to wake Owen up to “play”, use monster claws to tickle him and sing at the top of his lungs right next to him whenever he wants, among other things. So we are faced with new parenting challenges by the day.

Owen returned to the doctor on Thursday because of the reflux. We got to have him weighed again just to make sure he was continuing to gain weight despite not feeling great. Yep, he’s gaining weight alright. In fact, he has gained over an ounce a day for quite some time now. On Thursday he was 9 lbs 14 oz. The week before on Friday he was 9 lbs 4 oz. He is long enough that even as a “big baby” he looks like a strong bean still.

Here are a few pictures of Owen!

cuddly outfit from his Nama

Dr Jackson is ALWAYS on call. With every cry Jackson hollers “you okay, Owen?”

Tired but happy sums up the Kolb house these days. Seth and I had to laugh last week when we both commented on how calm life has been over the past few months. That tells you how much has gone on in the past 4 yrs of our lives when moving to temporary housing with a 2 yr old at 6 months pregnant, having a baby the weekend of the DC blizzard and starting life with a newborn, sleepless nights, and a very precocious 2 yr old  seems calm.  It is a controlled chaos I guess. And for us it is a time to savor as we are already needing to begin preparations for yet another move.

Seth’s parents were able to come over the last week (his dad arriving a few days after his mom) to meet Owen and spend some time with us. We enjoyed having them here. They got a light snow while they were here which was nice since they don’t see that much in Texas. Owen loved being held a ton and Jackson managed to get his Mia to play almost every waking moment. We are weaning off all of the one on one time now that I am flying solo! Here are some pictures from their visit.

Owen and Grandan…also the spider monkey that Aunt Claire knitted for Jackson

Jackson’s first metro ride…also first trip to a museum

The Kolb men and boys

Mia and Owen

another attempt

an attempt at our first family picture as a family of 4…it looks about right, Owen getting “help” from his big brother!  The quilt behind us (that now hangs on our wall) was a gift from Seth’s parents. It was made my Seth’s mom’s grandmother.

We celebrated the first weekend of the new year with a visit from my brother Graham and his fiance Tina!It was so much fun having them here for a few days! We wish they lived closer!

This is what Jackson said to Owen as he screamed on our way to church on Christmas Eve! I have to say this was the best Christmas we have had. Not just because Owen joined us only days before..although that had a lot to do with it. It was that we were with family and friends, we made snowmen, snow angels, baked cookies, read Christmas books, decorated our tree together, made a gingerbread house, gave and received gifts, sang our favorite songs and just enjoyed being together.  It was the first year that Jackson began to understand Jesus. we spent many hours singing carols of Jesus’ birth and we listened to him ask question after question about all things Christmas.

My parents were here to celebrate with us for Christmas. We ate yummy food, exchanged gifts and had a fun time watching Jackson open gifts with great enthusiasm. One of my favorite gifts this year is the recipe book that my mom recreated for me. The original was my wedding gift from her and it was lost in our box when we moved back a few months ago. So, she spent so much time handwriting all of our favorites again. We had Christmas dinner at my brother Ryan’s home with his family. A couple of days after Christmas our extended family from my dad’s side made the trek over from Maryland for a fun evening of visiting and …you guessed it, more eating. Here are a zillion pictures from Christmas.

Christmas Eve service…Jackson was slightly disappointed when he realized that there was no baby swaddled in a manger. After looking in for Jesus he said “mom, it’s just a pretend blanket”

the cutest stocking stuffer!

Advent calender

Jackson wanted to make a Jackson snowman and an Owen snowman

It was the year of the shortbread cookie!  My mom made Jackson his own huge container….and he ate and ate and ate.

We hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas!

Owen and Jackson got to meet on Wednesday a couple of days after Owen was born. Because of hospital policy Jackson could not come up to the hospital…which was sad for me but Jackson was having so much fun with Nama (my mom) at home that  he wasn’t too phased. We made a video and Seth showed him me with Owen in the hospital. On Wed Jackson greeted us at the door with great excitement!

Here is a video of his greeting!

Here are a few pictures of Owen coming home from the hospital and meeting his big brother

Not so sure about this going home stuff

Jackson was very sweet when he met his brother. When he first got him in his arms he said “he’s tiny, mommy”.  He said “I am your big brother and I love you baby Owen”. So far he is still loving his brother. He frequently wants to help with him…which is scary at times. He will say to be “I am just picking him up”. We are having to watch very closely that our helpful boy doesn’t carry out most of his plans for Owen!

I know there are much more important things happening in our life today (like coming home from the hospital, getting ready for Christmas, etc), but it is important to remember the significance of today.

So, Happy Festivus to everyone!  If you would have asked me a week ago, I probably could have aired some grievances, but after holding my newborn son, all the problems in the world seem to melt away.

Hope everyone is having as good of a Festivus as me!

Owen Seth Kolb arrived this morning at 6:23 AM!  He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 1/4 inches long.

We arrived at the hospital Sunday night expecting to be induced. When they did a sonogram, they confirmed he was in fact still head down…but so was his shoulder and hand!  So we decided to go ahead and have a C-section Monday morning.

By the time we got to the OR he was breech once again and presented with feet first!  So it seems like a C-section was always inevitable.

Owen is healthy and doing great.  He has brown hair like his daddy!  The c-section was no fun but we are so happy to be done and now enjoying our baby. We are all recovering…and when I say all I include Seth because he was down and out for a few mins being revived with smelling salts.

Kristen is doing well, although definitely still recovering from her surgery.  We are looking forward to being home in the next couple of days and celebrating Christmas with family, especially Jackson.

The update from here is that we have 20 inches of snow…but no baby yet. We go in tonight to check about his position and will start induction if everything is a go. If he is breech they will set me up for a c-section tomorrow. So, still a waiting game. We will let you know how it goes! We will post snow pictures soon!

So we went in today for the c-section. I was all hooked up, in a gown and awaiting my spinal. The anesthesiologist was getting me to sign off on the final papers and the doctor came in with the sonogram machine to get one last peek at his position. Sure enough Owen was head down. SOOO after much anticipation, farewells to Jackson and not much sleep the last few days we were sent home to wait a few days. I am contracting every 5-6 mins but nothing strong enough to make fast changes. I will go in Sunday night to begin induction if he hasn’t come by then. In the meantime I am drinking raspberry leaf tea and looking up any old wives tales that might move this along. Of course the concern is that he will move back and I will still need a c-section so please pray with us that this is for real and that we can move forward without a c-section.