Same last name, and it ends there.

It's amazing how different people can be.  It's even more amazing, in my opinion, how different siblings can be.  Same mom, same dad, two completely different kids.

My son Bryant is 6 now.  He is very tall for his age (the size of an average 10 year old) and has beautiful red hair and adorable freckles.  I prayed every day he was in my belly for that red hair.  And, like most redheads, he's very pale.  He's almost finished with his kindergarten year, and I can hardly believe it.  It seems like such a short time ago that I was cradling him in my arms and nursing him and changing his diapers.  While I was still pregnant with him, a patient at the rehab facility where I worked told me something that I didn't understand until I held Bryant in my arms.  He told me that each age has its own ups and downs.  But every time you think, "Man! This stage is so amazing.  It just can't get any better than this!" that it is amazing, but just wait!  It gets better.  And better.  And better.  Oh how right he was.  Bryant was born, and I thought, "It just can't get any better than this."  But then he learned how to crawl and was learning how to do fun things and I thought again, "This is it!  It can't get any better than this!"  Then he learned how to talk and how to take steps and I thought it once again - it couldn't possibly get any better than that!  But it kept going and going and going!  It kept getting better and better and better.  I think of that patient often and how right he was.


Bryant was an amazingly easy going baby.  He only cried if he really needed something - a diaper change, to be fed, etc.  There were the very few, very rare exceptions to this, but for the most part he was super easy.  He would go to anybody for anything.  Never had any separation anxiety. He just loved everyone.  He'd eat anything I put in front of him.  I didn't know he was teething until I saw teeth in his mouth - he never fussed about it.  I had to use every ounce of mommy instinct in my being to know when he was sick because he never fussed.  He'd have a 104 degree fever and be playing happily on the floor.  And he was an excellent napper. It took him a little longer than normal to sleep through the night, but he was an EXCELLENT napper.  He took 4+ hour naps until he was just over 4 years old.  Everyone told me how lucky I was.  I just figured I was a great mom.  ;-)  


Poor kid actually had to have tubes a couple of times and 2 bowel disimpactions because he had some pretty severe health issues, but he rarely acted sick. It took me forever to get his GI doctors to pay attention to me because they would inevitably ask, "How is he acting?" when I'd call to tell them he hadn't pooped in over a week.  Sometimes I felt like lying to them to get them to believe that he was really sick.  In fact, the day of his second disimpaction, he had 7 - SEVEN - adult enemas INSIDE of him with NO bowel movement whatsoever, and he was playing happily when the doctor came in to examine him.  The doctor looked at me like I was crazy until he looked at the x-ray and saw that the kid, not me, was the one literally full of crap.  He was on adult doses of fiber and mineral oil and still needed the occasional enema until he was 4.  Do you know how pitiful it is when your 3 year old brings you an enema and asks you for it because his belly hurts and he needs to poop?  It's heart breaking.


And my pregnancy with him was super easy, too.  I was extremely swollen, but other than that I had no issues whatsoever.  No morning sickness.  No nausea.  Very little fatigue.  No dizziness.  It was fantastic.  His delivery kind of sucked, but that's because he was 11lbs 2ozs and 24 inches long, and my epidural broke.  I could have done without that.

This was 5 days before I delivered Bry.  Notice my sexy ankles?!

And now we get to Nicolyn.  Nicolyn, or Lynnie as we call her, is 16 months old and was born on my 30th birthday.  Her name is a combination of my sisters' middle names, Nicole and Lynne.  She is tall for her age, but not nearly as tall as Bryant was at this point.  And she's blonde and very tan and has amazing, beautifully dark eyelashes of which I am incredibly jealous.  

I knew from the get-go that she'd be a handful.  Almost the day I found out I was pregnant I was sick and had bad back issues.  I started swelling way earlier than I did with Bryant, but I didn't stay swollen constantly like with him.  But I was miserable for most of my pregnancy with her.  So miserable, in fact, that my mom flew down from Baltimore to stay with me for a long time just to make sure Bryant was fed on a daily basis.  It was terrible.  I knew she was a girl before I had the ultrasound, and I knew she'd be a diva.

This was 2 months before Nicolyn was born.

 

The only easy part of my pregnancy with her was actually her delivery.  Because of the epidural fiasco with Bryant (and because he was memorably huge), the nurses at the hospital actually remembered me and made sure it didn't happen again.  I barely felt anything.  Lynnie was a mere 9lbs 6ozs and just under 22 inches long.

She let us know she was a diva pretty early on.  She didn't really want anyone except Mike or me to hold her.  She screamed when she went to nursery at church.  She wasn't colicky, but she was very demanding and very high maintenance.  She still is.  She doesn't like it when my attention is elsewhere, whether that be reading to Bryant or doing dishes or laundry or whatever.  And she lashes out when she's frustrated.  She hits Bryant or Mike or me.  She screams at the top of her lungs.  She throws things.  Some days it's enough to make me consider going back to work - even if it's just a passing whim.

She's very smart, which makes her even more demanding.  She loves to be read to, and she can climb anything.  She's already figured out how to open our back door, and she loves to be outside.  She can climb the fence at the ball park where Bry plays t-ball.  She has even figured out how to undo the child "proof" cabinet locks around our house.  And it does me absolutely no good to try to put toys up around the house.  She runs behind me and takes things out of cabinets and toy boxes and drawers.  And, quite frankly, I always end up just letting her do it.  It's easier than cleaning up after her for the billionth time, and she's usually pretty happy (i.e. not screaming) when she's running around destroying my house.  

My mom took care of Bry for the first year of his life.  Then a good friend of mine took care of him for a year, and he was in daycare starting at 2.  I wished every single day to be able to stay home with him.  We didn't think we could live without the income.  When we got pregnant with Nicolyn and made the decision for me to stay home, I was so excited!  I had fond memories of my easy child who took 4 hour naps, giving me time to get stuff done around the house.  What a surprise when I had Nicolyn instead!

Apparently I was a terrible baby myself.  My mom prayed for me to have one just like me, and her prayers were answered!  She hilariously stated one time, "When I prayed for Shannon to have one just like her, I forgot I'd have to be her grandparent!"  haha Thanks, Mom!  She used to tell me that one day my strong personality would be used for good, and she looked forward to that day.  I tell myself the same thing about Lynnie.  One day she will be a strong woman.  I can only hope that I manage to get a few values instilled in there somehow, too.  :-)

Because they are so different, my kids bring me different kinds of joy and frustration each day.  Bryant is very laid back still, but that means he dawdles all the time. It takes the kid forever to do anything.  His focus is definitely lacking.  But he's off the chart smart.  He passed the preliminary testing to be accepted into his school's gifted program.  We're just waiting on the school board psychologist to test him to make it official.  Lynnie amazes me every day with how she catches on to things.  She's one of those kids who is very observant and doesn't miss a thing.  She knows how to put a DVD into the player.  She knows that moving the mouse around will make the computer screen light up.  She knows she gets a cookie at Publix and gets to slide at the gym.  For every moment I get frustrated with her during the day, I also have moments of gratitude that I get to see her passing all of these milestones and am not missing everything.  I missed Bryant's first steps.  I witnessed Lynnie's.  I get to hear all of her new words and know that Mike or I are most likely the ones who taught them to her.  I get to watch her grow and develop and know that it's me helping her do that.  And I get to be very involved with Bryant's class and school.  All of the office staff and, of course, his teacher know me on a first name basis.

I have to be honest, though, and tell you that I'm looking forward to the day Lynnie is in VPK for 4 hours a day.  :-)  Maybe then I'll have time to get my house in order.  But until then I'll just do the best I can and thank God for my life.  I also thank God for my (mostly) patient husband who has seen how stressful it can be to be home with the kids.  :-)

So for today:

Frustrating: Bry had a very bad headache when he woke up this morning.  It was bad enough that he held his head every time he stood up.  I probably should have sent him to school, but I kept him home to rest.  Today was also the first full day Lynnie spent without her pacifier.  Honestly, it could have been a lot worse.  The only real frustrating thing this brought about was that she didn't nap, even in her car seat, for more than 20 minutes.  That made her behavior *interesting* at church tonight.  Thank GOD for S.K. who took care of her all afternoon while Lindsay, Vickie, and I cooked and prepped!

Awesome: I met another mom at the gym (yes, I went even though I kept Bry home from school.  I know.  I'm a terrible mom.  His head was better by that point, though.) who totally understands being a SAHM and all of its frustrations!  She also joined the gym for the child-less showers!!!  I believe we'll end up being great friends.  ;-)  Also awesome was the dinner that Lindsay and I made tonight.  It was Lindsay's french toast casserole recipe, and it was AH-Mazing!  I'll post it tomorrow when I get the recipe from her.  I forgot to grab it before I left tonight.  

On that note, though, please say a prayer for Lindsay's family.  All 3 of her boys are sick with a stomach bug, and 2 of them got sick at church.  Lindsay is pregnant, so please pray she doesn't get sick too (or anyone from church tonight!).  

I'll end with a question to my readers.  How many kids do you have?  How are they different/the same?  Did it surprise you?